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Kenneth Matreyek

@kmatreyek.bsky.social
534 followers 298 following 23 posts

Studying the functional impacts of protein sequence variants with mammalian synthetic biology and multiplex genetic assays. Assistant Prof in CLE, OH. www.matreyeklab.com

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Reposted by Kenneth Matreyek
Mark Histed @markhisted.org · 05/09/2026
Ok here we go: It DOES look like a major purpose of this NIH funding transfer to NIH is to circumvent NIH’s peer review processes so political appointees can have control. Check out the redacted agreement @maxkozlov.bsky.social released: 1/
AGENCY-AGREEMENT-NIH-AND-DOW-REDACTED v
Q
Federal departments, agencies, and offices with respect to the identification of additional priority virus families and other viral pathogens with a significant potential to cause a pandemic" (42
U.S.C. § 285f-5(e)(1)).
Through this agreement, NIH will leverage OASW ND-CBD's procurement, grants, and funding network to allow for critical basic science
I, related research pathways, and basic research to
support the translation and advanced development of medical countermeasures.
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Craig Kaplan @triggerloop.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
My view is that this proposal coming out now cannot be considered in a vacuum. It should be considered a tool to subvert peer review of NIH proposals. The statements in the RFI about impact scores are actually correct- they are imperfect measures. But reporting them maintains transparency.
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The Bi of Hormuz @joshstein.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
Bernie Moreno was a car salesman with a record of wage theft and employment discrimination. Anthony Fauci was the director of NIAID from 1984 to 2022 and in 2008 was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his work fighting HIV/AIDS in that role.
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Kai Ryssdal @kairyssdal.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
Disgraceful. Simply disgraceful.
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Kai Ryssdal @kairyssdal.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
If you start your article or newscast with an unqualified “President Trump says…” what are you even doing?
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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
Once you understand that this is a model of science written by non-scientists who hate universities but love venture capital and redirecting money to political allies, everything makes a lot more sense. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/22/u...
nytimes.com
Trump’s Plan for Science: More Money for A.I., Less for Universities
Michael Kratsios, President Trump’s science adviser, proposed overhauling how the government funds research. Democrats said Mr. Trump’s actions had weakened science.
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💙🪄 Keep Rising 🪄💙 @keeprising.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
🔴 BRAVA ‼️ this intrepid woman, shut ice down ✊🏾🇺🇸✊🏻
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Mike Feigin 🥯 @mikefeigin.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
I fundamentally disagree with this. We cannot reform the NIH right now. We need to fight against ALL changes until we have an administration that isn’t hellbent on destruction. Until then we have to assume that literally everything is being done in bad faith.
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Alex Merz 🇺🇸🇨🇦🇺🇦 @merz.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
Yes, it's a ban, since these words will automatically halt funding of a grant containing them, and the ban can be lifted only through the action of political apparatchiks applying secret criteria.
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Ian Bassin @ianbassin.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
This is such a disturbing flex. He’s basically acknowledging that he and Trump have raised the bar on what scandals presidents can get away with so much that Watergate was nothing compared to them today. True. But yikes.
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NPR @npr.org · 18/06/2026
Three brothers say their mother and father died after losing access to their HIV medications. Now the boys are figuring out how to navigate life. n.pr/3SiQr31
n.pr
The head of the family is 17. Money is tight. The roof leaks. How did this happen?
Three brothers say their mother and father died after losing access to their HIV medications. Now the boys are figuring out how to navigate life.
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Jenna Norton @jenna-m-norton.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
“A deliberate crippling” is a very accurate description of what Russell Vought and Jay Bhattacharya are doing to NIH. cssh.northeastern.edu/a-deliberate...
cssh.northeastern.edu
‘A deliberate crippling’: NIH researchers, Mass. scientists sound alarm over new funding rules
One year after hundreds of National Institutes of Health employees publicly accused the Trump administration of politicizing biomedical research in what they called the “Bethesda Declaration,” staff m...
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Jenna Norton @jenna-m-norton.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
Late in the afternoon on Friday (yesterday), HHS/NIH did 2 things: 1) They RIFd more employees (despite the extreme staffing shortages). 2) They sent announcements to supervisors letting them know people in their chain of command will be moved to the career/policy “at will” status. 🧵1/3
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Abraham Palmer @abepalmer.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
A colleague received bad news from her NIH program officer today: my colleague’s grant got a great score, but NIH still can’t pay it, and my colleague will have to closer her lab. The call ended with the program officer (not my colleague) crying. Awful on so many levels.
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Mark Jacob @markjacob.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
I heard an MS NOW reporter describe GOP resistance to Ukraine aid as “isolationist.” But when you see Republicans plunge the U.S. into a Mideast war, steal Venezuelan oil and blow up boats in international waters, it’s clear that over-all GOP policy is not isolationist. It is, however, pro-Putin.
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Tom Wallach @mdwallach.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
I’m aware this is news to CBS and this dude but we were literally shouting about this a year ago, it’s not unearthed, and it’s even stupider than you think: the cruise ships paid their salaries. It literally paid more than it cost. We gave money back rather than control disease because RFK
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Ari Berman @ariberman.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
Breaking: Tennessee Republicans pass new 9-0 gerrymander after SCOTUS destruction of Voting Rights Act eliminating state’s only majority-Black district & last Democratic seat. Splits Memphis, which is 63% Black, into 3 districts to disenfranchise Black voters. Quite literally a return to Jim Crow
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Soumya Rangarajan, MD, MPP @soumya-goblue.bsky.social · 09/04/2026
Uhhh… I have bad news about #medical research in the United States…
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David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 26/03/2026
I don't think people fully appreciate how apocalyptic things are for US science. I haven't had any new funding since 2024, but I'm still ok since typical grants are for three years. This means next year I will be completely out of funding and will have to fire everyone in the lab. It's not great.
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Kristian G. Andersen @kgandersen.bsky.social · 20/03/2026
Matt Ridley gave the inaugural "NIH Scientific Freedom Lecture Series" earlier today and I just wanted to run through some of the main claims he made - you'll be unsurprised to learn that almost all of them are false. Here's his summary slide - let's start there. 🧵👇
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Chris Murphy @chrismurphyct.bsky.social · 14/03/2026
The is the federal government telling news stations to provide favorable coverage of the war or their licenses will be pulled. A truly extraordinary moment. We aren't on the verge of a totalitarian takeover. WE ARE IN THE MIDDLE OF IT. Act like it.
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Alex Merz 🇺🇸🇨🇦🇺🇦 @merz.bsky.social · 07/03/2026
The Trump administration is intentionally sabotaging American science in a treasonous effort to hand global leadership in science and technology to the Peoples's Republic of China.
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Sasha Gusev @sashagusevposts.bsky.social · 07/03/2026
Here is the "effective payline" for each institute, estimated (by Claude) as the percentile where one can expect 80% probability of funding from a logistic regression fit. The effective payline has gone from a historic ~12% to 6% in 2025.
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Joshua Weitz @joshuasweitz.bsky.social · 07/03/2026
The data is in: the NIH goalposts have shifted. What were once almost certain fundable scores have become coin flips and what used to be likely grants have become aspirational, leading to fewer awards. Another manifestation of how HHS policies have led to fewer awards and less science.
Graph of award probability of R35 and R01 from NIH factbook as a function of review rank percentile. As is apparent, 2025 is a significant departure, with lower award probabilities at all scores <40 and significant departures from norm, where even being in the top 10% is no longer a nearly certain indicator of success.

Data source: https://report.nih.gov/nihdatabook/report/302
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Max Kozlov @maxkozlov.bsky.social · 27/02/2026
Congress rejected massive cuts to US science budgets for 2026, but much of the money still isn’t flowing to researchers. The culprit? The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is quietly slow-walking the release of funds. 🧵👇
nature.com
White House stalls release of approved US science budgets
The US Congress rejected sweeping cuts to science agencies. But the NIH, the NSF and NASA have had their spending slowed.
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Jess Calarco @jessicacalarco.com · 05/02/2026
The billionaire class wants to decimate the white collar workforce. Because white collar workers are expensive. And because white collar workers—who historically sided with billionaires—are questioning that alliance. Which makes their knowledge and resources a huge threat to billionaire power.
Graph showing a steep decline in the number of people employed by newspapers since 1992
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Garrett M. Graff @vermontgmg.bsky.social · 31/01/2026
Unmarked car, no lights or police insignia. Masked armed men leap out. Victim not in the act of committing any crime. This is not how a serious federal law enforcement agency acts in a free society. How is this not supposed to be a “right wing paramilitary force loyal to the regime”?
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Prasad Jallepalli, MD, PhD @prasad.bsky.social · 28/01/2026
🤮
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Coach Finstock @coachfinstock.bsky.social · 27/01/2026
I know this is small potatoes in the grand scheme of things but these guys are paid with your tax money and have no real job. ICE isn't necessary. They don't get rid of criminals. They just terrorize communities. And THAT'S why they should be abolished. No need for reins. It's not a job!
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Zach Buchanan @zhbuchanan.bsky.social · 27/01/2026
I've been sent video from the end of the ICE raid at the Zipps on 32nd and Shea. It shows protesters -- on the sidewalk, impeding no one -- getting drive-by maced by an ICE agent from a truck as it rolls away down the road. Hard to see how such tactics are justifiable.
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Meta Resistance @metaresistance.bsky.social · 26/01/2026
Rest in Peace Alex Jeffrey Pretti🙏🏾 The VA ICU Nurses send him off right 💔
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Mark Peifer (He, him) @peiferlabunc.bsky.social · 25/01/2026
As a someone with a 33 year NIH-funded lab whose grant is supposed to be reviewed this week, shut NIH down if that is what's needed to end ICE terrorism. Innocent lives are more important 🧪
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Patrick Skinner @pmskinner.bsky.social · 25/01/2026
Left hand on the ground trying not to hit the pavement; right hand still holding a cell phone. ICE person standing with a one handed grip pointing his gun right at the man’s head. There is nothing about this that we should accept. We all must reject this. This is our government, & they want this
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Amarnath Amarasingam @amaramarasingam.bsky.social · 25/01/2026
How the Shooting of Alex Pretti Unfolded www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
nytimes.com
Timeline: How the Shooting of Alex Jeffrey Pretti Unfolded (Gift Article)
A moment-by-moment analysis of video from the scene shows that Mr. Pretti was already restrained when fatal shots were fired, which appears to contradict the federal government’s account of the event.
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Aaron Stewart-Ahn @badideas.bsky.social · 25/01/2026
Text of the video posted by Mac Randolph “Never wanted to share this video but his speech is very on point.”
Mac Randolph
RIP Alex Pretti,
he was my Dads ICU nurse, he read my dad's final salut at the VA after he passed away. Never wanted to share this video but his speech is very on point. Also my Fathers final words to me was continue to fight the good fight. He would be honored in Alex' sacrifice, and ashamed of this current administration. In my Dads words I encourage you all to continue to "fight the good fight"
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Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 25/01/2026
"I insisted that the agents let me assess him. Normally, I would not have been so persistent, but as a physician, I felt a professional and moral obligation to help this man, especially since none of the agents were helping him."
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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 25/01/2026
You have to read this. Firsthand affidavit from one of the women who was there and recording the video. She talks about how Alex Pretti was directing traffic when she arrived. She watched him be killed in front of her. She's afraid to go home, worried she'll be arrested.
1. I am a resident of the Whittier neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota. I am over 18 years of age. I am a children's entertainer who specializes in face painting.
2. On Saturday, January 24, 2026, at about 8:50 am, I was getting ready to go to work when I heard whistles outside. I knew the whistles meant that ICE agents were in the area, so I decided to check it out on my way to work. I've been involved in observing in my community because it is so important to document what ICE is doing to my neighbors. Connecting to your local community and knowing who your neighbors are is something I profoundly value.
3. I drove to Nicollet Ave. and 26th where I could hear the whistles coming from. I turned south onto Nicollet. There were already several ICE agents there and they'd set up a sort of vehicle convoy on Nicollet and 28th. There were also about 15 observers there, recording and observing ICE.
4. I saw ICE agents surrounding cars and punching car windows. I also saw them stopping vehicles further down Nicollet, so I backed up because I didn't feel safe continuing on.
5. I noticed a man sort of acting to help traffic move more smoothly. He helped me find a place to park. I got out with my whistle and my camera. I went over to him and said something like, "I'm going to film and use my whistle."
6. It seemed like most ICE activity was happening a little farther down the street from us, near 27th. Someone was being thrown to the ground.7. I started recording. There was an agent by a car across the street. Two observers were a few feet away from the agent, blowing their whistles. One was wearing a backpack.
8. I and the man who was observing and helping direct traffic were standing in the street. There was a phone in the man's hand recording a video.
9. An agent approached and asked us to back up, so I moved slowly back onto the sidewalk.
10. The man stayed in the street, filming as the other observers I mentioned earlier were being forced backward by another ICE agent threatening them with pepper spray. The man went closer to support them as they got threatened, just with his camera out. I didn't see him reach for or hold a gun.
11. Then the ICE agent shoved one of the other observers to the ground. Then he started pepper spraying all three of them directly in the face and all over. The man with the phone put his hands above his head and the agent sprayed him again and pushed him.
12. Then the man tried to help up the woman the ICE agent had shoved to the ground. The ICE agents just kept spraying. More agents came over and grabbed the man who was still trying to help the woman get up. All three of the observers looked to have been badly affected by the pepper spray. I could feel the pepper spray in my eyes.13. The agents pulled the man on the ground. I didn't see him touch any of them-he wasn't even turned toward them. It didn't look like he was trying to resist, just trying to help the woman up. I didn't see him with a gun. They threw him to the ground. Four or five agents had him on the ground and they just started shooting him. They shot him so many times.
14.1 don't know why they shot him. He was only helping. I was five feet from him and they just shot him.
15. The video I recorded of what happened accurately depicts the events leading up to the agents shooting him and several minutes afterwards. The video is attached as Exhibit 1.
16. I have read the statement from DHS about what happened and it is wrong. The man did not approach the agents with a gun. He approached them with a camera. He was just trying to help a woman get up and they took him to the ground.
17. I feel afraid. Only hours have passed since they shot a man right in front me and I don't feel like I can go home because I heard agents were looking for me. I don't know what the agents will do when they find me. I do know that they're not telling the truth about what happened. I've heard that other witnesses might have been arrested and taken to the Whipple Building.
18. I am disgusted and gutted at how they are treating my neighbors and my state. I keep alternating between crying and feeling determined it is important to remember the value of documenting injustice. We show up for the people who need us to bearwitness, because it can't just be one group of people bearing the brunt of their tyranny. This is a struggle to protect our freedom and democracy, those things are on the line. He lost his life for those values.
I declare under penalty of perjury that everything I have stated in this document is true and correct.

Dated and signed on Jan 24, 2026 in Hennepin County, State of Minnesota.
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marissa walmart dog @meo.bsky.social · 24/01/2026
these are the 7 house democrats who voted to give ICE another $10 billion on thursday btw
Henry Cuellar (Texas), Tom Suozzi (New York), Vicente Gonzalez (Texas), Laura Gillen (New York), Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (Washington), Jared Golden (Maine), and Don Davis (North Carolina)
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Victor Ray @victorerikray.bsky.social · 22/01/2026
It’s shameful verging on collaborationist that universities slashed DEI rather than fighting the administration on this.
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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 21/01/2026
🚨HOLY CRAP. An ICE whistleblower just revealed a secret memo authorizing ICE officers to break into homes without a judicial warrant, which DHS's own legal training materials say is unconstitutional! ICE then hid the memo from the public, passing it along by word of mouth and private conversation.
The Gravamen of the Disclosure

4. The gravamen of the disclosure is as follows: 
a. By memorandum dated May 12, 2025 (“the May 12 Memo”), Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons authorizes ICE agents to forcibly enter into certain people’s homes without a judicial warrant, consent, or an emergency.

b. Specifically, in the May 12 Memo, the Acting ICE Director authorized ICE Agents to rely on Form I-205 (which is not a judicial warrant) to enter the residence of an alien subject to a final order of deportation, without consent, including by “a necessary and reasonable amount of force.”2c. While addressed to “All ICE Personnel,” in practice the May 12 Memo has not been formally distributed to all personnel. Instead, the May 12 Memo has been provided to select DHS officials who are then directed to verbally brief the new policy for action. Those supervisors then show the Memo to some employees, like our clients, and direct them to read the Memo and return it to the supervisor.
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Dan Garisto @dangaristo.bsky.social · 20/01/2026
The whole story is worth reading, but I want to highlight this plot of science agency staffing that we pulled together from historic and current data. It shows that cuts to science staffing are almost uniformly steep across the board and unlike anything seen in the first Trump administration.
Plot of science agency staffing over 10 years shows the numbers fall off a cliff in 2024-25.
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Max Kozlov @maxkozlov.bsky.social · 20/01/2026
The charts in the story are just jaw-dropping. Take this one, showing the bludgeon the Trump admin has taken to the federal scientific workforce.
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Kenneth Matreyek @kmatreyek.bsky.social · 07/01/2026
I completely agree. It feels purposeful just how unusable that website has become despite its use now being a requirement for submitting new grants.
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Elizabeth Jacobs, PhD @elizabethjacobs.bsky.social · 05/01/2026
This isn’t “standing up for children's health, gold standard science, and common sense”. This is the work of weak, pathetic, arrogant men who are seeking revenge on actual public health experts. And it is barbaric.
Twitter post from RFK jr that says Secretary K...
@Secke... • 2m
..•
Thank you, Mr. President, for standing up for children's health, gold standard science, and common sense.
) Karoline Leav...
PROMISE MADE. PROMISE KEPT.
@Presss... • 1h
Thank you, President Trump!
Today, the Trump Administration is proud to announce the United States of America's updated Childhood Vaccination Schedule.
This Schedule is rooted in the Gold Standard of Science, and widely agreed upon by Scientists and Experts all over the World.
Effective today, America will no longer require 72 "jabs" for our beautiful, healthy children. We are moving to a far more reasonable Schedule, where all children will only be recommended to receive Vaccinations for 11 of the most serious and dangerous diseases. Parents can still choose to give their children all of the Vaccinations, if they wish, and they will still be covered by insurance. However, this updated Schedule finally aligns the United States with other Developed Nations around the World. Congratulations to HHS Secretary Bobby Kennedy, CDC Acting Director Jim O'Neil, FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, CMS Administrator Dr. Oz, NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya, and all of the Medical Experts and Professionals who worked very hard to make this happen. Many Americans, especially the "MAHA Moms," have been praying for these COMMON SENSE reforms for many years. Thank you for your attention to this matter!
DONALD J. TRUMP
PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
European Country
United States
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Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 31/12/2025
Yes! Resistance can seem futile and slow, but it does work and it is very important. Capitulation or resignation does not good and makes things worse in the long run.
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Timothy Burke @bubbaprog.xyz · 23/12/2025
The full spiked 60 Minutes CECOT package, clean & subtitled. 1/5
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Jess Calarco @jessicacalarco.com · 19/12/2025
When I'm feeling particularly hopeless about the future of professoring as a profession, I try to remind myself: That's what they want. They want us to not want to be professors anymore.
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Elizabeth Jacobs, PhD @elizabethjacobs.bsky.social · 17/12/2025
RFK Jr. has cancelled grants to the American Academy of Pediatrics because “they no longer align with departmental priorities”. The grants were on such topics as “reducing sudden infant death, rural access to health care, and mental health…” The AAP has criticized RFK Jr. That’s the real reason.
theguardian.com
American Academy of Pediatrics loses government funding after criticizing RFK Jr
Cuts, which affect projects focused on issues including early identification of autism, made without prior notice to AAP
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Noah Whiteman @nkwhiteman.bsky.social · 14/12/2025
The R35 Established/New Investigator MIRA RFA was issued on Dec 11 (earliest submission is Dec 27, 2025): files.simpler.grants.gov/opportunitie...
files.simpler.grants.gov
PAR-26-121: Maximizing Investigators' Research Award (MIRA) (R35 - Clinical Trial Optional)
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AAUP @aaup.org · 02/10/2025
The Trump admin’s offer to give preferential treatment to institutions that toe the party line reeks of bribery in exchange for allegiance to a partisan ideological agenda. This is corruption. Adherence to ‘loyalty oaths’ would usher in a new era of thought policing in American higher education.
aaup.org
Universities Must Reject Trump Admin 'Loyalty Oath' Compacts
The AAUP and AFT warn that the Trump administration’s offer to give preferential treatment to colleges and universities that court government favor in exchange for allegiance to a partisan ideological...
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