Gary J. Bassell

RFK Jr. is targeting mRNA technology, a major scientific advancement that allowed for the rapid development of coronavirus vaccines. wapo.st/4lhtvKe

Senate committee endorses NIH budget increase, rebuking Trump administration’s proposed 40% cut Senators from both parties endorsed a $400 million increase to the budget of the National Institutes of Health on Thursday

Senate committee endorses NIH budget increase, rebuking Trump administration’s proposed 40% cut www.statnews.com/2025/07/31/n...

Delighted to welcome new graduate student, Engila, for PhD thesis research in our lab! Congrats! Celebrated passing qualifiers with senior graduate students Maxine & Betty! Very proud of them and looking forward to supporting their thesis journey Graduate Neuroscience Program @ Emory University!!

Our lab is looking to recruit a new postdoc to join our team. You can visit us at leritlab.org to learn more and submit applications here: faculty-emory.icims.com/jobs/149999/... (or scan the QR in the ad below!) Review will commence in early August.

Graphical abstract for our paper in Developmental Biology describing the normal (left side) and Prox1 mutant (right side) innervation of the mouse organ of Corti. Findings are also summarized in the Haiku format.

Another congratulations to Shubham Kale whose paper about cochlear development and innervation just came out in Developmental Biology. See the details in person here:
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

In this light microscopy image of dividing cells within a Drosophila embryo, multiple centrosomes are labeled in cyan. Each centrosome is surrounded by a concentration of orange fluorescent dots, showing the localization of a model mRNA via single molecule detection.

Our lab @emoryuniversity.bsky.social Dept. of Cell Biology is hiring a research technician! This position is ideal for someone who enjoys research, organization, and working in a team. Come for a few years and publish with us, or stay to build a career. staff-emory.icims.com/jobs/149068/...

Medical Research Funding — Unbreaking How the administration is breaking the government, and what that means for all of us.

I urge everyone to read Unbreaking’s new page on everything the govt is doing to destroy & diminish medical research funding.

It’s the best thing I’ve read on this topic: @lizneeley.bsky.social & co have such done an incredible job.

unbreaking.org/issues/medic...

Bittersweet but memorable going away celebration for Luke after 8 years in our lab following PhD thesis and short postdoc. We thank Luke for his research, dedication and friendship. Excited to see his career ahead. We will miss you and look forward to our future times together.

A human-specific enhancer fine-tunes radial glia potency and corticogenesis - Nature HARE5, a human accelerated region enhancer, modulates cortical development by influencing neural progenitor cell behaviour, leading to an enlarged neocortex with increased functional independence betw...

Thrilled to share our latest study out in @natureportfolio.nature.com led by the fantastically talented Jing Liu. Our study provides insight into a long standing question in biology: What molecular features make us uniquely human and how do these function? www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Congratulations to Delia graduating with highest honors @emorycollege.bsky.social
Delia is off to @stanford.edu for PhD studies!
I really enjoyed special dinner with Delia and her proud mom visiting from China!!

FASEB and Life Science Organizations Urge Immediate Research Funding Restoration FASEB, along with several other leading life science organizations, file an amicus brief supporting a lawsuit that calls for the immediate restoration of critical research funding.

Unlawful grant terminations harm young scientists and threaten America's scientific future. FASEB and leading scientific organizations call for the immediate restoration of funding that supports the next generation of researchers. Read more:

Unlawful grant terminations are harming young scientists and threatening innovation. ASCB joins leaders calling for immediate funding restoration.

www.ascb.org/society-news...

Check out these lucky undergrads and wonderful mentors!

Johns Hopkins To Offer Funds To Researchers Who’ve Lost Federal Grants Johns Hopkins University will provide three new self-funded grant programs to help its faculty and students cope with the cancelation or interruption of federal funding.

Johns Hopkins is offering funds to researchers who lost federal grants

www.forbes.com/sites/michae...

Glad to see the support for graduate students and postdocs with terminated awards!!

NIH insiders: Trump is ‘dismantling and destroying everything’ After just 100 days, agency scientists say U.S. health institutes are demoralized and have lost essential staff and funding

Science article with perspectives from NIH insiders

www.science.org/content/arti...

1/n

End of semester lunch to thank our six inspiring @emorycollege.bsky.social undergraduate researchers from freshman to senior year: Rayna, Riya, Alysia, Anya, Eric and Delia who will graduate with highest honors thesis, then off to
@stanford.edu for PhD! Much thanks our lab mentors! Great teams!

PhD thesis research award on a brain disorder terminated today:Research programs based on..equity objectives,are antithetical to scientific inquiry,do nothing to expand knowledge of living systems,provide low return on investment,and ultimately do not enhance health,lengthen life, or reduce Illness.

Exclusive: NSF director to resign amid grant terminations, job cuts, and controversy “I have done all I can,” says Sethuraman Panchanathan, a Trump appointee who has led agency since 2020

NSF director to resign amid grant terminations, job cuts, and controversy www.science.org/content/arti...

Colleague of Harvard scientist held by ICE warns that foreign scientists are scared Harvard scientist Kseniia Petrova has been in ICE custody for about two months. Her colleague and friend Leon Peshkin says her case is causing some scientists to reconsider working in the U.S.

Harvard scientist Kseniia Petrova has been in ICE custody for about two months. Her colleague and friend Leon Peshkin says her case is causing some scientists to reconsider working in the U.S.

A collection of images showing Dr Kale during his research presentation, a key data slide and my photo op with him after the defense

Big congratulations to new Dr Shubham Kale PhD who successfully defends his dissertation on Friday. See is efforts here: nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com?url=https%3A...

Dear Researchers,
Info re DOD CDMRP ALSRP
ebrap.org/eBRAP/public...

Harvard has set an example for other higher-ed institutions - rejecting an unlawful and ham-handed attempt to stifle academic freedom, while taking steps to make sure students can benefit from an environment of intellectual inquiry, rigorous debate and mutual respect. Let’s hope others follow suit.

I found out about this website update via The Crimson, Harvard’s student newspaper. Read the original story here, it’s good: www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...

Great turnout for @angalus.bsky.social Our monthly faculty talks Dept. Cell Biology We are so delighted to have Sulagna Das as a colleague in our dept & @emorygenetics.bsky.social Doing such amazing research to image #RNA localization from #gene to #synapse !!

Our lab at the NIH (Bethesda, MD) is looking for postdoctoral fellows to join our team studying the molecular mechanisms of protein trafficking and their links to neurodevelopmental disorders starting on or after 10-1-2025. Send your application to juan.bonifacino@nih.gov. Please share and repost!

Nobel laureate: I owe America my success. Today, its scientific future is in danger | CNN Dr. Ardem Patapoutian says he watches “with deep sadness as the United States’ remarkable scientific enterprise, which took generations of hard work and national investment to build, faces a concerted...

Published an op-ed for @cnn.com: “Nobel laureate: I owe America my success. Today, its scientific future is in danger.”
A personal reflection on what’s at stake as science funding gets slashed. I’d be grateful if you could amplify both in and beyond the science world.
www.cnn.com/2025/04/09/h...

Exclusive | Ousted Vaccine Chief Says RFK Jr.’s Team Sought Data to Justify Anti-Science Stance Dr. Peter Marks says the new health secretary’s team wants to show vaccines aren’t safe while promoting dangerous and unproven treatments.

“Kennedy’s team requested that Marks turn over data on cases of brain swelling and deaths caused by the measles vaccine—data that Marks said doesn’t exist because there have been no such confirmed cases in the U.S.” www.wsj.com/health/healt...

Excited to share our new paper in Nature Physics
@naturephysics.bsky.social: Cooperative hydrodynamics accompany multicellular-like colonial organization in the unicellular Stentor!

How do single-celled organisms benefit from teamwork?

Inspirational keynote talk @carlzimmer.com @anatomyorg.bsky.social #AnatomyConnected25
for our research community committed to science and education. Scholarship on the history of science so necessary for confronting current #ScienceDenial