iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Björn Kafsack @kafsacklab.bsky.social · 02/02/2026

I feel extremely grateful to have been part of our amazing parasitology community for the last 25+ years and for the many friends, collaborators, and colleagues I met along the way. ❤️ 🧵 6/n

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Björn Kafsack @kafsacklab.bsky.social · 02/02/2026

None of this would have been possible for the amazing mentorship over the last 25 years from @verncarruthers.bsky.social, @llinaslab.bsky.social, @kirkdeitsch.bsky.social, and so many others. 🧵 5/n

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Björn Kafsack @kafsacklab.bsky.social · 02/02/2026

The government shutdowns and the administration’s continued antipathy towards higher education and research, especially on infectious disease & global health, have severely limited the chances for funding here. 🧵 4/n

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Björn Kafsack @kafsacklab.bsky.social · 02/02/2026

While Weill Cornell has always been supportive during my time there, this meant that there was no bridge funding available from the university and as an Associate Professor I didn’t yet have tenure at Cornell. 🧵 3/n

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Björn Kafsack @kafsacklab.bsky.social · 02/02/2026

Unfortunately, my grants ran out right while Weill Cornell Medicine had a $100M+ annual deficit followed by Trump’s subsequent suspension of NIH & NSF payments to Cornell. 🧵 2/n

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Björn Kafsack @kafsacklab.bsky.social · 02/02/2026

After 10 years, my position at Weill Cornell has officially come to an end at the begging of the month. I am so grateful for the amazing people who spend time in my lab during the last decade and extremely proud of their work. 🧵 1/n

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Björn Kafsack @kafsacklab.bsky.social · 25/06/2025

It's missing the long line of mini-figures...

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Björn Kafsack @kafsacklab.bsky.social · 25/06/2025

I came to the US as an exchange student when I was 16 and have been here ever since. Finally got my citizenship earlier this year, so at age 47, I got to vote for the first time today.

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Björn Kafsack @kafsacklab.bsky.social · 12/06/2025

Never! This heirloom will be passed down to each first-born in perpetuity.

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Reposted by Björn Kafsack

Eric Topol @erictopol.bsky.social · 05/06/2025

He's right. "Nothing short of devastating" By @holdenthorp.bsky.social @science.org www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

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Björn Kafsack @kafsacklab.bsky.social · 12/06/2025

Little confused: Doesn't the letter specifically state that the NIH director lacks the ability to dismiss Advisory Committee members since they serve at the discretion of the HHS secretary?

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Björn Kafsack @kafsacklab.bsky.social · 12/06/2025

Little confused: Doesn't the letter specifically state that the NIH director lacks the ability to dismiss Advisory Committee members since they serve at the discretion of the HHS secretary?

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Björn Kafsack @kafsacklab.bsky.social · 11/06/2025

Came across this gem from @fad1.bsky.social while packing up my office.

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Björn Kafsack @kafsacklab.bsky.social · 23/05/2025

Great collaboration between GSK Tres Cantos, Weill Cornell and the Sanders Tri-Institutional Therapeutics Discovery Institute.

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Björn Kafsack @kafsacklab.bsky.social · 23/05/2025

Great collaboration between GSK Tres Cantos, Weill Cornell and the Sanders Tri-Institutional Therapeutics Discovery Institute.

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Björn Kafsack @kafsacklab.bsky.social · 23/05/2025

As standard screens for new antimalarials yield diminishing new targets and chemotypes, GSK Tres Cantos used media that mimics nutrients in serum & found many new hits. We then id'ed the targets and, amazingly, every one of the 29 new chemotypes found blocks PSAC!🤯 shorturl.at/dCCO8

sciencedirect.com

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Björn Kafsack @kafsacklab.bsky.social · 27/03/2025

The end of the Joe Visone era at WCM is upon us! It's been an absolute delight! 😍

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Björn Kafsack @kafsacklab.bsky.social · 19/03/2025

Just substituted "transgenic" for "genetically modified" and "diverse/diversity" for "varied/variation" in all parts of my R01 submission. 🤯

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Björn Kafsack @kafsacklab.bsky.social · 13/03/2025

Pulling the F31 Diversity applications from evaluation instead of converting them to regular F31s is just so cruel.

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Björn Kafsack @kafsacklab.bsky.social · 13/03/2025

So sorry for everyone who worked so hard putting their applications together for them be vaporized by the vicissitudes of these malicious minds.

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Björn Kafsack @kafsacklab.bsky.social · 13/03/2025

The NIH just pulled all the F31 Diversity fellowship applications from the study section I'm on ...

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Björn Kafsack @kafsacklab.bsky.social · 28/02/2025

Exciting pre-print from the Soares Lab at the Gulbenkian Institute for Molecular Medicine showing that increased bilirubin is protective in humans, mice and in vitro. 👏👏👏 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... www.youtube.com/watch?v=McV4...

biorxiv.org

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Björn Kafsack @kafsacklab.bsky.social · 14/02/2025

Does that link work for anyone else?

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Björn Kafsack @kafsacklab.bsky.social · 13/02/2025

Really cool work! Thanks for a great talk ParaFrap and Gretchen.

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Reposted by Björn Kafsack

Atul Gawande @agawande.bsky.social · 02/02/2025

“Two-thirds of the staff of the President’s Malaria Initiative…the largest donor to anti-malaria programs…worldwide, have been fired…incl some of the most senior and respected scientists working on malaria control in the world.”

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