Sign in

What’s up with Downes?

@gbdownes.bsky.social
2.3K followers 862 following 245 posts

Dad of two, Professor of Biology @UMass, rare disease researcher and advocate, SPINES @MBL director, and runner. I use zebrafish to study the genetic control of locomotion and epilepsy genes. 🧪🧬🧠

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by What’s up with Downes?
Elizabeth Jacobs, PhD @elizabethjacobs.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
The NIH just released a proposal that will apparently hide peer reviewers’ impact scores and percentiles from the research team, their institution, and NIH program officers. All the better to obscure how funding decisions will be made primarily via political review, I’m guessing.
grants.nih.gov
NOT-OD-26-088: Request for Information (RFI) on Proposed Changes to Reporting Outcomes from NIH Peer Review
NIH Funding Opportunities and Notices in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts: Request for Information (RFI) on Proposed Changes to Reporting Outcomes from NIH Peer Review NOT-OD-26-088. NIH
17391213
Reposted by What’s up with Downes?
Elizabeth Jacobs, PhD @elizabethjacobs.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
The Trump Administration’s racist science policies have achieved some of their goals. The number of Black Principal Investigators has dropped by 10% between 2024 and 2025; while the number of Hispanic PIs has fallen by 7%. For research trainees, the numbers are far worse.
jamanetwork.com
Trends in NIH Investigators by Sex, Race, Ethnicity, and Disability Status
This cross-sectional study assesses National Institutes of Health (NIH) data from fiscal years 2016-2025 comprising annual counts of principal investigators funded through research grants and fellowsh...
5232135
Reposted by What’s up with Downes?
Scott McGrath @smcgrath.phd · 04/03/2026
NIH funding is back in limbo, and it’s a mess. Between a 90% drop in new funding notices and White House spending blocks, only about 800 new awards have been made, less than a third of the usual rate. If these "spend plans" don't clear soon, we’re looking at a major gap in biomedical research.
science.org
Delays in awards and funding calls worry NIH-funded researchers
Many programs may be pushed into the next fiscal year, and some could face funding gaps
0810
Reposted by What’s up with Downes?
Capital B @capitalb.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
A long overdue reckoning for Henrietta Lacks — the Black woman whose cancer cells led to breakthroughs but were harvested without her consent. Novartis has settled a lawsuit by Lacks’ estate that alleged the pharmaceutical giant profited off her cells. bit.ly/3NgCeBs
capitalbnews.org
Henrietta Lacks' Family Reaches Settlement in Fight Over Her Stolen Cells
Details of the Novartis agreement aren't public, but the family says it is pleased with the outcome.
3423216
Reposted by What’s up with Downes?
Shawn Burgess @burgesslab.bsky.social · 15/05/2025
Some exciting news! NCBI has finished the annotation pipeline for our new #zebrafish reference sequence GRCz12tu: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/refseq/annot... This is a big step up in data depth and quality and should be super helpful going forward.
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Danio rerio Annotation ReportTwitterFacebookLinkedInGitHubNCBI Insights BlogTwitterFacebookYoutube
16822
Reposted by What’s up with Downes?
Phil Lewis @phillewis.bsky.social · 11/02/2026
A dresser inside a museum in New York City has been discovered as a secret stop on the Underground Railroad — the first of its kind discovered in Manhattan in over 100 years
409253257181
Reposted by What’s up with Downes?
Neil Lewis, Jr. @neillewisjr.bsky.social · 27/03/2025
In the aftermath of a global pandemic, and in the midst of two major public health crises (the ongoing measles and bird flu outbreaks), the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announces that it is cutting 20,000 full-time jobs. www.npr.org/sections/sho...
npr.org
The Trump administration restructures federal health agencies, cuts 20,000 jobs
The reduction in force comes along with a reorganization of the Department of Health and Human Services, consolidating 28 divisions to 15.
12412
Reposted by What’s up with Downes?
Rebecca Fielding-Miller @rebeccafieldingmiller.com · 22/03/2025
Today I lost an NIH grant training clinicians to do research about intimate partner violence with perinatal women. More women are murdered in the perinatal period than die of obstetric complications. I didn't just lose a grant. We lost an entire cohort of people building careers to prevent that.
850288139020
Reposted by What’s up with Downes?
Eric Topol @erictopol.bsky.social · 10/03/2025
Who funds biomedical research? @nature.com www.nature.com/articles/d41...
16610302
What’s up with Downes? @gbdownes.bsky.social · 10/03/2025
I'm excited to share that we have a new paper out! This is a review about a #RareDisease. We propose that #TBCK Syndrome, #PPP1R21 related intellectual disability, and #FERRY3 intellectual disability, all rare disease, may constitute a new disease class. (1/4) journals.biologists.com/bio/article/...
journals.biologists.com
Neurogenetic disorders associated with mutations in the FERRY complex: a novel disease class?
Summary: This Review provides a summary of cellular and molecular data about TBCK, PPP1R21, and FERRY3, components of the FERRY complex, and compares clinical symptoms observed upon their mutation.
1114
Reposted by What’s up with Downes?
Larry Hunter @proflhunter.bsky.social · 06/03/2025
"This is direct censorship of scientific research.”
02816
Reposted by What’s up with Downes?
Nature @nature.com · 25/02/2025
US President Donald Trump is taking a wrecking ball to science and to international institutions. The global research community must take a stand against these attacks. go.nature.com/4kd1vIu
go.nature.com
Trump 2.0: an assault on science anywhere is an assault on science everywhere
US President Donald Trump is taking a wrecking ball to science and to international institutions. The global research community must take a stand against these attacks.
8675284
Reposted by What’s up with Downes?
McSweeney's @mcsweeneys.net · 08/02/2025
"I promise, America will soon be the Cybertruck of countries—uglier than you could have imagined, built for rich chuds, borderline inoperable, and on fire."
buff.ly
Here at DOGE, We’ve Streamlined Every Aspect of America’s Collapse
"Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent gave representatives of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency access to the federal payment system la...
260146843717
Reposted by What’s up with Downes?
Needhi Bhalla 💅🏽 @needhibhalla.bsky.social · 06/02/2025
Hi all, I am in contact with a reporter at Science magazine who would like to talk with a trainee or mentor who successfully applied for an equity/DEI-related NIH training grant or a training supplement but have not received the Notice of Award and probably won't get the grant.
7230198
Reposted by What’s up with Downes?
Christophe 🔬 Leterrier @christlet.bsky.social · 31/01/2025
Reminder that @europepmc.org is a mirror of Pubmed with better search and that it indexes *all* bioRxiv preprints (as well as ResearchSquare), not just the ones funded by NIH like chauvinist Pubmed
9300155
What’s up with Downes? @gbdownes.bsky.social · 31/01/2025
Hope this is real.
070
Reposted by What’s up with Downes?
Needhi Bhalla 💅🏽 @needhibhalla.bsky.social · 29/01/2025
🚨PIs of Training Grants and Programs, ESPECIALLY training grants that support students from historically excluded groups (T32s and T34s, IMSD, MARC, PREP, MOSAIC, etc.)🚨 We need to push back on the loss of information and the disappearance of websites about these resources.
7252147
What’s up with Downes? @gbdownes.bsky.social · 29/01/2025
Can someone please explain to me the legal basis for dismantling DEI programs? I get that the Supreme Court ruled against using race-based affirmative action for Higher Ed admissions but, if you take race out of the equation, does that make every program that mentions DEI ‘illegal’?
161
Reposted by What’s up with Downes?
Needhi Bhalla 💅🏽 @needhibhalla.bsky.social · 29/01/2025
🧪👩🏽‍🔬👩‍🔬👩🏻‍🔬👩🏼‍🔬👩🏾‍🔬👩🏿‍🔬
0149
Reposted by What’s up with Downes?
Needhi Bhalla 💅🏽 @needhibhalla.bsky.social · 28/01/2025
Once again, this administration reveals how it stands in the way of scientific progress and process: Preprints enable scientists to communicate their science more rapidly and widely. 🧪
14718
Reposted by What’s up with Downes?
Michael Orger @daniobrain.bsky.social · 28/01/2025
This looks awesome! I hope people will use it in combination with @adrienjouary.bsky.social 's megabouts.ai, which can lower the time resolution needed for bout identification, helping to enable low cost experimental set-ups.
megabouts.ai
Welcome to Megabouts’ documentation! — Megabouts 0.1.1 documentation
141
What’s up with Downes? @gbdownes.bsky.social · 28/01/2025
I'm thrilled to announce that our paper describing Marigold, a free machine learning-based webapp for zebrafish behavioral analysis, is officially published! Marigold features a user friendly graphical user interface to enable training of a neural network for analyzing behavioral recordings.
710230
Reposted by What’s up with Downes?
Katie Mack @astrokatie.com · 27/01/2025
On the migration of the scientific community to Bluesky: www.nature.com/articles/d41... 🧪
nature.com
Bluesky’s science takeover: 70% of Nature poll respondents use platform
Roughly 6,000 readers answered our poll, with many declaring that Bluesky was nicer, kinder and less antagonistic to science than X.
9866011224
Reposted by What’s up with Downes?
Christina Areizaga Barbieri, Ph.D. @cabarbieri.bsky.social · 27/01/2025
I’m an NSF panel reviewer that was scheduled to meet today. Just got notice that all NSF panels were canceled today. I reviewed some innovative proposals in support of students. Devastating if these scholars don’t get to do this work. For the love of science & students I hope this is just a delay.💔
682274719
Reposted by What’s up with Downes?
Naima Cochrane @stillnaima.bsky.social · 24/01/2025
People are about to learn just how many programs, departments, events, roles, etc for Black and brown folks were federally funded (and in some cases federally protected). All the Black ppl who always ask "what have the dems even done for us" are about to get the most dramatic answer possible.
502035513
Reposted by What’s up with Downes?
Nsikan Akpan @monscience.bsky.social · 22/01/2025
NIH appears to have canceled/postponed all of its study sections—the independent review panels that approve federal grants for health research. Such grants fund the work/salaries of 300k people at more than 2,500 institutions
30766513280
What’s up with Downes? @gbdownes.bsky.social · 22/01/2025
NIH Study Sections are getting abruptly cancelled, folks. 🧬🧠
33915
Reposted by What’s up with Downes?
Gabrielle A. Perry, MPH @geauxgabrielle.blacksky.app · 22/01/2025
The guy who manufactured the outrage against Critical Race Theory and Elon Musk are now just simply firing non-whites and non-males in the federal government.
Screenshot
15033921125
Reposted by What’s up with Downes?
Dan Diamond @ddiamond.bsky.social · 22/01/2025
New: Trump officials have paused all external communications at health agencies like CDC, FDA, NIH. No health alerts and the famed MMWRs; no updates to key websites or social media posts. And no indication how long the pause will last. With @rachelroubein.bsky.social + Lena Sun.
washingtonpost.com
Trump officials pause health agencies’ communications, citing review
The agencies are charged with making decisions that touch the lives of every American and are the source of crucial information to health-care providers.
48543752976
What’s up with Downes? @gbdownes.bsky.social · 21/01/2025
Thoughts about January 20th- Happy MLK Day! I spent the long weekend on Martha's Vineyard. While there, I went to a nice talk at the MV History Museum and heard about how MLK spent his time on the island thinking, writing, and, perhaps most importantly, resting. (1/5)
142
Reposted by What’s up with Downes?
Zebrafish Rock! @zebrafishrock.bsky.social · 10/01/2025
Looking to enhance your timeline for 2025? Check out our Starter Pack of outstanding Group Leaders and Scientists from the #zebrafish community! #WomenInScience go.bsky.app/4BegEjv 🧪
56724
Reposted by What’s up with Downes?
Oliver Darcy @oliverdarcy.bsky.social · 10/01/2025
Zuck kneels for the umpteenth time before his MAGA god king.
3234498
Reposted by What’s up with Downes?
Neural Systems & Behavior @nsb-mbl.bsky.social · 08/01/2025
We're finally here on Bluesky! We are the premier discovery-driven training opportunity for the next generation of neuroethologists and systems neuroscientists located at the Marine Biological Laboratory @mblscience.bsky.social
0146
Reposted by What’s up with Downes?
Michele/Meidas Fan @michelemanziano.bsky.social · 06/01/2025
4 years ago today.
12877472779
Reposted by What’s up with Downes?
Ann Clemens @annmclemens.bsky.social · 18/12/2024
The Neural Systems & Behavior course at @mblscience.bsky.social is now open for applications (deadline 1st Feb 2025, tinyurl.com/329nbtzp). Students often describe this 8-week training course as a life-changing and eye-opening scientific experience. Apply and join us in magical Woods Hole 💫🐙🧠🔬
15833
What’s up with Downes? @gbdownes.bsky.social · 25/12/2024
I’m not sure what it says about me that I really like feeding fish on Christmas. Anyway, happy holidays from me and the fish!
Me smiling in front of a rack of zebrafish tanks.
5740
What’s up with Downes? @gbdownes.bsky.social · 20/12/2024
I haven’t seen this pre-print shared here yet, but it should be! Happy to see this work. The #zebrafish community need these and other #CRISPR genetic expression tools optimized! 🧬🧪 pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39345571/
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Optimized CRISPR inhibition and activation opens key avenues for systematic biological exploration in zebrafish - PubMed
The application of CRISPR interference (CRISPRi) and CRISPR activation (CRISPRa) technologies in zebrafish has the potential to expand its capacity for the study of gene function significantly. We hav...
060
Reposted by What’s up with Downes?
Kristen Severi @kristenseveri.bsky.social · 20/12/2024
Very happy to share our latest, a review on #ExpansionMicroscopy across organisms (including zebrafish, mice, Drosophila, and C. elegans) with @galhaspel.bsky.social and more :) #zebrafish #microscopy doi.org/10.1117/1.NP...
doi.org
Expansion microscopy reveals neural circuit organization in genetic animal models
Expansion microscopy is a super-resolution technique in which physically enlarging the samples in an isotropic manner increases inter-molecular distances such that nano-scale structures can be resolve...
2289
Reposted by What’s up with Downes?
Elisabeth Bik @elisabethbik.bsky.social · 17/12/2024
Infamous paper that popularized unproven COVID-19 treatment finally retracted Study on hydroxychloroquine by Didier Raoult and colleagues gets pulled on ethical and scientific grounds @cathleenogrady.bsky.social reports. www.science.org/content/arti...
science.org
Infamous paper that popularized unproven COVID-19 treatment finally retracted
Study on hydroxychloroquine by Didier Raoult and colleagues gets pulled on ethical and scientific grounds
351170394
What’s up with Downes? @gbdownes.bsky.social · 16/12/2024
I wish I could relax as well as my pets in front of a warm fireplace on a winter evening.
Two cats (one in a Christmas themed cat house and another on a cat bed) in front of a lit fireplace. Dog laying on her back on a dog bed.
0140
Reposted by What’s up with Downes?
Luke Sjulson @lukesjulson.bsky.social · 13/12/2024
Neuroscience students asked us to teach a PRACTICAL course on experimental methods, and it is now on YouTube! Please like and repost to help us get the word out! www.youtube.com/playlist?lis... Lecture 1: Signals and data acquisition Focusing on hardware, digital/analog I/O, synchronization 🧵
youtube.com
Neuroscience methods - YouTube
Nanocourse: Approaches to Study Neural Circuits This course was taught by Anita Autry, Tiago Gonçalves, and Luke Sjulson at Albert Einstein College of Medici...
19437215
What’s up with Downes? @gbdownes.bsky.social · 12/12/2024
Selfie taken at our lab lunch to celebrate the end of the semester and the holidays. Happy holidays! I hope you are able to find some joy and relaxation over the next few weeks.
The Downes lab at a holiday lunch.
0221
What’s up with Downes? @gbdownes.bsky.social · 11/12/2024
Whoa! This sounds crazy time. How exciting! (pun intended) 🧠🧪
0130
Reposted by What’s up with Downes?
Raquel Willis @raquelwillis.com · 10/12/2024
Nikki Giovanni will forever be a legend. This headline doesn't do her the justice she deserves. www.wdbj7.com/2024/12/10/w...
wdbj7.com
Well-known Virginia Tech professor dies at 81
Virginia Tech professor and poet, Nikki Giovanni, has died at the age of 81.
17779234
What’s up with Downes? @gbdownes.bsky.social · 08/12/2024
What’s the deal with birds?! @healeylab.bsky.social @fnmadison.bsky.social
120
Reposted by What’s up with Downes?
Zebrafish Rock! @zebrafishrock.bsky.social · 07/12/2024
Let your timeline shine with these outstanding #WomenInScience! 🧪 #zebrafish go.bsky.app/4BegEjv
58950
What’s up with Downes? @gbdownes.bsky.social · 07/12/2024
Is anyone else planning to run the BMW Berlin Marathon in 2025? If so, hit me up! I’m looking to connect with others before or after the race. #running #marathon
020
Reposted by What’s up with Downes?
Jay 🦋 @jay.bsky.team · 06/12/2024
Yes. This experiment will work if you make it your own. Customize your experience, build new ones, make a social network that can be controlled by the people who use it an idea we do not go back on.
38386881333
What’s up with Downes? @gbdownes.bsky.social · 06/12/2024
So. Well. Deserved. 🥲
170