What’s up with Downes?

Delays in awards and funding calls worry NIH-funded researchers Many programs may be pushed into the next fiscal year, and some could face funding gaps

NIH funding is back in limbo, and it’s a mess. Between a 90% drop in new funding notices and White House spending blocks, only about 800 new awards have been made, less than a third of the usual rate.
If these "spend plans" don't clear soon, we’re looking at a major gap in biomedical research.

Henrietta Lacks' Family Reaches Settlement in Fight Over Her Stolen Cells Details of the Novartis agreement aren't public, but the family says it is pleased with the outcome.

A long overdue reckoning for Henrietta Lacks — the Black woman whose cancer cells led to breakthroughs but were harvested without her consent. Novartis has settled a lawsuit by Lacks’ estate that alleged the pharmaceutical giant profited off her cells.
https://bit.ly/3NgCeBs

Some exciting news! NCBI has finished the annotation pipeline for our new #zebrafish reference sequence GRCz12tu:
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/refseq/annot...

This is a big step up in data depth and quality and should be super helpful going forward.

A dresser inside a museum in New York City has been discovered as a secret stop on the Underground Railroad — the first of its kind discovered in Manhattan in over 100 years

📌

The Trump administration restructures federal health agencies, cuts 20,000 jobs The reduction in force comes along with a reorganization of the Department of Health and Human Services, consolidating 28 divisions to 15.

In the aftermath of a global pandemic, and in the midst of two major public health crises (the ongoing measles and bird flu outbreaks), the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announces that it is cutting 20,000 full-time jobs.

www.npr.org/sections/sho...

Today I lost an NIH grant training clinicians to do research about intimate partner violence with perinatal women.

More women are murdered in the perinatal period than die of obstetric complications.

I didn't just lose a grant. We lost an entire cohort of people building careers to prevent that.

Elite universities have totally lost their way. No leadership, no courage, and few protections around scholarship.

Who funds biomedical research? @nature.com
www.nature.com/articles/d41...

They have already fired people at the NOAA aquarium.

Very true. This is why we don't use Methylene Blue, especially when performing behavioral analysis.

Big congratulations to Madison Riffe, a spectacular graduate student in my lab! She wrote this review as part of @biologyopen.bsky.social Future Leader Review. Her idea! Madison is looking for a postdoc so reach out if you're interested. Whatever lab she selects will be VERY lucky to land her. (4/4)

If these disorders do constitute a new disease class, it could present an opportunity for understanding them, developing new therapies, and combining patient advocacy efforts. (3/4)

We review the clinical findings of these diseases and the efforts to model them in cells and animal systems, including #zebrafish. (2/4)

Neurogenetic disorders associated with mutations in the FERRY complex: a novel disease class? Summary: This Review provides a summary of cellular and molecular data about TBCK, PPP1R21, and FERRY3, components of the FERRY complex, and compares clinical symptoms observed upon their mutation.

I'm excited to share that we have a new paper out! This is a review about a #RareDisease. We propose that #TBCK Syndrome, #PPP1R21 related intellectual disability, and #FERRY3 intellectual disability, all rare disease, may constitute a new disease class. (1/4)
journals.biologists.com/bio/article/...

"This is direct censorship of scientific research.”

🦗🦗🦗

Trump 2.0: an assault on science anywhere is an assault on science everywhere US President Donald Trump is taking a wrecking ball to science and to international institutions. The global research community must take a stand against these attacks.

US President Donald Trump is taking a wrecking ball to science and to international institutions. The global research community must take a stand against these attacks.

https://go.nature.com/4kd1vIu

Here at DOGE, We’ve Streamlined Every Aspect of America’s Collapse "Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent gave representatives of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency access to the federal payment system la...

"I promise, America will soon be the Cybertruck of countries—uglier than you could have imagined, built for rich chuds, borderline inoperable, and on fire."

Hi all, I am in contact with a reporter at Science magazine who would like to talk with a trainee or mentor who successfully applied for an equity/DEI-related NIH training grant or a training supplement but have not received the Notice of Award and probably won't get the grant.

📌

Universities are the target, doesn’t matter if they’re wearing a target or not.

*some things

Reminder that @europepmc.org is a mirror of Pubmed with better search and that it indexes *all* bioRxiv preprints (as well as ResearchSquare), not just the ones funded by NIH like chauvinist Pubmed

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We don’t wear lab coats very much either, but I’m not about to let this sponsorship opportunity go to waste!

I personally envision our lab coats emblazoned with logos, like a race car driver.

Hope this is real.

Now we get to see which institutions really walk the talk versus those that support diversity only when it’s fashionable. Taking notes.

This seems like a you problem.