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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. 🧪🧬🧠

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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
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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...
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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
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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.
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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
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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
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What’s up with Downes? @gbdownes.bsky.social · 09/05/2025
📌
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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.
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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.
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What’s up with Downes? @gbdownes.bsky.social · 10/03/2025
Elite universities have totally lost their way. No leadership, no courage, and few protections around scholarship.
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Eric Topol @erictopol.bsky.social · 10/03/2025
Who funds biomedical research? @nature.com www.nature.com/articles/d41...
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What’s up with Downes? @gbdownes.bsky.social · 10/03/2025
They have already fired people at the NOAA aquarium.
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What’s up with Downes? @gbdownes.bsky.social · 10/03/2025
Very true. This is why we don't use Methylene Blue, especially when performing behavioral analysis.
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What’s up with Downes? @gbdownes.bsky.social · 10/03/2025
Big congratulations to Madison Riffe, a spectacular graduate student in my lab! She wrote this review as part of @biologyopen.bsky.social Future Leader Review. Her idea! Madison is looking for a postdoc so reach out if you're interested. Whatever lab she selects will be VERY lucky to land her. (4/4)
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What’s up with Downes? @gbdownes.bsky.social · 10/03/2025
If these disorders do constitute a new disease class, it could present an opportunity for understanding them, developing new therapies, and combining patient advocacy efforts. (3/4)
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What’s up with Downes? @gbdownes.bsky.social · 10/03/2025
We review the clinical findings of these diseases and the efforts to model them in cells and animal systems, including #zebrafish. (2/4)
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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.
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Larry Hunter @proflhunter.bsky.social · 06/03/2025
"This is direct censorship of scientific research.”
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What’s up with Downes? @gbdownes.bsky.social · 04/03/2025
🦗🦗🦗
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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.
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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...
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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.
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What’s up with Downes? @gbdownes.bsky.social · 03/02/2025
📌
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What’s up with Downes? @gbdownes.bsky.social · 03/02/2025
Universities are the target, doesn’t matter if they’re wearing a target or not.
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What’s up with Downes? @gbdownes.bsky.social · 01/02/2025
*some things
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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
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What’s up with Downes? @gbdownes.bsky.social · 01/02/2025
If you like my comments, don’t forget to like and subscribe.
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What’s up with Downes? @gbdownes.bsky.social · 01/02/2025
We don’t wear lab coats very much either, but I’m not about to let this sponsorship opportunity go to waste!
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What’s up with Downes? @gbdownes.bsky.social · 31/01/2025
I personally envision our lab coats emblazoned with logos, like a race car driver.
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What’s up with Downes? @gbdownes.bsky.social · 31/01/2025
Hope this is real.
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What’s up with Downes? @gbdownes.bsky.social · 31/01/2025
Now we get to see which institutions really walk the talk versus those that support diversity only when it’s fashionable. Taking notes.
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What’s up with Downes? @gbdownes.bsky.social · 31/01/2025
This seems like a you problem.
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What’s up with Downes? @gbdownes.bsky.social · 30/01/2025
I think it’s a misconception to say the NIH/NSF faucet has been turned back on. The freeze is still in place. Outside of that, congratulations on your grant! I hope you’re celebrating the win!
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What’s up with Downes? @gbdownes.bsky.social · 30/01/2025
Is the first skirmish over? Genuinely asking.
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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.
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What’s up with Downes? @gbdownes.bsky.social · 29/01/2025
I would love a lawyer to clarify because it seems like there’s a considerable amount of space between the ruling and what the GOP lawyers are declaring.
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What’s up with Downes? @gbdownes.bsky.social · 29/01/2025
I understand that’s what GOO lawyers are saying but that’s not what the ruling actually states.
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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’?
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Needhi Bhalla 💅🏽 @needhibhalla.bsky.social · 29/01/2025
🧪👩🏽‍🔬👩‍🔬👩🏻‍🔬👩🏼‍🔬👩🏾‍🔬👩🏿‍🔬
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What’s up with Downes? @gbdownes.bsky.social · 29/01/2025
Good tip!
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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. 🧪
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What’s up with Downes? @gbdownes.bsky.social · 29/01/2025
That would be no problem. Marigold can’t deal with multiple fish in a recording arena but can analyze multiple fish simultaneously if they’re in different wells.
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What’s up with Downes? @gbdownes.bsky.social · 29/01/2025
It’s great that you taught Down kids! I don’t work on Down Syndrome, it’s just that my last name is Downes (with an e).
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What’s up with Downes? @gbdownes.bsky.social · 29/01/2025
Thx. That’s my sign to go an eat a late dinner.
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What’s up with Downes? @gbdownes.bsky.social · 29/01/2025
📌
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What’s up with Downes? @gbdownes.bsky.social · 29/01/2025
I missed this earlier. Very excited to use this!
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What’s up with Downes? @gbdownes.bsky.social · 28/01/2025
But they could be in a multi-well plate.
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What’s up with Downes? @gbdownes.bsky.social · 28/01/2025
Oh, I’m sure that would be no problem. One fish at a time though!
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What’s up with Downes? @gbdownes.bsky.social · 28/01/2025
The name Jawsus was right there in front of them and they didn’t take it.
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What’s up with Downes? @gbdownes.bsky.social · 28/01/2025
Very. True.
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