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Reposted by Kim Tolias

The Transmitter @thetransmitter.bsky.social · 13d

Edward Kravitz, a Harvard biochemist who proved GABA's inhibitory power, passed away last month. He will "be remembered for his humanity, for his social conscience and his desire to help those less fortunate than he,” says Ronald Harris-Warrick.

By @claudia-lopez.bsky.social

bit.ly/479Ggmo

Remembering GABA pioneer Edward Kravitz

The biochemist, who died last month at age 92, was part of the first neurobiology department in the world and showed that gamma-aminobutyric acid is inhibitory.

bit.ly

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Current Biology @currentbiology.bsky.social · Oct 1

Sad news: Jane Goodall has died. She did more than any other human for our understanding and appreciation of our closest relatives, the chimpanzees.

That chimpanzees are Endangered tells you everything about our species and about what made her so exceptional.

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/01/o...

Jane Goodall, Eminent Primatologist Who Chronicled the Lives of Chimps, Dies at 91

www.nytimes.com

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pissed-off-g.bsky.social @pissed-off-g.bsky.social · Sep 3

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Waggoner Lab @labwaggoner.bsky.social · Aug 1

‘Congress has your back’: US senators tell scientists they want to protect NIH budget
www.nature.com/articles/d41...

‘Congress has your back’: US senators tell scientists they want to protect NIH budget

Senate budget bill includes small increase for the health-research agency — but faces a long road before being signed into law.

www.nature.com

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Bertoglio lab (FMC/UFSC) @bertogliolab.bsky.social · Jul 22

A functional perspective on astrocyte heterogeneity
www.cell.com/trends/neuro...

A functional perspective on astrocyte heterogeneity

Astrocytes are glial cells of the central nervous system (CNS) that perform an array of diverse functions that are essential for brain activity. Studies on the functional diversity of astrocytes sugge...

www.cell.com

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Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · Jul 17

My quote of the day

A Video Quote

Medical miracles don't happen overnight. You have to invest in them. Our investments are in trouble.

(From Francis Collins on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, July 16, 2025)

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Ardem Patapoutian @ardemp.bskyverified.social · Jun 19

I spoke with Jade Hindmon, host of @kpbssandiego.bsky.social Midday Edition, about the consequences of the current administration’s cuts to science funding. Please share to help spread the word and raise awareness.
www.kpbs.org/podcasts/kpb...

Nobel laureate on how Trump's cuts are hurting science

Neuroscientist, biologist and 2021 Nobel Prize winner Ardem Patapoutian joined Midday Edition to talk about how the Trump administration's effort to cut back on science spending is impacting researche...

www.kpbs.org

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I-75 Scientist @flscitriguy.bsky.social · Jun 13

Yas! Parent F32 (PA-25-423) and F30s (PA-25-426, PA-25-425) are also published.
simpler.grants.gov

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Jeff Leek @jtleek.bsky.social · Jun 4

These are not just grants. This is thousands of people who devoted their lives and careers - taking pay cuts, working long hours, living with uncertainty - all for the chance to try to make people's lives a bit better for you and your loved ones. This breaks my heart.

Joshua Tucker @jatucker.bsky.social · Jun 4

Cutting NIH or NSF funding sounds abstract. Seeing what research is actually being cut makes it real. Kudos to @nytimes.com for this piece:

www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Here Are the Nearly 2,500 Medical Research Grants Canceled or Delayed by Trump

Some cuts have been starkly visible, but the country’s medical grant-making machinery has also radically transformed outside the public eye.

www.nytimes.com

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Igor Brodsky @brodskyigorlab.bsky.social · Jun 3

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Every $1 spent on NIH funding returns nearly $3 to the economy - an almost 200% return on investment💰.
Also 99% of drugs developed 2010-2019 were funded by NIH ‼️🤯
Cutting NIH funding not only hurts the economy but will hurt families and patients 😔💔

NIH indirect cost cuts will affect the economy and employment - Nature Human Behaviour

Nature Human Behaviour - NIH indirect cost cuts will affect the economy and employment

www.nature.com

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Paul Graf @paulginva.bsky.social · Jun 3

Man comes to the US from Lebanon. Starts out delivering pizzas, becomes a Nobel winning neuroscientist. Trump freezes his funding, he gets an email from China offering to move his lab “any city, any university I want" with guaranteed funding for 20 years.

What are we doing?

Ardem Patapoutian's story is not just the American dream, it is the dream of American science.

He arrived in Los Angeles in 1986 at age 18 after fleeing war-torn Lebanon. He spent a year writing for an Armenian newspaper and delivering Domino's at night to become eligible for the University of California, where he earned his undergraduate degree and a postdoctoral fellowship in neuroscience.

He started a lab at Scripps Research in San Diego with a grant from the National Institutes of Health, discovered the way humans sense touch, and in 2021 won the Nobel Prize.

But with the Trump administration slashing spending on science, Dr. Patapoutian's federal grant to develop new approaches to treating pain has been frozen. In late February, he posted on Bluesky that such cuts would damage biomedical research and prompt an exodus of talent from the United States. Within hours, he had an email from China, offering to move his lab to "any city, any university I want," he said, with a guarantee of funding for the next 20 years.

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Raider @iwillnotbesilenced.bsky.social · Jun 2

Senator Ossoff speaking the truth. We need real action

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Michael Clemens @mclem.org · May 31

It is hard to conceive of a more anti-American policy choice for US innovation and prosperity in the 21st century.

Peter Gleick @petergleick.bsky.social · May 31

There are 2 previous historical cases of countries destroying their science and universities, crippling them for decades: Lysenkoism in the USSR and Nazi Germany. The Trump administration will be the 3rd.
It's not just budgets but research, institutions, expertise, and training the next generation.

Graphs showing 25 years of budgets for the National Institute of Health, NASA, and the NSF. In all cases, the proposed budget for next year is far, far below any year of the previous quarter century.

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Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · May 31

ASSIGNMENT: COMMENT ON SCHEDULE F

1 week left to comment about Schedule F, potentially making NIH institute and center director essentially political appointees.

www.regulations.gov/commenton/OP...

1/n

Regulations.gov

www.regulations.gov

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Kim Tolias @kimtolias.bsky.social · May 29

Huge congratulations to @franciscoblanco.bsky.social (PhD) and Topher Cronkite (MD/PhD) for earning their degrees! Mentoring such outstanding students has been a true honor! Can't wait to see the amazing things they'll do next! @bcmneurosci.bsky.social @bcm-mstp.bsky.social #BCMGraduation

Francisco A. Blanco @franciscoblanco.bsky.social · May 28

Special shout-out to my amazing mentor @kimtolias.bsky.social. Incredibly fortunate for the opportunity to train in her lab alongside Topher Cronkite. Thank you both, and all the amazing members of the K. Tolias lab, for constantly encouraging me to pursue the best science possible!

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Carolyn Bertozzi @carolynbertozzi.bskyverified.social · May 24

David Liu @harvard.edu beautifully articulates the criticality of basic science funding for developing revolutionary therapeutics like life-saving base editors 👏

youtu.be/8YhJM6zxYDw?...

Breakthrough Prize-Winning Biochemist on the Deadly Cost of Funding Cuts | Amanpour and Company

YouTube video by Amanpour and Company

youtu.be

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Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · May 22

Harvard today, your institution tomorrow.

It's all part of the Project 2025 plan to destroy high education in America.

All leading US universities depend on federal funding and tuition dollars from international students. They severely curtailed the former. Now they're eliminating the latter.

The Trump administration on Thursday halted Harvard University’s ability to enroll international students, taking aim at a crucial funding source for the nation’s oldest and wealthiest college in a major escalation in the administration’s efforts to pressure the elite school to fall in line with the president’s agenda.

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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · May 20

DURBIN: How can we give hope to people across the country who are suffering from so many diseases when our government is cutting back on that research?

RFK Jr: I do not know about any cuts to ALS research

D: I just read them to you!

R: I didn't know about them until you told me about them

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Anna Kornbluh @annakornbluh.bsky.social · May 18

say it again:

4 million people work in higher ed, the largest employer in 10 states, second largest employer in 10 more, and in 60 of the 100 biggest cities

ROI for NIH and NSF for local economies is conservatively 4x, often close to 10x

demolishing higher education is economic sabotage

Evan Torner @guyintheblackhat.bsky.social · May 18

There is a false dichotomy drawn between "the ivory tower" and "the real world," and I'm here to report that in a post-industrial society, your real-world economy absolutely hinges on the university.

University towns are factory towns. Universities drive economic activity, not the other way around.

Prof Christina Pagel @chrischirp.bsky.social · May 18

A must read

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Drug Monkey @drugmonkey.bsky.social · May 9

On why we need the NIH.

www.physiology.org/publications...

Why We Need the National Institutes of Health

NIH has historically received bipartisan support. We should all be advocating for continued federal funding for biomedical research.

www.physiology.org

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Denis Wirtz @deniswirtz.bsky.social · May 7

We have updated our database of funding opportunities for Early-Career Researchers (private foundations, federal, international)

We have 456 entries, for which we provide $ amount, deadline, eligibility criteria, etc.

Download this massive database here for free: research.jhu.edu/rdt/funding-...

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Needhi Bhalla 💅🏽 @needhibhalla.bsky.social · May 5

"The biomedical research cuts when they’re polled are like 70-30 or 80-20 against. But it’s only on the edges of the news. You want to push it to the center of the news...Let’s have that vote. Push this issue to the top of the news feed and make Republicans own these cuts."

Michael Ward @michael-e-ward.bsky.social · May 5

talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/the-w...

Not nearly enough coverage of this possibility by traditional media.

The White House’s Next Orchestrated Budget Crisis

This is something I’m still trying to get my head around –...

talkingpointsmemo.com

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David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · May 4

Because no one spends as much on science as the US does, destroying NIH, NSF, NOAA, NASA, EPA, USDA, USGS, etc. is leading to a brain drain, but it's not to other countries but rather from science. This senseless destruction of US science will hurt the US and the world for a very long time.

David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · Mar 11

To see why destroying the US science enterprise is so detrimental to the world, we have to realize that the US spends more on research and development than any other country in the world (by far), and if we remove China and Japan, the US spends almost as much as ALL other countries combined.

Bar graph titled "Top 20 Countries by Research and Development Spending." The United States leads significantly in spending, followed by China, Japan, and Germany. Other countries include the United Kingdom, South Korea, France, and Australia, among others.

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Dr. Lucky Tran @luckytran.com · May 2

The Human Genome Project cost taxpayers $3 Billion.

Two decades on, it has generated a staggering return on investment of $1 Trillion, with benefits in medicine, agriculture, energy, the environment, & more.

If you want to boost the economy, funding science is one of the best things you could do.

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boehninglab @boehninglab.com · May 2

Budget released today:
40% cut to NIH
50% cut to NSF
If enacted, this will destroy academic research in the United States. It will also have a major trickle down effect on the entire academic ecosystem

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