Sophie Astrof
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sophie-astrof.bsky.social
Sophie Astrof
@sophie-astrof.bsky.social
1K followers 1.7K following 45 posts
https://sites.rutgers.edu/astrof-lab/
Developmental biology, ECM, cardiovascular development, pharyngeal arches and arteries, congenital heart disease; Arches banner credit: Sam Snitkovsky.
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sophie-astrof.bsky.social
Calling all cardiovascular and regeneration researchers! ✨
The Weinstein Conference is officially set for May 6-8, 2026.

Connect with peers, discover groundbreaking science, and shape the future of the field. The website is live for updates.

📢 For announcements: weinstein-conference.oa-event.com
Home
weinstein-conference.oa-event.com
November 25, 2025 at 4:03 PM
Reposted by Sophie Astrof
gretchentg.bsky.social
My new @science.org editorial on the role of scientists in defending democracy is out today. As authoritarianism takes hold in the US, we must fight for the democratic principles that enable a free society and scientists have a key role. I hope you'll join us.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Scientists’ role in defending democracy
The United States’ democratic leadership, commitment to freedom of expression, and investment in the pursuit of knowledge have long enabled its preeminence in science and technology. Yet today we are ...
www.science.org
August 14, 2025 at 6:36 PM
Reposted by Sophie Astrof
brynnpaulsen.bsky.social
DON’T LET RFK Jr. TURN OUR OCEANS OF SCIENCE INTO SWAMPS OF QUACKERY.

Sign and repost the call for impeachment below - The health of our nation depends on it. 👇

#standupforscience
#draintheswamp
#quackquackquack
standupforscience.bsky.social Stand Up for Science! @standupforscience.bsky.social · Aug 14
🚨BREAKING NEWS: RFK Jr. is a danger to this nation. Don’t give in to Trump & his cronies: we are NOT trading innovation for ideology. We demand the immediate IMPEACHMENT and REMOVAL of RFK. Stop the quack. Protect Science. Protect Democracy
Sign & share here: zurl.co/PEPyD
#StandUpForScience
August 14, 2025 at 2:42 PM
Reposted by Sophie Astrof
researchamerica.bsky.social
#ICYMI: Registration is now open for Research!America’s National Health Research Forum, taking place virtually on Sept. 3 and 10, and in person on Sept. 17.

Save your spot! Register here:
events.researchamerica.org/2025forum

#RAForum #HealthResearch #SciPol #EarlyCareer #Science
August 8, 2025 at 4:12 PM
Reposted by Sophie Astrof
rogerslabucd.bsky.social
This is an excellent explainer for why the multi year funding model is going to kill academic science as we know it. Please read!! ☹️
July 30, 2025 at 1:18 PM
Reposted by Sophie Astrof
jasonsynaptic.bsky.social
This man is pure evil.
July 30, 2025 at 1:16 AM
Reposted by Sophie Astrof
barrlab.bsky.social
From @aaas.org check-in with Sudip Parikh: a letter by 14 Republican senators urge the Office of Management and Budget to release NIH funding. If this includes your state (AL, ME, WV, SC, KY, KS, AR, PA, NC, IN, AK), Sudip recommends contacting & thanking them for being American science leaders.
Director Vought: We write to ask you to fully implement the Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 Full-Year Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, including funds appropriated for the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The continuing resolution supp011s NIH initiatives across a range of critical research areas­cancer, cardiovascular disease, rare pediatric disorders, and more. These vital efforts are not only necessary to Make America Healthy Again, but also have a direct impact on American families, biomedical innovation, our economy, and competing with Communist China. We are concerned by the slow disbursement rate of FY25 NIH funds, as it risks undermining critical research and the thousands of American jobs it supports. Suspension of these appropriated funds - whether formally withheld or functionally delayed - could threaten Americans' ability to access better treatments and limit our nation's leadership in biomedical science. It also risks inadve11ently severing ongoing NIH-funded research prior to actionable results. We share your commitment to ensuring NIH funds are used responsibly and not diverted to ideological or unaccountable programs. We are confident Secretary Kennedy and Director Bhattacharya are well positioned to uphold gold standard research by ensuring that NIH awards are grounded in transparency, scientific merit, and a clear alignment with national interests. Our shared goal is to restore public trust in the NIH precisely because its work is focused on results, accountability, and real-world impact. Withholding or suspending these funds would jeopardize that trust and hinder progress on critical health challenges facing our nation. Ultimately, this is about finding cures and seeing them through to fruition. We respectfully request that you ensure the timely release of all FY25 NIH appropriations in accordance with congressional intent. Doing so will ensure continued momentum in curing disease, supp011ing American innovation, and delivering result… Sincerely, Katie Boyd Britt John Boozman Shelly Moore Capito Bill Cassidy Susan Collins Lindsey O. Graham David H. McCormick Mitch McConnel Jerry Moran Lisa Murkowski Thom Tillis Todd Young Dan Sullivan Tim Scott
July 26, 2025 at 2:52 PM
Reposted by Sophie Astrof
science.org
In Science, researchers detail a nanoscale-resolution reconstruction of a millimeter-scale fragment of human cerebral cortex, giving an unprecedented view into the structural organization of brain tissue at the supracellular, cellular, and subcellular levels. #WorldBrainDay scim.ag/3FvpAKy
A single neuron (white) shown with 5,600 of the axons (blue) that connect to it. The synapses that make these connections are shown in green. The cell body (central core) of the neuron is about 14 micrometers across.
July 22, 2025 at 2:07 PM
sophie-astrof.bsky.social
Does anyone know if NCE are being approved after the rules changed in May? My NCE request is “currently pending leadership release”. Does anyone know what this means? @jeremymberg.bsky.social
July 21, 2025 at 6:39 PM
Reposted by Sophie Astrof
jeremymberg.bsky.social
Now is a good time to sign on in support of the courageous folks at EPA who stood up for all of us.

www.standupforscience.net/epa-declarat...
Support EPA Staff Now! — STAND UP FOR SCIENCE
Your solidarity with the EPA heroes increases the pressure on their Administrator Lee Zeldin.
www.standupforscience.net
July 1, 2025 at 10:49 AM
Reposted by Sophie Astrof
karenswilcoxphd.bsky.social
wonderful opportunity for junior faculty
June 28, 2025 at 12:37 AM
Reposted by Sophie Astrof
jibarrondo.bsky.social
New approach enables body to engineer its own cells to fight cancer or autoimmunity | Science | AAAS www.science.org/content/arti... 🧪
New approach enables body to engineer its own cells to fight cancer or autoimmunity
Injections of mRNA may offer a simpler, cheaper way to build powerful CAR-T cells
www.science.org
June 23, 2025 at 7:32 PM
Reposted by Sophie Astrof
ardemp.bskyverified.social
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
June 19, 2025 at 12:27 AM
Reposted by Sophie Astrof
piatkevich.bsky.social
mScarlet3-H (aka mYongHong) is on the cover of Nature Methods! All plasmids are available for free from WeKwikGene wekwikgene.wllsb.edu.cn/publications...
June 18, 2025 at 12:16 AM
Reposted by Sophie Astrof
newscientist.com
The Vera C. Rubin Observatory is releasing its first images on 23 June, showing us galaxies as we’ve never seen them before. Here’s how you can join a watch party to see those shots in full definition.
Why you should join a watch party for the first Vera C. Rubin images
The Vera C. Rubin Observatory is releasing its first images on 23 June, showing us galaxies as we’ve never seen them before. Here’s how you can join a party to see those shots in full definition
www.newscientist.com
June 18, 2025 at 8:40 AM
Reposted by Sophie Astrof
bardinlab.bsky.social
Students (Master's/PhD), do not miss this fantastic Developmental Biology course of @sorbonne-universite.fr and @institutcurie.bsky.social - It is FREE and open to international students, however, room and board + travel are not included.

training.institut-curie.org/courses/deve...
June 13, 2025 at 4:55 PM
Reposted by Sophie Astrof
drrabbithole.bsky.social
Amazing news - the support letter to the #BethesdaDeclaration has over 10,000 signatures from scientists, Nobel Laureates, clinical trial participants, and ordinary people who care about supporting science and curing diseases.

It's not too late for you to add your name!
ADD YOUR NAME: Sign the Open Letter in Support of NIH Staff
Join the courageous and committed National Institutes of Health (NIH) public servants by adding your name now.
actionnetwork.org
June 10, 2025 at 11:13 AM
Reposted by Sophie Astrof
russellepstein.bsky.social
I signed this letter and I urge all my colleagues to do the same. I am very impressed by the bravery of the NIH staff who put their names to this. We should stand behind them. It's the least we can do.
standupforscience.bsky.social Stand Up for Science! @standupforscience.bsky.social · Jun 9
(5/5)

🚨 It’s time to flood the zone.

NIH scientists just took a huge risk speaking out. Now it’s our turn.

📜 Read the Bethesda Declaration
✍️ Sign the Public Letter of Support
👯‍♀️Follow NIHers doing the work: @nihvigils.bsky.social

Read and sign here 👉 www.standupforscience.net/bethesda-dec...
www.standupforscience.net
June 9, 2025 at 10:24 PM
Reposted by Sophie Astrof
epimechfc.bsky.social
Kong, W., Loison, O., Chavadimane Shivakumar, P., Chan, E. H., Saadaoui, M., Collinet, C., Lenne, P. F., & Clément, R. (2019). Experimental validation of force inference in epithelia from cell to tissue scale. Scientific reports, 9(1), 14647. #EpithelialMechanics
buff.ly/tLICFiu
June 3, 2025 at 7:01 AM
Reposted by Sophie Astrof
epimechfc.bsky.social
What do we see when looking at cells under the microscope? 👉Some are bigger than others, some are elongated and align with the neighbors & others seem to move. Cool, right? But wouldn't it be cooler to quantify these observations?

I'm @juliaeckert.bsky.social. Let's explore some analysis software!‬
June 8, 2025 at 7:01 AM
Reposted by Sophie Astrof
erictopol.bsky.social
He's right. "Nothing short of devastating"
By @holdenthorp.bsky.social @science.org
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
June 5, 2025 at 8:41 PM
Reposted by Sophie Astrof
davidallengreen.bsky.social
“A Busy, Busy Day at the Airport”

By Ruben Bolling

Genius. Click in.
A cartoon showing various activity at an airport, including an extorted luxury jet, an exploding X rocket, a ketamine enthusiast wheeling a barrow of money to his plane, many ICE officers -- some taking people to an El Salvador plane, another with a zip-tied child being blocked by a federal judge -- scientists boarding a plane to Europe, a medical self-educator covered with pox, and more. All the people are represented by various animals. The story is made in the style of a Richard Starry children's book. Alt text borrowed from Mastodon..
June 5, 2025 at 6:18 AM
Reposted by Sophie Astrof
hansonmark.bsky.social
URGENT: FlyBase has lost practically all its funding overnight; even user fees are tied up in denied grant funding. 🤬🤯

Any lab using @flybase.bsky.social please donate using the link in post below.

This incredible community, on whose backs our #Drosophila labs depend, can't be left out to dry.
marcsdionne.bsky.social Marc Dionne @marcsdionne.bsky.social · Jun 3
My lab studies bacterial infections. We spend a lot of time looking at (or for) species-specific genetic and genomic databases for hosts and microbes. FlyBase is the best of all—there is literally no comparison. Its existence is under threat. Please donate.
www.philanthropy.cam.ac.uk/give-to-camb...
Drosophila Genetic Database
The Drosophila Genetic Database, FlyBase, is on the brink of collapse due to the sudden termination of the FlyBase NIH grant, which includes salaries for 5 literature curators based at the University ...
www.philanthropy.cam.ac.uk
June 3, 2025 at 5:20 PM
Reposted by Sophie Astrof
petrovadmitri.bsky.social
Flybase lost all of the NIH support overnight - it is a disaster for the community. Please consider donating. I just did! www.philanthropy.cam.ac.uk/give-to-camb...
Drosophila Genetic Database
The Drosophila Genetic Database, FlyBase, is on the brink of collapse due to the sudden termination of the FlyBase NIH grant, which includes salaries for 5 literature curators based at the University ...
www.philanthropy.cam.ac.uk
June 3, 2025 at 6:23 PM
Reposted by Sophie Astrof
ardemp.bskyverified.social
Talked to @KateZernike at @nytimes about my journey and the current moment for scientists in the U.S.

“Ardem Patapoutian’s story is not just the American dream, it is the dream of American science.”

Read the article here. No subscription required:

www.nytimes.com/2025/06/03/u...
The U.S. Lit a Beacon for Science. Under Trump, Scientists Fear It’s Dimming
www.nytimes.com
June 3, 2025 at 10:58 AM