John Chodera
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jchodera.bsky.social
John Chodera
@jchodera.bsky.social
Achira | http://achira.ai

Research laboratory | http://choderalab.org

Antiviral drug discovery for pandemics | http://asapdiscovery.org

OpenADMET | http://openadmet.org

Employer-mandated disclaimer: http://choderalab.org/disclaimer

Pronouns: he/him
Pinned
Incredibly proud to have played a small role in this journey alongside so many incredible scientists like Annette von Delft and Peter Sjö!
Great news! 🎉

Following an independent expert review, we have formally nominated the broad-spectrum pan-coronavirus antiviral ASAP-0017445 as a pre-clinical drug candidate.

🔗Read the press release here: dndi.org/press-releas...
Reposted by John Chodera
The Citizens United decision has corrupted our government and is destroying our democracy. Here's a way to get rid of it. robertreich.substack.com/p/how-to-get...
How to Get Rid of "Citizens United"
We can do away with it without a new Supreme Court. Nor do we need a constitutional amendment. There’s a far simpler way.
robertreich.substack.com
November 29, 2025 at 11:34 PM
Reposted by John Chodera
An important part of arresting the consolidation of authoritarianism is convincing corporations and institutions that Trump will eventually be out of power and at that point they’ll face consequences for their actions and by that standard this is a good sign
Jamie Dimon says JPM hasn't given to the ballroom because "anything we do, since we do a lot of contracts with governments here and around the world, we have to be very careful about how anything is perceived." Adds "And also how the next DOJ is going to deal with."
thehill.com/business/559...
thehill.com
November 30, 2025 at 5:17 AM
Reposted by John Chodera
Soon small businesses won’t have to wait for Small Business Saturday to get attention from their Mayor.

Some changes that they can look forward to:
November 29, 2025 at 10:15 PM
Reposted by John Chodera
Nearly a dozen warships and 12,000 troops are deployed in Caribbean at this very moment.

But Trump's judicial nominees can't even bring themselves to acknowledge Congress’ role in declaring or authorizing war, or refusing to do so.
November 28, 2025 at 7:04 PM
Reposted by John Chodera
How did the @nytimes.com editors let this sentence appear?

"Critics have likened Mr. Trump’s approach to extortion, while others have chalked it up as a cost of doing business with this administration."

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/26/u...
Northwestern University Nears Deal to Resolve Its Conflict With the White House
www.nytimes.com
November 29, 2025 at 1:07 AM
Reposted by John Chodera
I can't begin to express how much I hate this. I refuse to give money to my alma mater if they'll allow it to be extorted from them by the likes of Donald Trump and I will encourage other alumni to act likewise.
BREAKING: Northwestern University has agreed to pay the U.S. Treasury $75 million, over the course of three years as part of an agreement with the federal government to restore funding and end investigations into the university

Full statement from NU below:
November 29, 2025 at 1:33 AM
Reposted by John Chodera
From Frederick Douglass's 1867 "Composite Nation" speech, a defense of Chinese migration to the United States at a time when anti-Chinese sentiment was intensifying.
teachingamericanhistory.org/document/our...
November 28, 2025 at 7:01 PM
Reposted by John Chodera
To put a finer point on this whole thing: "Two people with direct knowledge of the operation" — presumably uniformed military leaders — are accusing the U.S. Secretary of Defense of personally ordering specific war crimes. That's a historic accusation.
Textbook war crime/extrajudicial killing

"Two survivors were clinging to the smoldering wreck. The Special Operations commander overseeing the Sept. 2 attack ... ordered a second strike to comply with Hegseth’s instructions."

Report by @alexhorton.bsky.social @ellenwapo.bsky.social o.bsky.social
Hegseth order on first Caribbean boat strike, officials say: Kill them all
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a verbal order to kill all crew members in the Sept. 2 strike on a suspected drug boat. Navy SEALs fired a second missile.
www.washingtonpost.com
November 28, 2025 at 11:48 PM
Reposted by John Chodera
They did it again! NYC subway Thanksgiving 2025, via @scootercaster.com!
November 27, 2025 at 4:19 PM
Reposted by John Chodera
This is wonderful news, and also means it’s time for me to beat the drum I always do when HPV vaccines make the news:

They are not only for women! HPV also causes penile, anal, and head and neck cancers. The latter are particularly deadly. Please vaccinate ALL your children.
Australia recorded ZERO cases of cervical cancer in women under 25 for the first time since they started tracking the cancer in the 80s.

This is the power of vaccines.

The HPV vaccine is extremely effective at preventing cancer.

Viruses can be oncogenic. Get your vaccines and protect yourself!
newsGP - Australia set for world-first cervical cancer elimination
Vaccination programs have played a key role, and GPs remain ‘instrumental’ in boosting screening rates to reach the 2035 target.
www1.racgp.org.au
November 27, 2025 at 9:30 AM
Reposted by John Chodera
I feel much safer today knowing that we deported a Babson College student back to a country where she hasn't lived since childhood.

She wasn't even flying internationally. She was flying to Texas.
A Babson College student wanted to surprise her family for Thanksgiving. She was deported instead. - The Boston Globe
Any Lucia Lopez Belloza was at Logan to catch a flight to Texas when immigration authorities detained her as she was about to board the plane.
www.bostonglobe.com
November 27, 2025 at 10:47 AM
Reposted by John Chodera
Our government is disappearing people and subjecting their families to unimaginable terror.
November 27, 2025 at 10:49 AM
Reposted by John Chodera
The US government support of cancer research via NCI
has been severely cut.
And of June 2025, "There were 181 individual terminated NCI funded grants, with a total award amount of $640,867, 956."
jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
Disrupted Federal Funding for Extramural Cancer Research
This cross-sectional study assesses the scale and scope of terminated cancer research grants from the National Cancer Institute.
jamanetwork.com
November 26, 2025 at 4:59 PM
Reposted by John Chodera
U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis wrote the footnote in a 223-page opinion issued last week, noting that the practice of using ChatGPT to write use-of-force reports undermines agents’ credibility and “may explain the inaccuracy of these reports.”
Judge’s Footnote on Immigration Agents Using AI in Chicago Area Raises Accuracy and Privacy Concerns
U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis wrote the footnote in a 223-page opinion issued last week, noting that the practice of using ChatGPT to write use-of-force reports undermines agents’ credibility and “ma...
news.wttw.com
November 26, 2025 at 7:09 PM
Reposted by John Chodera
The State Department has warned employees not to use government funds to mark Dec. 1 as World AIDS Day and to “refrain from publicly promoting World AIDS Day through any communication channels.” nyti.ms/3KhPDrA
Trump Administration Will No Longer Commemorate World AIDS Day
The State Department warned employees not to use government funds for the occasion and to “refrain from publicly promoting World AIDS Day through any communication channels.”
nyti.ms
November 26, 2025 at 10:35 PM
Reposted by John Chodera
The US is fast-tracking this important HIV drug — for everyone except South Africa

www.vox.com/future-perfe...
The US is fast-tracking this important HIV drug — for everyone except South Africa
Why the Trump administration is cutting out a country that needs it most.
www.vox.com
November 25, 2025 at 1:06 PM
Reposted by John Chodera
Scientists are feeling the squeeze. A lot of orgs focus on asking elites for our privileges back.

We’re different: we build people power from the ground up—an easy on-ramp for scientists to learn + take collective action.

Join tonight’s Action Hour (Tues 11/25), 8pm ET:
bit.ly/3Xi0Hrx
Welcome! You are invited to join a meeting: Scientists in Solidarity Action Hour. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the meeting.
Scientists in Solidarity: Action Hour Make meaning. Build power. Take action. Feeling overwhelmed by the political attacks on science, education, and civil rights? You’re not alone—and you don’t ha...
us02web.zoom.us
November 25, 2025 at 12:58 PM
Reposted by John Chodera
“Just following orders”
“We’ve tried to not have to do it, but we've got direct orders,” the masked ICE agents told them www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/i...
November 25, 2025 at 12:52 PM
Reposted by John Chodera
Unfortunately, I can confirm that this is true.

I have known Carl for 2 decades and he is smart, dedicated, and quite apolitical, focused on science and getting stuff done on important problems.

Huge unnecessary loss of leadership and expertise.
Hearing news that Carl Dieffenbach, the Director of the Division of AIDS at #NIH (NIAID), has been removed from his position because he was "not aligned with HHS/OMB."

Russell Vought continues to remove great scientists as part of the Project 2025 mission to politicize and destroy NIH.

🧪 1/
November 24, 2025 at 5:49 AM
Reposted by John Chodera
Local police officers and sheriffs in Mobile, Alabama, are abducting a man from the waiting room of a car dealership mechanic shop on behalf of ICE/DHS. During the kidnapping, he is administered an unidentified sedative.
November 23, 2025 at 3:57 PM
Reposted by John Chodera
In this tough and moving essay, Caroline Kennedy's 35-year-old daughter Tatiana Schlossberg reveals that she is terminally ill with leukemia. She has some choice words about how her cousin Bobby has made the limited time she has left worse. www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
A Battle with My Blood
When I was diagnosed with leukemia, my first thought was that this couldn’t be happening to me, to my family.
www.newyorker.com
November 22, 2025 at 3:31 PM
Reposted by John Chodera
They planned to force him to crash or shoot him for recording their crimes. They then accused him of assaulting them. www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/c...
ICE video shows officers planned to ‘smash’ into Charlotte man filming Border Patrol
Immigration agents had a 12-pack of Modelos in their car while making arrests, Miguel Angel Garcia Martinez told investigators.
www.charlotteobserver.com
November 22, 2025 at 9:59 PM
Reposted by John Chodera
RFK Jr. wants you to know that he’s personally responsible for the anti-vax misinformation on the CDC's website
RFK Jr. wants you to know he’s personally responsible for anti-vax misinformation on CDC website
He told the New York Times there’s no proof that vaccines don’t cause autism, which is a lie.
www.motherjones.com
November 22, 2025 at 4:54 PM
Reposted by John Chodera
NEW AP INVESTIGATION: With license plate readers and local law enforcement partnerships, Border Patrol is monitoring American drivers and detaining those exhibiting ‘suspicious’ travel patterns in the U.S. interior. w/
@garanceburke.bsky.social. apnews.com/article/immi...
Border Patrol is monitoring US drivers and detaining those with 'suspicious' travel patterns
The U.S. Border Patrol is monitoring millions of American drivers nationwide in a secretive program to identify and detain people whose travel patterns it deems suspicious.
apnews.com
November 20, 2025 at 5:48 PM
Reposted by John Chodera
The administration is building a legal pathway for ad hoc grant terminations:

"if the agency determines that the award no longer effectuates the program goals or agency priorities"

Converting multiyear grants to 'at whim' coin flips will undermine the stability & leadership of American science.
Update on a significant development NIH grant terms.

On 10/1, a change to grant making regs went into effect that gives NIH more power to terminate grants for policy reasons.

But to use this power, new grant terms must include specific language. See @aniloza.bsky.social w/ the story from July.

1/
HHS devises legal playbook for future grant terminations, internal memo shows
Exclusive: HHS devises a legal playbook for future research grant terminations, an internal memo shows.
www.statnews.com
November 20, 2025 at 4:06 PM