Fritz Roth
@fritzroth.bsky.social
590 followers 340 following 48 posts
Opinions here are my own. Day job: Professor and Chair, Computational & Systems Biology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine https://rothlab.csb.pitt.edu/ Systematically testing impacts of genetic change & mapping protein interaction dynamics
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Reposted by Fritz Roth
This is a powerful account from a PhD student whose fellowship was terminated by NIH because it was part of a "diversity" program without any other considerations or understanding of what the program or the students were actually doing.

undark.org/2025/10/09/o...

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NIH Student Grant Cancellation Will Weaken Scientific Innovation
The termination of federal F31 diversity fellowships puts many graduate students in a bind — and U.S. science at risk.
undark.org
Reposted by Fritz Roth
The Virginia Senate just told UVA it’s not getting state funding if it accepts the compact since UVA exists to serve Virginia, its residents, & their interests—not be a tool of the federal govt. Scoop from our student newspaper, who’ve been doing vital reporting www.cavalierdaily.com/article/2025...
Reposted by Fritz Roth
Thank you, Sam. It is from the heart.
I am really glad that @jeremymberg.bsky.social wrote this. Everybody who cares about science, and about knowledge generation and civil society generally, should read and share with their favorite administrator.

Deafening Quiet from the Scientific Establishment
open.substack.com/pub/donmoyni...
Deafening Quiet from the Scientific Establishment
Leaders are underestimating the risks of not fighting back
open.substack.com
Reposted by Fritz Roth
We're now recruiting early career group leaders at the Crick to lead ambitious research programmes and explore bold scientific questions.

Hear our Director, Edith Heard, explain why the Crick is a unique place for curiosity-driven research.

Apply now ➡️ www.crick.ac.uk/careers-stud...
Reposted by Fritz Roth
📣Call for Abstracts
for the Mutational Scanning Symposium! #VariantEffect26
🗓️ March 25-27, 2026
📍 Melbourne, Australia (and online!)
📝 Submit your abstract (deadline is Nov 2nd, 2025!)
➡️ Registration is also now open!!
ℹ️ www.mss2026.org

#FunctionalGenomics #Symposium #Australia #CallForAbstracts
Reposted by Fritz Roth
We are #Hiring!
Communications role for our Global Alliance! 🌍🧬
Please share this post with your network, or apply if you are interested!
📍 Location: Hinxton, England
🕒 Part-time role
ℹ️ sanger.wd103.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/Wellco...

#ScienceJobs #Communications #Genomics
#PartTimeRole #UKJobs
Reposted by Fritz Roth
Very pleased to share this long term (nearly 20 years) study of yeasts isolated from vineyards and forests, now up on biorxiv:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Fritz Roth
A statue of President Trump and Jeffrey Epstein holding hands has been removed from the National Mall a day after it was placed there. The statue had a permit to remain in front of the Capitol until Sunday night.
Statue of Trump and Epstein holding hands removed from National Mall
The statue, the latest installation by an anonymous group of artists critical of the president, was supposed to be on display until 8 p.m. Sunday.
www.washingtonpost.com
Reposted by Fritz Roth
Let's be clear: no one should be taking medical advice from the man who told Americans to inject bleach.

To moms worried about the Tylenol they took while pregnant: you deserve better than being RFK Jr's scapegoat.

And to the autism community: you are loved exactly as you are.
Reposted by Fritz Roth
🚨 Microbiologists! We are recruiting Assistant / Associate Professors in 3 collaborative areas of our U. Pittsburgh School of Medicine.
1) MMG (my dept): fundamental research in med micro
2) Peds ID / I4Kids institute
3) Center for Vaccine Research
🔗 to all 3 w/info: www.linkedin.com/posts/vaughn...
Faculty Professor Associate - Full-Time | Vaughn Cooper
We are recruiting Faculty microbiologists in three (3) different, complementary, and collaborative areas at the University of Pittsburgh associated with the School of Medicine. 1) Fundamental researc...
www.linkedin.com
Congrats Yun will be excited to read! Did you assess performance after removing common benign variants? Perhaps the main application of variant effect predictors is classifying rare variants, but as the REVEL paper showed, common benign variants are not representative of rare benign variants.
Reposted by Fritz Roth
3 cheers for NIH grant staff! Regardless of everything else, they are heros!
Reposted by Fritz Roth
I am deeply saddened and angered by news that more NIH RIFs may happen next week. This is unacceptable, especially after NIH staff have worked nights & weekends to dig out from the backlog created by this admin's incompetence.

Tell your Congress people NIH needs its staff to keep delivering cures
From 2015-2024, NHLBI has averaged 9.7 4 year multi-year funded R01s. Almost all of these are non-competitive renewals.

In FY2025, NHLBI has made 3 4 multi-year funded R01s, all competitive (new or competitive renewal).

Almost all NHLBI R01s are funded annually (like other institutes and centers)
I'd like to see that argument made quantitatively.
Reposted by Fritz Roth
Democratic lawmakers in California want the state to restore funding for scientific research that has been slashed by the Trump administration, creating an ambitious plan to use tens of billions of dollars in voter-approved bonds to fill the void.
California’s $23 Billion Plan to Restore Federal Cuts to Scientific Research
Democrats are calling for the creation of a state equivalent of the National Institutes of Health, but first state lawmakers and then voters would need to approve it.
nyti.ms
Likely scenario:
-NIH budget is flat in FY26,
-NIH continues out-year funding for ALL grants in FY26.

The extra budget freed up in FY26 by out-year funding in FY25 will come nowhere near restoring the number of new projects funded in FY26 to what it was FY25 (much less what it was in FY24).
Reposted by Fritz Roth
These a 4-year R01s WITH ALL FOUR YEARS FUNDED OUT OF THIS YEAR'S APPROPRIATION.

No need for non-competitive renewal awards.
I don’t quite understand this… NHLBI has been doing 4 year R01s almost exclusively for the last at least 6-7 years, excepting only ESI / NI R01s that get 5 years. Doesn’t seem to be reflected here
And thus each fully-funded 4-year R01 reduces what could have been four R01 research projects next year into only one. :(
Reposted by Fritz Roth
Assembly of the complete horse genome reveals variants associated with reproduction and temperamental traits https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.09.10.675315v1