PombeDoc

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A line graph showing the fraction of R01 applications funded as a function of percentile for NIGMS. The estimated success rate for FY2024 was 14.1% compared with 8.6% for FY2025.

7/25

Folks in Maine and Alaska: please call Collins and Murkowski to oppose the confirmation of Casey Means for Surgeon General. They are apparently still on the fence and MAHA is pushing them hard to vote in favor.

a cartoon says hey everybody an old man 's talking while bart simpson looks on ALT: a cartoon says hey everybody an old man 's talking while bart simpson looks on

A short Bluetorial on plots of NIH application success rates as a function of percentile.

1/20

The Situation: The BASE Jumping Presidency Sometimes you get away with reckless and stupid decisions.

The Situation, March 6, 2026
www.lawfaremedia.org/article/the-...

We are waiting for the break down by mech, and total application numbers, but this graph was based specifically on on R01s/R37s (but not R35s). Back of envelope says NIGMS funded about 7% of R01 applications. So 23.2% in 2023, 14.4% in 2024, to ~7% in 2025. Disaster.

Quick question does anyone know how to restore virtue to a decaying society

Pls re-post: My department @oxfordbiochemistry.bsky.social are recruiting for several new faculty positions (links below). Broad search in molecular biology/biochemistry, across prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Interested in understanding life at the molecular level, this job might be for you!
1/n

You cannot really run a university like a business because our most valuable product is failure.

When someone says „Scientists do not want you to know“ you can dismiss everything from there on. Scientists want you to know. They are desperate that you know. They can’t shut up about what they found out and want you to know.

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

"Since Trump took office 13 months ago, NIH has posted only 84 NOFOs, down from 787 in the previous year. Many more are in limbo. NIH has 323 opportunities listed as 'forecasted.' ... many on the list were announced in 2024 and ’25 and still are not open."

How to Spot AI Hallucinations Like a Reference Librarian – LLRX

"ChatGPT had invented a plausible-sounding citation out of thin air. And it wasn’t alone. Of those 47 citations, 31 were what we call 'hallucinations.'"

H/t to our reference librarian for flagging this piece w/advice for students. #academicsky #polisky

www.llrx.com/2025/12/how-...

This is bleak.

I am so very, very tired.

I have fought long and hard.

Clonal-aggregative multicellularity tuned by salinity in a choanoflagellate - Nature The choanoflagellate Choanoeca flexa forms motile and contractile cell monolayers purely clonally, purely aggregatively or through a combination of both processes depending on environmental conditions.

A study in Nature shows that the single-celled form of a tiny, aquatic organism can turn into a multicellular version by three different routes. The discovery adds insight to the possible origins of multicellular life, suggesting a previously unrecognized degree of flexibility. 🧪

The Scientists Groveling to Trump Are Kidding Themselves The government has pulled back from massive cuts to the NIH, but it’s still destroying scientific research. So why are some groups appeasing the president?

In which @gregggonsalves.bsky.social decries the attacks on NIH and research
www.thenation.com/article/soci...

‘We’re no longer attracting top talent’: the brain drain killing American science As Trump slashes science funding, young researchers flee abroad. Without solid innovation, the US could cease to have the largest biomedical ecosystem in the world

“Trainees are the most vulnerable people in science... They are the ones with new ideas, where a lot of our hope resides. Now they are losing their minds with worry about what comes next...” www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

This is the interview Donald Trump didn’t want you to see.

His FCC refused to air my interview with Stephen Colbert.

Trump is worried we’re about to flip Texas.

Corollary: The more people use ChatGPT, the less I assume they know about anything.

A line graph shown the number of NIH projects funded for fiscal year 2026 (through 2/13/26) compared with fiscal years 2021-2025. The fiscal year 2026 is lagging behind following a slow start due to a government shutdown during October and November.

My weekly NIH update (grants funded through 2/13/26)

All projects...

1/4

This is the key point - it's not about Moderna's flu vaccine, it's about sending a signal to the rest of the industry that vaccine development isn't viable in the US. It's all part of the larger anti-vaccine agenda.

🧪🧬New preprint We present cryo-EM structures of reconstituted CTCF–nucleosome complexes, showing CTCF dimerization drives nucleosome oligomerization into defined higher-order assemblies. Disrupting CTCF–CTCF interfaces in mESCs reduces looping and impairs differentiation. tinyurl.com/CTCF-nucleos...

Our niece in Minneapolis says red yarn cant be found there

What the Literature is Filling Up With

Welcome, piles of slop filling up the journals with clouds of useless wordy garbage. Case in point:

There is @unroll.skywriter.blue

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Antiviral reverse transcriptases reveal the evolutionary origin of telomerase Defense-associated reverse transcriptases (DRTs) employ diverse and distinctive mechanisms of cDNA synthesis to protect bacteria against viral infection. However, much of DRT family diversity remains ...

1/10 Genome maintenance by telomerase is a fundamental process in nearly all eukaryotes. But where does it come from?

Today, we report the discovery of telomerase homologs in a family of antiviral RTs, revealing an unexpected evolutionary origin in bacteria.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

NSF GRFP applicants (and mentors): Was your application Returned Without Review and deemed ineligible despite fitting in the allowed topics?
1) Write NSF
2) Write your Congressperson
3) CC us at grfp@grant-witness.us so we can compile + follow up

Details and template at grant-witness.us/grfp-letter

Bishop Mariann Budde, yup