iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Chrystal Starbird @drstarbird.bsky.social · 8h

And… I am SO excited to share the first research preprint from my group! In this paper we determined several cryoEM structures to visualize the entire cell-to-cell bridging complex formed by TAM receptor and ligand, bringing into 3D a common graphical depiction. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

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Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Lots of stories across Pennsylvania about NIH grant terminations at Pitt and Penn. This is why speaking out matters. Even Congress critters who generally support the administration get pressured into actually supporting their constituents. www.wesanews.org/health-scien...

wesanews.org

McCormick, Fetterman question termination of more than 100 health research grants

Pennsylvania’s senators are demanding information about more than 150 health research grants canceled by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services this summer.

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Alex Merz 🇺🇸🇨🇦🇺🇦 @merz.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

This is all correct and it underscores a critical point: no one is coming to save the US, or science in the US. It is up to us.

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Richard Sever @richardsever.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

$3.7 billion spent on APCs in 2025. That's ~1000X more than it costs to run bioRxiv/medRxiv. Worth thinking about as we consider how to fund infrastructure... arxiv.org/pdf/2608.16322

arxiv.org

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Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Not a lawyer, but this seems like the foundation for a substantial class action lawsuit.

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Joshua Weitz @joshuasweitz.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

NSF just announced its GRFP solicitation due in October - deadline varies by field: www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo... Now for the bad news... * NSF estimates they will issue 1,500 awards, down from 2,500+ last year. * NSF removed STEM Education and Learning Research as a Major Field.

nsf.gov

NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP)

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Mary Munson @marymunson4.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Structural biology postdoctoral position open in my lab--apply now! For more information about the lab, see www.umassmed.edu/munsonlab/. Interested candidates should apply through the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School jobs portal (www.ummsjobs.com/job/11668/).

umassmed.edu

Munson Lab | Home | BMB | UMass Chan Medical School

The Munson Lab researches the mechanistic basis for the regulation of spatial and temporal specificity in membrane trafficking in the Biochemistry & Molecular Biotechnology Department at UMass Chan Me...

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MagnoliaBouton @magnoliabouton.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

NIH plans to block international researchers on visas from accessing key funding avenue: the K99/R00. Devastating news for the international research training community, who strongly contribute to US biomedical research. All will feel this great loss! www.statnews.com/2026/08/07/n...

statnews.com

NIH plans to block international researchers on visas from accessing key funding avenue

The NIH plans to close the door on one of the few pathways available to international students on visas to forge a career in biomedical research in the U.S.

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Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

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Colette Delawalla, PhD @cdelawalla.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

📣Leave public comment ☎️Contact Congress 🚨Register for the @standupforscience.net Emergency Science Meeting tomorrow at 4pm et ONE STOP SHOP: fight2win.standupforscience.net

fight2win.standupforscience.net

Stand up for Science

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American Society for Cell Biology @ascbiology.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

Sweeping draft regulations released by OMB pose one of the most significant threats to federally funded research in decades. The proposal would affect nearly every aspect of the scientific process. Read more: www.ascb.org/science-policy/federal…

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Ignacio Gallup-Diaz @igallupd.bsky.social · 19/04/2026

"Pancreatic cancer mRNA vaccine shows lasting results in an early trial: Scientists caution that more research is needed, but nearly all of the patients who responded to the personalized vaccine are still alive six years later."

nbcnews.com

Pancreatic cancer mRNA vaccine shows lasting results in an early trial

Scientists caution that more research is needed, but nearly all of the patients who responded to the personalized vaccine are still alive six years later.

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Mark Peifer (He, him) @peiferlabunc.bsky.social · 19/04/2026

This is truly one of the most remarkable advances in cancer therapy in history: metastatic pancreatic cancer was a short-term death sentence and this new approach put many of them into long term remission. This is why we invest in science, and why RFKs effort to kill this work is misguided 🧪

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Mary Munson @marymunson4.bsky.social · 16/04/2026

@chanda.blacksky.app I received my copy! Looking forward to reading it 😍

Chanda Prescod-Weinstein's new book cover "The Edge of Space-Time"

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allen institute @alleninstitute.org · 03/04/2026

Glia gang, this is for you! In this video by our #ElectronMicroscopy team, shows a pyramidal neuron (PyC) surrounded by 8 glia brain cells – 5 microglia (MG) and 3 oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPC). 🧠📈 microns-explorer.org

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xavier salvatella @xsalvatella1.bsky.social · 16/03/2026

Happy to announce that my institution, @irbbarcelona.org, is opening two group leader positions, 1 in chemical biology and 1 in structural biology, to strengthen our expertise in molecular sciences: please spread the word !

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Max Kozlov @maxkozlov.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

BREAKING: @delauro.house.gov announces at a House Oversight hearing with NIH director Jay Bhattacharya that OMB approved the agency's apportionment last night. That means the agency should have access to its appropriated funds — 42 days after its spending bill passed.

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Dr Abeba Birhane @abeba.blacksky.app · 15/03/2026

Nature published another pile of trash i am trying to catch up on some of my reading but this one is getting under my skin so here’s a thread highlighting why this piece is either ill-informed or intentionally ignorant of a wealth of knowledge from embodied cog sci and related fields 1/

COMMENT
02 February 2026

Does AI already have human-level intelligence? The evidence is clear
The vision of human-level machine intelligence laid out by Alan Turing in the 1950s is now a reality. Eyes unclouded by dread or hype will help us to prepare for what comes next.

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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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Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

My weekly update on NIH funding This includes awards made through 2/27/26 Warning: This thread contains data compiled by a known deranged_activist™. Do not read while operating heavy machinery. 1/9

A photo of Doc Brown from Back to the Future holding jumper cables labelled "Deranged Activist" with a grant of NIH funding curves below it.

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Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 13/02/2026

Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering 3/11

A line curve showing number of awards for fiscal year 2026 compared to fiscal years 2021-2025 for the Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering. The fiscal year 2026 curve lies well below curves for other fiscal years.

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Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 13/02/2026

Biological Sciences 2/11

A line curve showing number of awards for fiscal year 2026 compared to fiscal years 2021-2025 for the Biological Sciences Directorate. The fiscal year 2026 curve lies well below curves for other fiscal years.

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Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 13/02/2026

NSF Update Funding curve overall. A little bit of progress in the past week, but only a little bit. Now by Directorate... 1/11

A line curve showing number of awards for fiscal year 2026 compared to fiscal years 2021-2025 across NSF. The fiscal year 2026 curve lies well below curves for other fiscal years.

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Alex Merz 🇺🇸🇨🇦🇺🇦 @merz.bsky.social · 16/02/2026

🧵 After years out of the field, I and my lab are again working on bacterial type IV pili. We have just posted our first preprints, and I'm excited to share what we have discovered. This shows Neisseria gonorrheae bacteria infecting a human epithelical cell. Here, you can see the pili in red. 1/

Fluorescence micrograph. Emma Miller and Alex Merz, unpublished.

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Kevin Zollman @kevinzollman.com · 16/02/2026

I've heard this position articulated by a lot of people, but I think this is hard to make precise. Much of this tracks a problem we already know in science: standards of authorship are not stable and there are many difficult edge cases. Consider these cases...

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Brian Hughes @bmhughes.bsky.social · 01/12/2025

This is actually quite brilliant, up to and including the final sentence 🔥

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The Cathy Wilcox @cathywilcox.bsky.social · 03/02/2026

A heavily redacted cartoon. My @smh cartoon.

Single frame. Title: “[redacted]” A line of early teen? girls looking at the viewer. Behind them, silhouettes of four generic men, some with hand on shoulders of the girls, which have been through six iterations of redaction to satisfy the newspaper’s lawyers that none are identifiable.

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Chrystal Starbird @drstarbird.bsky.social · 05/02/2026

I am SO incredibly excited to announce the launch of a global list of Inspiring Black Scientists. You can use this list to nominate and connect with researchers. Please share and join us in highlighting these outstanding scientists for #BlackHistoryMonth and beyond! www.wiley.com/en-us/resear...

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Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · 08/02/2026

I guess also I probably should have included a link to preorder my book but I also know that people would have stopped reading the thread after that post (which doesn't feel good actually!!!) General preorder links here: www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/746817... Signed copies here:

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Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · 07/02/2026

Congrats to @berondam.bsky.social on writing such an amazing book and I hope everyone will buy and read ✊🏽

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Seth Abramson @sethabramson.bsky.social · 06/02/2026

(🧵) I have been working through the latest Epstein Files release, and there are some things I would like to remind people of as a general rule in working with this material.

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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 06/02/2026

Mamdani: "I speak of Renee Good, whose final words to the man who murdered her were, 'I'm not mad at you.' I speak of Alex Pretti who died as he lived, caring for the stranger. ICE shot him bc he did something they could never fathom ... let us offer a new path: one of defiance through compassion."

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Esther @elhopkins.bsky.social · 07/02/2026

Not a single thing we were told about #COVID turned out to be correct. A long thread 🧵

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Mary Munson @marymunson4.bsky.social · 07/02/2026

This amazing conversation between @berondam.bsky.social and @chanda.blacksky.app focused on Beronda's impactful new book #WhenTreesTestify fills my heart and soul. Thank you both!

Amazing discussion of When Trees Testify

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Beronda L. Montgomery @berondam.bsky.social · 06/02/2026

Part two -- "Our Plant Teachers" -- of delightful and wide-ranging conversation with @rad-institute.bsky.social Born Curious podcast team. Listen wherever you listen to podcast. www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/news-and-ide...

radcliffe.harvard.edu

Episode 505: Our Plant Teachers | Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University

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Beronda L. Montgomery @berondam.bsky.social · 23/01/2026

#WhenTreesTestify... "A Black-ass love note to trees and the power of reckoning with history" - @chanda.blacksky.app Love this description with all my heart 😍😍😍

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Stand Up for Science! @standupforscience.net · 04/02/2026

Key Takeaways from NIH Director Bhattacharya's hearing from Miriam and Bethesda Declaration whistleblower Jenna Norton (speaking in personal capacity). Our analysis? "Oof." (1/3 🧵)

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Needhi Bhalla 💅🏽 @needhibhalla.bsky.social · 01/02/2026

And one reason that federal funding agencies became such a huge target in Project 2025 were the evidence-based efforts that were (slowly) shifting policies so that this public good would actually fund scientific research that included and benefitted all Americans, not just white cis men 🧪

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American Society for Cell Biology @ascbiology.bsky.social · 16/01/2026

Curious about cryo-electron tomography but not sure how it fits into your research? This ASCB webinar with Danielle Grotjahn, Ph.D., breaks down what cryo-ET can do, where it shines, and how it works alongside other imaging methods.

ascb.org

Bridging Cellular and Structural Biology Through Cryo-electron Tomography - ASCB

Cellular cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET) holds the grand promise of integrating cellular architecture with molecular structure. Yet, for many cell biologists, this method can seem technically…

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Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · 23/01/2026

I’m preping to interview @berondam.bsky.social about her amazing new #BookSky release this week WHEN TREES TESTIFY and one of the points she makes is that enslavers kept better track of plants and animals than the enslaved people that they enslaved One of the most important 🧪 books this decade.

us.macmillan.com

When Trees Testify

This stunning cultural and personal reclamation of Black history and Black botanical mastery offers up lessons from the natural world shared through the stor...

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Ann-Sophie Barwich @smellosopher.bsky.social · 01/02/2026

So looking forward! This Friday February 6 7pm at Harvard Bookstore: the profoundly inspiring, philosophical @berondam.bsky.social, fellow Fellow @rad-institute.bsky.social, in conversation with the unapologetically insightful @chanda.blacksky.app about her new book: www.harvard.com/event/berond...

harvard.com

Beronda L. Montgomery at Harvard Book Store | Harvard Book Store

1256 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02138

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Jenna Norton @jenna-m-norton.bsky.social · 25/01/2026

The Senate may choose to vote together on the DHS and LHHS bills. Thus, a filibuster on DHS may mean no funding for NIH. What my colleagues are saying: “Shut it down, public health will understand. I’ll work without pay again.” - anonymous NIHer

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Dimitri Drekonja, MD, MS @dimitridrekonja.bsky.social · 24/01/2026

Alex Pretti was a colleague at the VA. We hired him to recruit for our trial. He became an ICU nurse- I lover working with him. He was a good kind person who lived to help and these fuckers executed him. White. Hot. Rage.

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