Piali Sengupta

It is truly remarkable how quickly I can get through a whole bunch of other things on my to-do list that are not urgent when I am procrastinating on doing something that is, but that I really do not want to do.

good luck!🍀

UAB is recruiting neuroscience faculty at two different levels - come join our vibrant neuroscience community!

Meet the neuroscientist running for Congress Sam Wang, a neuroscientist running for the U.S. House of Representatives, has been interested in “fixing bugs in democracy” for decades.

Neuroscientist @samwang.bsky.social, whose research implicated the cerebellum in autism, now hopes to “fix bugs in democracy”—by running for Congress.

By Lauren Schenkman

#neuroskyence

www.thetransmitter.org/policy/is-th...

jeez - I may as well not even bother trying to renew 😱

We are 30 today!! 🎂🎈🎉
30 yrs of scientific ups and downs, exciting new findings and totally wrong hypotheses, fundable scores and not, and the privilege of working with all the many people who joined our adventures in the wormverse.
Can’t wait to see everyone again at our lab reunion this summer!

This is such sad news. He was truly a giant in genetics. I had the good fortune of being taught genetics by him and Gerry Fink in grad school at MIT, and that left an indelible impression of his brilliance. May his memory be a blessing.

You rock!

As someone who grew up thinking 70F was cold, >35 yrs in the Northeast still hasn't made me love winter. Especially this winter in Boston. But Mr. Cardinal sat on our snow-covered cherry tree today and it was pretty.

For PNAS - they allow you to submit the AAM yourself to NIHMS w/o paying them the OA fee. So you can save a couple of grand if you deal with it yourself. As it should be for all journals.

My worry is that the journal might just pull the paper or something. But I can't keep shelling out this much $$$. And going forward, I am just going to have to pick and choose journals based on their OA fee over other considerations if this continues.

This is really interesting. Anyone else's institution advise the same? We've been told we have to pay the OA fee to post the AAM to PMC. Are we being scammed?

This is really interesting. Thanks for posting this. Will have to talk to our librarians about this since we've been told we have to pay the OA fee to post the AAM.

My understanding (after discussing endlessly with our librarians) is that the AAM has to be in PMC & many journals do not allow the AAM (ie after revisions) to be OA unless you pay the OA fee. It is ridiculous and unsustainable. We will have to pick journals based on their OA fee going forward.

bsky.app/profile/seng...

Our second paper of the year is online at @pnas.org. Led by recently graduated PhD student Anjali Pandey, we describe how seemingly symmetric neuronal responses can be mediated by underlying asymmetric molecular mechanisms. Link to longer preprint post below.
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

loved every second of Bad Bunny. That message of inclusion and a celebration of cultures like Puerto Rico’s is just what America needs right now. Plus, his music just gets you in motion. 10/10

Cool work Javier! These pharyngeal neurons are turning out to be so interesting!

Link to more details in my previous post on the preprint below. Thanks to @currentbiology.bsky.social for another excellent publishing experience.
bsky.app/profile/seng...

Experience-dependent reconfiguration of thermoreceptors regulates neuronal response plasticity Harris, Dutta, et al. find that experience-dependent plasticity in the activation threshold of the AFD thermosensory neurons is mediated by modulating warm and cold thermoreceptor levels at the sensor...

Our first 2026 paper is out @currentbiology.bsky.social!
👏 to @nathancsharris.bsky.social (now Asst Prof, GA State) and PD Priya Dutta.

Here we show how transcriptional and trafficking pathways coordinate thermoreceptor levels to precisely modulate response plasticity
www.cell.com/current-biol...

U.S. government has lost more than 10,000 STEM Ph.D.s since Trump took office A Science analysis reveals how many were fired, retired, or quit across 14 agencies

The US government lost more than 10,000 STEM PhDs last year, according to an analysis by Science of newly released OPM data, with 11 departures for every hire. And many OPM calls "voluntary" separations were probably pushed. www.science.org/content/arti...

As a someone with a 33 year NIH-funded lab whose grant is supposed to be reviewed this week, shut NIH down if that is what's needed to end ICE terrorism. Innocent lives are more important 🧪

I cannot imagine the devastation this family is experiencing today. This statement is powerful and must be read.

California joins WHO public health network following US exit, marking a first for any state California joined WHO's Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network, countering federal withdrawal from the organization.

California just joined the World Health Organization.

I love it.

Or maybe it was the $9000 stipend. Riches.

Can verify. I slept on the floor of my host's bedroom in her shared apartment and got taken to a pizza dive in Central Sq for dinner. (And I chose to go there so the pizza must've been good).

This line graph illustrates the percentage change in agency staff levels from the previous year for nine major U.S. federal scientific and health organizations between the fiscal years 2016 and 2025. The agencies tracked include the CDC, Department of Energy, EPA, FDA, NASA, NIH, NIST, NOAA, and NSF. For the majority of the timeline between 2016 and 2023, the agencies show relatively stable fluctuations, generally staying within a range of +5% to -5% change per year. However, there is a dramatic and uniform plummet starting in the 2024–25 period. Every agency depicted shows a sharp downward trajectory, with staffing losses ranging from approximately -15% to over -25%. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) shows the most significant decline, dropping to roughly -26%, while the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) shows the least severe but still substantial drop at approximately -15%.

This is the most astonishing graph of what the Trump regime has done to US science. They have destroyed the federal science workforce across the board. The negative impacts on Americans will be felt for generations, and the US might never be the same again.

www.nature.com/immersive/d4...

Committee Releases Conferenced Defense, Homeland Security, Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies, and Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Bi... United States Senate Committee on Appropriations

The conference (agreement between House and Senate) appropriations bill that includes HHS and NIH was released this morning.

www.appropriations.senate.gov/news/majorit...

1/5

@currentbiology.bsky.social does it again. The video is a must watch 🤣. Smart bovine!

Being transparent and having honest discussions about the challenges. Emphasizing that our values remain steadfast and we will do our best to have each other's backs. And for those of us who can - protest and fight back - for those who cannot. And stay optimistic that sanity will prevail.