Jeff Lewis
@lewislab.bsky.social
Interested in understanding how organisms sense and respond to stressful environments, and why some individuals are more sensitive or more resilient. he/his
Pinned
Jeff Lewis
@lewislab.bsky.social
· Sep 26
Assistant Professor Cell Biology
Current University of Arkansas System employees, including student employees and graduate assistants, need to log in to Workday via MyApps.Microsoft.com, then access Find Jobs from the Workday search ...
uasys.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com
Very excited to announce that our department is now accepting applications for a tenure track faculty position in Cell Biology: uasys.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/UASYS/...
Come join our wonderful department!
Come join our wonderful department!
Reposted by Jeff Lewis
Yup. Totally fine with editors making decisions on say, split reviews, or requests for additional experiments. Reviewers are advisory, not the final word.
November 22, 2025 at 4:37 PM
Yup. Totally fine with editors making decisions on say, split reviews, or requests for additional experiments. Reviewers are advisory, not the final word.
Reposted by Jeff Lewis
absolutely agree but then say THAT. the inability to be careful with our language and arguments is part of what brought us here, as did allying with some bad actors. Being clear about what our primary concerns are make our arguments more compelling and less likely to be manipulated against us
November 22, 2025 at 4:30 PM
absolutely agree but then say THAT. the inability to be careful with our language and arguments is part of what brought us here, as did allying with some bad actors. Being clear about what our primary concerns are make our arguments more compelling and less likely to be manipulated against us
Reposted by Jeff Lewis
Always so SUPER interesting who defends ONLY using peer review to determine who gets funded. 👀
I am a big believer in the value of peer review but have also seen its weaknesses and biases.
I am a big believer in the value of peer review but have also seen its weaknesses and biases.
November 22, 2025 at 4:19 PM
Always so SUPER interesting who defends ONLY using peer review to determine who gets funded. 👀
I am a big believer in the value of peer review but have also seen its weaknesses and biases.
I am a big believer in the value of peer review but have also seen its weaknesses and biases.
Reposted by Jeff Lewis
Those who are triggered by the notion one person (the IC Director) has dictatorial power to select #NIHgrants for funding should really be more concerned about the person who really has life or death power over your application’s fate.
drugmonkey.wordpress.com/2019/10/31/t...
drugmonkey.wordpress.com/2019/10/31/t...
The most powerful job in the NIH grant selection system is that of the SRO
I stand by this assertion. Whether they use this power to its fullest terrible extent is arguable. But that they possess this power is not. While there are many factors that go into determining wha…
drugmonkey.wordpress.com
November 22, 2025 at 4:07 PM
Those who are triggered by the notion one person (the IC Director) has dictatorial power to select #NIHgrants for funding should really be more concerned about the person who really has life or death power over your application’s fate.
drugmonkey.wordpress.com/2019/10/31/t...
drugmonkey.wordpress.com/2019/10/31/t...
Reposted by Jeff Lewis
Study sections are also unaware of what other grants are currently funded either by other researchers or to the applicant. Just blindly funding the science that three people thought was cool (because really it’s the three reviewers who largely drive the score), may not be the best use of our money.
November 22, 2025 at 3:37 PM
Study sections are also unaware of what other grants are currently funded either by other researchers or to the applicant. Just blindly funding the science that three people thought was cool (because really it’s the three reviewers who largely drive the score), may not be the best use of our money.
FFS people, look at the curves for the ICs with "no paylines." It's not like percentile is completely uncorrelated with funding. This looks exceptionally healthy to me. That study sections are adding a lot of value, but that ICs do not just rigidly follow their advice.
In which I fruitlessly beg NIH grant-seeking folks to focus on what is actually important. drugmonkey.wordpress.com/2025/11/21/i...
In which I fruitlessly beg NIH grant-seeking folks to focus on what is actually important.
A new webpage on the NIH site called “Implementing a Unified NIH Funding Strategy to Guide Consistent and Clearer Award Decisions” is causing a small kerfuffle on the socials. As per us…
drugmonkey.wordpress.com
November 22, 2025 at 3:00 PM
FFS people, look at the curves for the ICs with "no paylines." It's not like percentile is completely uncorrelated with funding. This looks exceptionally healthy to me. That study sections are adding a lot of value, but that ICs do not just rigidly follow their advice.
I’m very curious if those who think strict paylines are the way to go also strongly support the independent decisions of journal editors (especially when they overrule peer reviewers in their favor).
You are incorrect. Study sections are neither fair nor transparent. Neither are they objective. They suffer systematically from an inherent conservatism. and they are generally unable to produce a balanced portfolio because they do not have that knowledge in front of them.
November 22, 2025 at 1:34 AM
I’m very curious if those who think strict paylines are the way to go also strongly support the independent decisions of journal editors (especially when they overrule peer reviewers in their favor).
Reposted by Jeff Lewis
You are incorrect. Study sections are neither fair nor transparent. Neither are they objective. They suffer systematically from an inherent conservatism. and they are generally unable to produce a balanced portfolio because they do not have that knowledge in front of them.
November 22, 2025 at 1:25 AM
You are incorrect. Study sections are neither fair nor transparent. Neither are they objective. They suffer systematically from an inherent conservatism. and they are generally unable to produce a balanced portfolio because they do not have that knowledge in front of them.
Reposted by Jeff Lewis
What I would very much like us to focus on is the nature of these priorities going forward, how they are developed and who is implementing them, instead of yelling about how a thing practiced by about half of the ICs alread is somehow the *structural* issue we should be fighting.
November 22, 2025 at 12:44 AM
What I would very much like us to focus on is the nature of these priorities going forward, how they are developed and who is implementing them, instead of yelling about how a thing practiced by about half of the ICs alread is somehow the *structural* issue we should be fighting.
Reposted by Jeff Lewis
Mostly me reiterating what was said in the blogpost: this was already policy at many ICs; what is important is not the change away from paylines (which were already a mess) but the quality and integrity of POs/SROs/etc. remains intact
In which I fruitlessly beg NIH grant-seeking folks to focus on what is actually important. drugmonkey.wordpress.com/2025/11/21/i...
In which I fruitlessly beg NIH grant-seeking folks to focus on what is actually important.
A new webpage on the NIH site called “Implementing a Unified NIH Funding Strategy to Guide Consistent and Clearer Award Decisions” is causing a small kerfuffle on the socials. As per us…
drugmonkey.wordpress.com
November 22, 2025 at 12:37 AM
Mostly me reiterating what was said in the blogpost: this was already policy at many ICs; what is important is not the change away from paylines (which were already a mess) but the quality and integrity of POs/SROs/etc. remains intact
Reposted by Jeff Lewis
In which I fruitlessly beg NIH grant-seeking folks to focus on what is actually important. drugmonkey.wordpress.com/2025/11/21/i...
In which I fruitlessly beg NIH grant-seeking folks to focus on what is actually important.
A new webpage on the NIH site called “Implementing a Unified NIH Funding Strategy to Guide Consistent and Clearer Award Decisions” is causing a small kerfuffle on the socials. As per us…
drugmonkey.wordpress.com
November 22, 2025 at 12:26 AM
In which I fruitlessly beg NIH grant-seeking folks to focus on what is actually important. drugmonkey.wordpress.com/2025/11/21/i...
Reposted by Jeff Lewis
Reposted by Jeff Lewis
Thank you @drugmonkey.bsky.social for showing the detailed arithmetic underlying what I have been flogging for YEARS: being "nice" by giving 3s to grants you "want to see again" completely fucks the grants you want to see funded.
drugmonkey.wordpress.com/2025/11/20/n...
drugmonkey.wordpress.com/2025/11/20/n...
“Nice” NIH study sections screw their applicants because of the way NIH calculates percentile.
I often write blog comments about NIH grant review matters that exist in an uncomfortable tension between what NIH wants us to do on study section and what I see as our professional obligation to t…
drugmonkey.wordpress.com
November 21, 2025 at 12:55 PM
Thank you @drugmonkey.bsky.social for showing the detailed arithmetic underlying what I have been flogging for YEARS: being "nice" by giving 3s to grants you "want to see again" completely fucks the grants you want to see funded.
drugmonkey.wordpress.com/2025/11/20/n...
drugmonkey.wordpress.com/2025/11/20/n...
Reposted by Jeff Lewis
"Nice" NIH study sections screw their applicants because of the way NIH calculates percentile. drugmonkey.wordpress.com/2025/11/20/n...
“Nice” NIH study sections screw their applicants because of the way NIH calculates percentile.
I often write blog comments about NIH grant review matters that exist in an uncomfortable tension between what NIH wants us to do on study section and what I see as our professional obligation to t…
drugmonkey.wordpress.com
November 21, 2025 at 1:50 AM
"Nice" NIH study sections screw their applicants because of the way NIH calculates percentile. drugmonkey.wordpress.com/2025/11/20/n...
Reposted by Jeff Lewis
Hot off the press! Our latest paper led by @fernpizza.bsky.social, understanding how plasmids evolve inside cells. These small, self-replicating DNA circles live inside bacteria and carry antibiotic resistance genes, but also compete with one another to replicate. 1/
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Intracellular competition shapes plasmid population dynamics
From populations of multicellular organisms to selfish genetic elements, conflicts between levels of biological organization are central to evolution. Plasmids are extrachromosomal, self-replicating g...
www.science.org
November 20, 2025 at 9:42 PM
Hot off the press! Our latest paper led by @fernpizza.bsky.social, understanding how plasmids evolve inside cells. These small, self-replicating DNA circles live inside bacteria and carry antibiotic resistance genes, but also compete with one another to replicate. 1/
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Jeff Lewis
I wrote about the recent autism-microbiome paper, why I think it's the most important microbiome paper this year, and what it says about the field
open.substack.com/pub/blekhman...
open.substack.com/pub/blekhman...
The Autism-Microbiome Hypothesis Is Falling Apart
Why this new review paper should be required reading for every microbiome researcher
open.substack.com
November 19, 2025 at 5:12 PM
I wrote about the recent autism-microbiome paper, why I think it's the most important microbiome paper this year, and what it says about the field
open.substack.com/pub/blekhman...
open.substack.com/pub/blekhman...
Reposted by Jeff Lewis
New preprint! We measured temperature- and pH-induced aggregation for over 18,000 natural and de novo designed protein domains!
November 19, 2025 at 9:16 PM
New preprint! We measured temperature- and pH-induced aggregation for over 18,000 natural and de novo designed protein domains!
Reposted by Jeff Lewis
☑️ GSA Board Elections are open—we're calling our members to make their voice heard!
Help shape the future of our Society by voting for the next Vice President, Treasurer, and three Directors. Cast your ballot by November 30, 2025: buff.ly/TAENAkq
Help shape the future of our Society by voting for the next Vice President, Treasurer, and three Directors. Cast your ballot by November 30, 2025: buff.ly/TAENAkq
November 19, 2025 at 5:05 PM
☑️ GSA Board Elections are open—we're calling our members to make their voice heard!
Help shape the future of our Society by voting for the next Vice President, Treasurer, and three Directors. Cast your ballot by November 30, 2025: buff.ly/TAENAkq
Help shape the future of our Society by voting for the next Vice President, Treasurer, and three Directors. Cast your ballot by November 30, 2025: buff.ly/TAENAkq
Reposted by Jeff Lewis
Thrilled to finally share the magnum opus of my PhD that focuses on the genetic basis of evolutionary change! Specifically, we know we can map the genetic basis of a trait, but can we tell which genes will underlie the trait shift when it evolves? doi.org/10.1101/2025...
High-resolution mapping of a rapidly evolving complex trait reveals genotype-phenotype stability and an unpredictable genetic architecture of adaptation
The extent to which adaptation can be predicted, particularly for traits with complex genetic bases, is unknown. Here, we leveraged a model complex trait, model species, and high-powered longitudinal ...
doi.org
November 18, 2025 at 12:15 AM
Thrilled to finally share the magnum opus of my PhD that focuses on the genetic basis of evolutionary change! Specifically, we know we can map the genetic basis of a trait, but can we tell which genes will underlie the trait shift when it evolves? doi.org/10.1101/2025...
Reposted by Jeff Lewis
I think we should also distinguish big issues (e.g., restoring public support for science, federal funding) from smaller (details about peer review, F&A rates, the most manufactured "reproducibility crisis" ) - confusing the two has allowed the latter to be weaponized against scientists
November 17, 2025 at 3:22 PM
I think we should also distinguish big issues (e.g., restoring public support for science, federal funding) from smaller (details about peer review, F&A rates, the most manufactured "reproducibility crisis" ) - confusing the two has allowed the latter to be weaponized against scientists
Reposted by Jeff Lewis
I posted yesterday about the shift to triaging 70% of NIH applications rather than 50%.
This is apparently just a temporary step to catch up for all of the study section meetings cancelled due to the government shutdown.
I hope NIH will collect some data to track the impacts of this change.
This is apparently just a temporary step to catch up for all of the study section meetings cancelled due to the government shutdown.
I hope NIH will collect some data to track the impacts of this change.
a woman wearing a beanie says this is a temporary fix netflix
ALT: a woman wearing a beanie says this is a temporary fix netflix
media.tenor.com
November 15, 2025 at 6:44 PM
I posted yesterday about the shift to triaging 70% of NIH applications rather than 50%.
This is apparently just a temporary step to catch up for all of the study section meetings cancelled due to the government shutdown.
I hope NIH will collect some data to track the impacts of this change.
This is apparently just a temporary step to catch up for all of the study section meetings cancelled due to the government shutdown.
I hope NIH will collect some data to track the impacts of this change.
Reposted by Jeff Lewis
Notes on NIH matters as the government opens up again drugmonkey.wordpress.com/2025/11/14/n...
Notes on NIH matters as the government opens up again
A tweet from someone apparently positioned to know claimed the damage totals from the government shutdown amounted to 379 study sections postponed, within which 24,380 NIH grant applications were s…
drugmonkey.wordpress.com
November 15, 2025 at 12:35 AM
Notes on NIH matters as the government opens up again drugmonkey.wordpress.com/2025/11/14/n...
Reposted by Jeff Lewis
wonder how CSR will handle MIRA study sections, since they discuss more than half of the applications to fund a greater range
my MIRA was supposed to be reviewed on 10/28
my MIRA was supposed to be reviewed on 10/28
Just got an email from my SRO for the study section that was missed in October. Good news is that they are trying to reschedule ASAP (Dec/Jan). The bad news is that CSR is mandating that only the the top third (not half) of applications will get discussed for the next 2 rounds.
November 14, 2025 at 1:20 AM
wonder how CSR will handle MIRA study sections, since they discuss more than half of the applications to fund a greater range
my MIRA was supposed to be reviewed on 10/28
my MIRA was supposed to be reviewed on 10/28
Reposted by Jeff Lewis
The Matthew Effect is alive and well in academia - always makes me wary of programs aimed at identifying rising stars in an already highly talented pool...
elifesciences.org/reviewed-pre...
elifesciences.org/reviewed-pre...
elifesciences.org
November 12, 2025 at 7:03 PM
The Matthew Effect is alive and well in academia - always makes me wary of programs aimed at identifying rising stars in an already highly talented pool...
elifesciences.org/reviewed-pre...
elifesciences.org/reviewed-pre...
If you are even remotely qualified and care about the NIH mission, please apply!
More new NIH institute and center director positions posted
with a closing date of 11/26/25.
hr.nih.gov/careers/open...
These include the Center for Scientific Review (CSR), National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR), National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), ...
1/3
with a closing date of 11/26/25.
hr.nih.gov/careers/open...
These include the Center for Scientific Review (CSR), National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR), National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), ...
1/3
hr.nih.gov
November 12, 2025 at 6:06 PM
If you are even remotely qualified and care about the NIH mission, please apply!