🧵on a second potential mechanism for the sharp decrease in NIH grant funding in 2025 — namely return of unspent same-year funds to the Treasury and unspent future-year funds to NIH triggered by grant cancellation
unclear whether NIH ever reallocated the $$$ or forfeited them at the end of FY2025
ACTION ITEM-----ACTION ITEM
Because of overwhelming demand, NIH has new links for the Strategic Plan webinars
March 16, 2026 12:30 - 1:30 pm | www.scgcorp.com/strategicpla...
April 8, 2026 2:30 - 3:30 pm | www.scgcorp.com/strategicpla...
NOTE: YOU HAVE TO RE-REGISTER IS YOU REGISTERED BEFORE
A short Bluetorial on plots of NIH application success rates as a function of percentile.
1/20
Behold the inner channel of the nuclear pore complex in all its messy glory. New high-def microscopy is revealing its intricacies like never before. @yaseminsaplakoglu.bsky.social reports: www.quantamagazine.org/disorder-dri...
The most impt change at #NIH and to US science this year is bigger than grant cancellations— it’s how the agency is governed.
For 75 years NIH has been largely independent of presidential control. That’s changed this year. New piece from me and @nataliebaviles.bsky.social in @nature.com
🧪
the most annoying shift in my academic career
One more day left to vote! Share with your friends and colleagues! 🔥🧪
Hand holding paper model of HIV capsid
Build a paper model of the HIV capsid using this template from PDB-101 #ASBMB2026 #ASBMB26
pdb101.rcsb.org/lear...
Two ASBMB members pose for a photo inn front of the U.S. Capitol. They are holding ASBMB folders.
Four ASBMB members pose for a photo inn front of the U.S. Capitol.
Three people pose for a photo in front of Tim Kaine's office during the 2026 ASBMB Hill Day.
Four people pose for a photo after a meeting during the 2026 ASBMB Hill Day.
Hill Day is a wrap! Huge thanks to all our members who joined us on Capitol Hill to advocate for strong federal support for basic research.
#ASBMBAdvocates #ScienceServesUsAll
I was on Capitol Hill today with @asbmb.bsky.social urging lawmakers to support strong federal investment in
scientific research and training. Also to support : predictable and sustained funding.
#ASBMBAdvocates #ScienceServesUsAll
My colleague, who is part of our Capitol Hill team with ASBMB advocating for basic science, keeps running into students that she trained in her classroom who are here advocating for the American Medical Association! So fun to see the impact of her training in real 3D! #ASBMBAdvocates
photo of 3 people in front of mark pocan’s capitol office
Photo of 3 people in front of Tammy Baldwin’s capitol hill office
US Capitol building
Great day of science advocacy! #ASBMBadvocates #ScienceServesUsAll
@asbmb.bsky.social @uwmadisonrna.bsky.social
#ScienceServesUsAll
Thank you to our Wisconsin senators and representatives staffs for meeting with us! #ASBMBAdvocates
A group of more than 50 scientists pose for a photo in front of the U.S. Capitol.
Next up: 120 meetings with congressional staff on Capitol Hill to discuss why strengthening federal support for basic research is essential for U.S. competitiveness. NIH and NSF investments drive innovation!
#ASBMBAdvocates #ScienceServesUsAll
www.asbmb.org/advocacy
Folks from @rnasociety.bsky.social advocating for basic science research funding #ASBMBAdvocates @uwmadisonrna.bsky.social @cassandrahayne.bsky.social
Participants of the 2026 ASBMB March Hill Day listen to a presentation about the event.
ASBMB Hill Day preparation continues! This evening we welcomed more than 50 scientists from across the country who will be heading to Capitol Hill tomorrow for meetings with lawmakers to advocate on behalf of biomedical research funding! #ASBMBAdvocates
“So this ‘mechano-antiviral response system’ (MARS) may well be a type of innate immunity that we have been completely overlooking, and there may well be ways to leverage it to our advantage.”
![I think one of the things that separates us from the other -- I'll even say the other science agencies, you know, [inaudible] original vision for a science agency, science as an endless frontier, that's not actually what got implemented. He proposed that, and then a lot of the other agencies appeared. There was phenomenas an when we were envisioned. There was no -- NASA. There was no DOD -- DOD existed or the Department of war existed, but you know, NSF has evolved overtime, and as Simon said, we're not the only agency that funds basic research, but there are certain things, like we're the one that covers the broadest space. We cover very large, a very large scope. And we also make those long term investments. When's the book? Usefulness of useless things or whatever it is. Like we make those kinds of long term bets that pay off big time. And those are the kinds of things when we talk about people in the administration and they're like, yeah, why don't you just [inaudible] we're actually investing in the future. Sorry, you're talking about quantum and talking about AI. We can have a conversation about whether we think there's an AI bubble, but we're investing in the things that are going to be the stuff that you're going to be talking about five years from now, ten years from now, 15 years from now, and if you stop what we do, you're not going to have that continuing flow of this sort of stuff. There's been a broad acceptance of that.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:jsmr7lyw5rvrpfogr2kc6c4y/bafkreibv2wfsojhmasloopxhznxufjgxpcxohao6b7dndjks6ca4x57zze)
I think one of the things that separates us from the other -- I'll even say the other science agencies, you know, [inaudible] original vision for a science agency, science as an endless frontier, that's not actually what got implemented. He proposed that, and then a lot of the other agencies appeared. There was phenomenas an when we were envisioned. There was no -- NASA. There was no DOD -- DOD existed or the Department of war existed, but you know, NSF has evolved overtime, and as Simon said, we're not the only agency that funds basic research, but there are certain things, like we're the one that covers the broadest space. We cover very large, a very large scope. And we also make those long term investments. When's the book? Usefulness of useless things or whatever it is. Like we make those kinds of long term bets that pay off big time. And those are the kinds of things when we talk about people in the administration and they're like, yeah, why don't you just [inaudible] we're actually investing in the future. Sorry, you're talking about quantum and talking about AI. We can have a conversation about whether we think there's an AI bubble, but we're investing in the things that are going to be the stuff that you're going to be talking about five years from now, ten years from now, 15 years from now, and if you stop what we do, you're not going to have that continuing flow of this sort of stuff. There's been a broad acceptance of that.
Here is an illuminating response from a November town hall where Stone talks about what makes NSF unique and why it matters. (Forgive some of the formatting and typos; it's auto-transcribed.)
kill the imposter syndrome in you head because not only is there someone out there doing it worse than you, they're also using chat gpt to do it
Anyways.
Hot meeting alert!! 🚨🚨 @vai.org is hosting Rising Stars and Horizons in Metabolism, a new format, 2 day symposium highlighting both established and up and coming leaders in Metabolic research. Check it out and register here: www.vai.org/event/rising...
Excited to share our study "Estropausal gut microbiota transplant improves measures of ovarian function in adult mice" ♀️🐁💩 led by Dr. #MinhooKim, published online today at @nataging.nature.com, where we describe surprising findings on the gut/ovary axis. 🧪🖥️🧬. A 🧵1/11 www.nature.com/articles/s43...
Super excited to present out work at @mitotalks.bsky.social this Thursday!! Hope to see you there!
Congrats to @ncaaup.bsky.social & all who fought against this surveillance policy that would've allowed admin to hijack microphones in the classroom for secret recordings.
This move would've chilled classroom discussion & suppressed students' willingness to ask questions & take intellectual risks.
The National Science Foundation is systematically being converted to the National AI and Quantum Research Foundation.
“I see it as the administration exerting political control over what has traditionally been NSF’s ability to fund the best science.”
Our story on #FBXW7 and #biotin in #glutamine_addiction is now peer-reviewed and published in Molecular Cell! Heroic work led by the very first postdoc of the lab @miriamlisci.bsky.social. Have a look!
www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
These are “low enrollment” majors but the classes are regularly at capacity. They changed the funding structure a few years ago here, switching the allocation from course enrollments to majors then blamed these departments for a structural, top-down change. This is entirely a political choice.
🏫 Elizabeth W. Jones Award for Excellence in Education: Brian Donovan
🎓 GSA Early Career Medal: @mexpositoalonso.bsky.social, @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social
🌎 Thomas Hunt Morgan Medal: Judith Kimble, @uwbiochem.bsky.social
🔬 George W. Beadle Award: Aaron Mitchell, @universityofga.bsky.social
2/3🧵
Should biology put complexity first? www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... - excellent essay by @philipcball.bsky.social. I would add epistasis to polygenicity and pleiotropy as a ubiquitous and fundamental phenomenon, not some optional complication that we can try to account for afterwards
A single grad student achieves 600% improvement in 4 months, then an entire lavishly funded team achieves a further 40% improvement in 6 months.
Nature says the latter has "eclipsed" the former.
This is so dumb.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
