Ok. Last figure done. Finally analyzed the expression data for table #2, time to write this manuscript!
Step one, decide which journal that might want a mostly observational study on an AP1 knockout cell line and won't cost me much because we're running on fumes and the funding forecast looks bad.
Here is the "effective payline" for each institute, estimated (by Claude) as the percentile where one can expect 80% probability of funding from a logistic regression fit. The effective payline has gone from a historic ~12% to 6% in 2025.
Another preprint is out from the Neal Lab! 🎉
Excited to share the first systematic side-by-side comparison of ERAD Derlin paralogs, revealing distinct cellular functions for Derlin-1, Derlin-2, and Derlin-3.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Graph of award probability of R35 and R01 from NIH factbook as a function of review rank percentile. As is apparent, 2025 is a significant departure, with lower award probabilities at all scores <40 and significant departures from norm, where even being in the top 10% is no longer a nearly certain indicator of success. Data source: https://report.nih.gov/nihdatabook/report/302
The data is in: the NIH goalposts have shifted.
What were once almost certain fundable scores have become coin flips and what used to be likely grants have become aspirational, leading to fewer awards.
Another manifestation of how HHS policies have led to fewer awards and less science.
Are you at #Dros26? Come by the micropub booth!
Would fund my lab for 8,000 years
Genuine question: given reports of [waves hands around] everything, us US academia falling apart or are people finding ways of making things work? It seems like funding is evaporating, but I don’t know if that’s accurate or the social media anxiety machine hyperbolizing to some extent.
Although it is difficult, the community should develop a framework to quantify the effect in terms of jobs lost, tenure/promotion denied, labs shut down, decreased numbers of students/postdocs/staff enrolled/hired, etc.
My grant will soon expire. My renewal got one of the best scores I've gotten (better than some I've had funded), but my program officer (bless him, truly) didn't express optimism. I'll prepare resubmission. Will it fare better? If not, slow wind down over next year as I deplete available stores.
The problem is the 'falling apart' is going to occur fast on a geological time scale but slow & hard to quantify in real-time...
as grants expire on a staggered basis and fail to be renewed or as new faculty start-up packages end and no external funds arrive to sustain their programs...
We have started a project trying to predic the interactions/structures of all yeast protein pairs using an AlphaFold pooling approach. We are making the current dataset open and we welcome collaborations.
www.evocellnet.com/2026/03/mapp...
Olympic Drosophilist, y’all!!! 🪰 I’m suddenly interested in skiing!
🚨Dear Bluesky friends, we need your help to advance in 2026 STAT Madness, the March Madness of Science tournament! 🏀🧪
Please vote for our Univ of Michigan Caswell Diabetes Institute team in your bracket before Mon March 9. Thank you! 🙏 www.statnews.com/feature/stat...
Thank you, Stephen!
I loved the story and structure, but also enjoyed the easter eggs for Survivor and Fishbach superfans - gastrointestinal distress, later days, contestant-recited poetry!
Image of FAF2's predicted helical domain interacting with the UFD1 UT3 domain. Next to this are similar images showing the predicted binding of de novo designed protein binders to the same region. Above is a sequence alignment indicating the key residues involved in the interaction.
🚨⚠️ New Preprint Alert! ⚠️ 🚨
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Screening p97 cofactors, @prithadg.bsky.social identified FAF2 as the strongest activator of the p97-UFD1-NPL4 complex. Leveraging her mechanistic descoveries, we designed 𝘥𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘰 binders that could also enhance p97 substrate unfolding.
cover of novel Escape! by Stephen Fishbach
If you are a fan of reality TV (or looking for an escape from reality), I highly recommend two-time Survivor contestant @stephenfishbach.bsky.social's new novel Escape!!
Great characterization, propulsive action, clever storytelling, and a super-fun peak behind the curtain of reality TV.
Crap
www.online-tribute.com/DavidBotstein
David Botstein passed away. I worked with him at Stanford for a few years in designing and teaching a course on "The Heart". My heart is heavy right now. He was a wonderful mentor.
Are the effects on careers being quantitatively tracked somewhere?
Numbers of layoffs, labs closing, promotion/tenure denials, etc?
We are still at the early stages of the impacts on people's lives, livelihoods, and scientific output.
Are the effects on careers being quantitatively tracked somewhere?
Numbers of layoffs, labs closing, promotion/tenure denials, etc?
We are still at the early stages of the impacts on people's lives, livelihoods, and scientific output.
Are the effects on careers being quantitatively tracked somewhere?
Numbers of layoffs, labs closing, promotion/tenure denials, etc?
We are still at the early stages of the impacts on people's lives, livelihoods, and scientific output.
Are the effects on careers being quantitatively tracked somewhere?
Numbers of layoffs, labs closing, promotion/tenure denials, etc?
We are still at the early stages of the impacts on people's lives, livelihoods, and scientific output.
Congratulations, James and team!! Beautiful!
Sooo happy to share our new paper in @nature.com “CLCC1 promotes hepatic neutral lipid flux and nuclear pore complex assembly.” A terrific collaboration with @arrudalab.bsky.social, led by co–first authors Alyssa Mathiowetz and Emily Maymand.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Forget the textbook view of a cell as a calm, orderly place. Glowing trackers reveal that it is jam-packed as a crowded nightclub — raising questions about how molecules can encounter their partners for the reactions that enable life. www.quantamagazine.org/the-biophysi...
it me
We need to have this discussion: how do we fight the AI onslaught while also keeping learning accessible?
I don’t know how we thread that needle in a way that scales.
A listing of Bill and VJ's drafted Survivor tribes with Survivor-themed decorations
Survivors ready? Go! 🌴🔥
Well, you can cancel Christmas!
Savannah it is to round out the roster!
Kudos to the whole team and @tgalli.bsky.social -- 🙏 for allowing us to collaborate on this super exciting story -- I would also add #stress #organelles -- #ER_literature #proteostasis
Bill, can I have your 🧥? Bill? Bill?
I will take the man, the myth, the legend R-I-Z-G-O-D, RizGod, baby!
