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Jessi Cucinello-Ragland, PhD🧠

@jcucinellorags.bsky.social
28 followers 59 following 7 posts

postdoc | pain & addiction researcher | first gen | proud parent of 1👶🏼 and 3🐱| #BiInSci 🏳️‍🌈 they/them

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Jessi Cucinello-Ragland, PhD🧠 @jcucinellorags.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Weekend cryostating brought to you by the best
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Dr. Gregory Aarons @drgregaarons.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
The NIH is planning to keep grant review scores secret so that the approach to funding decisions hidden. Weigh in on this plan to limit scientific rigor, public awareness, and scrutiny in the grant funding process. The RFI and comment period is open now. rfi.grants.nih.gov?s=6a2b1c22c3...
rfi.grants.nih.gov
Request For Information
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Scripps Research @scripps.edu · 25/06/2026
Blocking the receptor for the inflammatory signaling molecule IL-6 reduced alcohol consumption in alcohol-dependent preclinical models, according to a new Scripps Research study. The findings implicate neuroimmune signaling in alcohol use disorder.
ow.ly
Immune molecule may drive excessive drinking in alcohol use disorder
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Research Society on Alcohol @rsaofficial.bsky.social · 19/03/2026
Join us for an upcoming LIVE webinar on Neurobiology of Alcohol Use and Alcohol-Induced Organ Damage 📅 April 23 | ⏰ 9–10 AM CT Featuring leading experts from Harvard, Texas A&M, UT Austin, and Stony Brook. Don’t miss this insightful discussion LIVE through TPN—Save the Date!
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Jessi Cucinello-Ragland, PhD🧠 @jcucinellorags.bsky.social · 23/01/2026
Apply by Sunday if you’re interested in giving a talk at the Neurobiology of Drug Addiction GRS!💊
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Jessi Cucinello-Ragland, PhD🧠 @jcucinellorags.bsky.social · 10/12/2025
It’s not too late to join us in Spain in May! #GRCAddiction2026
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MO for LGBTQ @mo4lgbtq.bsky.social · 25/11/2025
This Giving Tuesday: Consider contributing to our campaign for 2 initiative petitions that protect LGBTQ+ and Women's rights in Missouri. We need contributions to keep spreading across the state and get these rights on the 2026 November Ballot. Every Dollar counts! secure.actblue.com/donate/mo4lg...
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jmoronconcepcion.bsky.social @jmoronconcepcion.bsky.social · 30/08/2025
New study from the lab on alcohol/pain and taste aversion.
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MO for LGBTQ @mo4lgbtq.bsky.social · 11/11/2025
Have you signed all 5 Missouri initiative petitions? Come stop by a drive thru event in St. Louis City, St. Louis County, St. Charles County, or Jefferson County this Saturday 11/15! Help us get these important rights on the ballot!
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Jessi Cucinello-Ragland, PhD🧠 @jcucinellorags.bsky.social · 30/09/2025
🍻Interested in alcohol research? 🥼Want to work with a comprehensive team of researchers? ⚜️Love New Orleans? LSUHSC is the place for you!
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Jessi Cucinello-Ragland, PhD🧠 @jcucinellorags.bsky.social · 30/04/2025
📣 Calling all addiction neuroscience trainees! 📣 💊 Are you interested in a seminar focused exclusively on addiction? 🤝 Do you want to connect with peers from around the world? 🇪🇸 Interested in going to Spain? The 2026 Neurobiology of Drug Addiction GRS is the meeting for you! Space is limited!
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Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 09/06/2025
The #BethesdaDeclaration stories are now up on the front pages of both the New York Times and the Washington Post. Thanks again to the brave folks at NIH who stood up and worked together to make this happen. 1/n
media.tenor.com
a black background with the words heroes at work
ALT: a black background with the words heroes at work
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Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 24/05/2025
New York Times article on NSF www.nytimes.com/interactive/... 1/2
nytimes.com
Trump Has Cut Science Funding to Its Lowest Level in Decades (Gift Article)
The lag in funding extends far beyond D.E.I. initiatives, affecting almost every area of science: chemistry, computing, engineering, materials and more.
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MO for LGBTQ @mo4lgbtq.bsky.social · 18/05/2025
Want to help us protect and expand LGBTQ+ Rights in Missouri, but don't have time to volunteer? You can help spread the word by sharing and interacting with our posts. And support our efforts by donating to our campaign. Any size donation helps!! secure.actblue.com/donate/mo4lg...
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Jessi Cucinello-Ragland, PhD🧠 @jcucinellorags.bsky.social · 30/04/2025
📣 Calling all addiction neuroscience trainees! 📣 💊 Are you interested in a seminar focused exclusively on addiction? 🤝 Do you want to connect with peers from around the world? 🇪🇸 Interested in going to Spain? The 2026 Neurobiology of Drug Addiction GRS is the meeting for you! Space is limited!
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Alondra Nelson @alondra.bsky.social · 13/04/2025
Sobering analysis by @nature.com on the Trump administration's NIH cuts. ~ 800 research projects have been terminated with research on HIV/AIDS, health disparities, transgender health, vaccines and COVID-19 being hit hardest, with some labs forced to close entirely. www.nature.com/articles/d41...
nature.com
How Trump 2.0 is slashing NIH-backed research — in charts
Nature analyses which fields of science and US states are being hit hardest by grant terminations.
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Alt NIH Bluesky 🧪 @altnih4science.bsky.social · 04/04/2025
Well, here it is. Trump and Musk are turning #NIH into a garbage rightwing thinktank, just as we said. They’re forcing down junk science on us with your tax dollars. This is a deep shame for America and for scientists everywhere. 1/3
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Jessi Cucinello-Ragland, PhD🧠 @jcucinellorags.bsky.social · 04/04/2025
I don’t usually plan my conference outfits in advance, but if you’re going to @rsaofficial.bsky.social be on the lookout for my symposium fit
A black sweatshirt sweatshirt from godaintpetty.com that says in white font “You’re Probably DEI Too.”
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Sara Reardon @sarareardon.bsky.social · 02/04/2025
"It’s kind of a textbook case of arbitrary and capricious.” A lawsuit alleges that NIH didn't follow proper procedure and was unconstitutionally vague when abruptly terminating >600 grants. My story @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...
science.org
Lawsuit aims to overturn many NIH grant terminations
Multiple groups and NIH-funded scientists challenge agency’s decision as arbitrary and capricious
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Calvin Lai @calvinklai.bsky.social · 28/03/2025
Extremely disappointing & cowardly. The American Psychological Association is rescinding diversity requirements. Not due to any actual mandate from the federal government, but only because it may *someday* face pressure from the government www.nytimes.com/2025/03/27/h...
nytimes.com
Under Pressure, Psychology Accreditation Board Suspends Diversity Standards
As the Trump administration threatens to strip accrediting bodies of their power, many are scrambling to purge diversity requirements.
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Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 28/03/2025
Powerful new Washington Post story up... wapo.st/426d9fT (Gift link) 1/n
wapo.st
Trump promised scientific breakthroughs. Researchers say he’s breaking science.
NIH funding for biomedical research has abruptly fallen by billions of dollars, with many grant decisions on hold. Trump officials say they’re reviewing the agency.
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Alt NIH Bluesky 🧪 @altnih4science.bsky.social · 30/03/2025
Why is Trump going after US science? What's the endgame for these attacks? Vance, Rufo, Trump and Republican elites are attacking NIH and manipulating its grants in order to attack American universities. "It's bad, folks." New contributed post at our blog. Please share it w/ your 🧪 colleagues.
altnih4science.substack.com
Trump is attacking NIH because politicizing funding can force universities to become conservative thinktanks
It's bad, folks. The real war is on free thought in the United States.
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Dr. Becca @docbecca.bsky.social · 25/03/2025
I wrote a piece for @thetransmitter.bsky.social www.thetransmitter.org/sex-differen... With the fate of NIH-funded research uncertain, it is extra important that the work we do now is most likely to benefit everyone. Adhering to SABV in the lab and in grant & paper review is the right thing to do.
thetransmitter.org
Amid NIH upheaval, how to keep sex as a biological variable
Even in the absence of formal instruction to do so, we should continue to hold our colleagues accountable for SABV practices.
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Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 07/03/2025
Bluetorial: The announcement to move scientific review out of the institutes and centers into the Center for Scientific Review (CSR) and its potential consequences
media.tenor.com
a cartoon of homer simpson holding a card
ALT: a cartoon of homer simpson holding a card
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Alt NIH Bluesky 🧪 @altnih4science.bsky.social · 07/03/2025
The SRO move is designed to look plausible. Looks like another "NIH" statement passed down by the Trump/MAGA political appointees. (We hear that DOGE people are showing up at #NIH meetings, like Soviet apparatchiks, to monitor NIH leaders.) This move is to harm NIH. Why? See below in thread:

NIH
@NIH
NIH is centralizing peer review of all applications for grants, cooperative agreements and research and development contracts within the agency’s 
@CSRpeerreview
. This is expected to save NIH more than $65 million annually & make the review process more efficient. https://go.nih.gov/iGmUyfH
6:13 PM · Mar 6, 2025
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Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 06/03/2025
Excellent coverage from Nature about LGBT+, gender identity, and DEI grants termination. www.nature.com/articles/d41...
nature.com
Exclusive: NIH to terminate hundreds of active research grants
Studies that touch on LGBT+ health, gender identity and DEI in the biomedical workforce could be terminated, according to documents obtained by Nature.
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Aidan Wright @aidangcw.bsky.social · 25/02/2025
NIH cuts are getting the press, but VA research is getting slashed too. What do we lose when VA research goes away? Here's some greatest hits: The nicotine patch, invention of the cardiac pacemaker, first successful liver transplant, development of the CAT/CT scan prospect.org/health/2025-...
prospect.org
VA Research Funding Slashed
Though not as prominent as the NIH, VA researchers play a major role in advancing basic health science. Hundreds of projects have been cut.
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Hannah Harris Green @whatsitlike.me · 24/02/2025
A source close to the situation confirmed that study sections are continuing to be cancelled. On the chopping block this week: developmental brain disorders, mechanisms of cancer therapy, and neurotoxicology of alcohol. For some labs, this was the last chance to get funding or they’ll shut down.
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Nature @nature.com · 24/02/2025
The Trump administration's efforts to slash research funding have US graduate students, postdocs and other early-career scientists fearing for their careers. Some might leave the country -- or abandon research altogether. go.nature.com/43ao2zq
go.nature.com
Postdocs and PhD students hit hard by Trump’s crackdown on science
As US federal grants remain frozen and budget cuts loom, anxiety and fear grip early-career researchers.
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Erika Crable, PhD @erikacrable.bsky.social · 24/02/2025
Another loss for #science & the next generation of researchers. The 28-year running NIDA summer internship program is cancelled for this year. @altnih4science.bsky.social #SavetheNIH
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The Transmitter @thetransmitter.bsky.social · 24/02/2025
Exclusive: NIH appears to archive policy requiring female animals in studies www.thetransmitter.org/policy/exclu...
thetransmitter.org
Exclusive: NIH appears to archive policy requiring female animals in studies
Such a shift would “put us back in the dark ages in terms of our science,” says neuroscientist Anne Murphy, who helped to formulate the original policy.
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Rosa Lafer-Sousa @rosalafersousa.bsky.social · 24/02/2025
As a result of Trump’s slashes to research funding, dozens of graduate programs have announced reductions and cancellations of graduate admissions slots. If you are an impacted applicant, please fill out this survey: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F... 🧪🧠🧬🔬🥼👩🏼‍🔬🧑‍🔬
docs.google.com
Grad Admission Impacts Survey
It is grad admissions season and many postbacs are feeling the chilling impacts of the Trump administration's recent executive orders freezing and slashing extramural research funding. Dozens of gradu...
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Anthony Moser @anthonymoser.com · 23/02/2025
I think it's also fundamentally wrong to frame these as savings. They are cuts. They have serious long term (and in some cases immediate) consequences. If you stop buying food you have "saved" money but you are now starving
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Katie Witkiewitz @katiew.bsky.social · 15/02/2025
A visualization I created to share with family and friends about how the NIH indirect rate costs will hurt science AND our economy.
To understand the devastation for U.S. science right now. Here is how NIH grants work:
somebody comes up with a research idea, like a tree sapling
NIH invests in the “direct cost” of that idea, aka buys the sapling 
Let’s say that sapling is $100
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