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Torsten Wittmann

@microtubule.bsky.social
1.6K followers 391 following 76 posts
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Reposted by Torsten Wittmann
Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
New White House plan for science and technology released yesterday www.whitehouse.gov/releases/202... 1/9
whitehouse.gov
OSTP Director Releases Landmark Report and Recommendations for Renewing American Scientific Discovery
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Assistant to the President and Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) Michael Kratsios
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Reposted by Torsten Wittmann
Mark Peifer (He, him) @peiferlabunc.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
Russell Vought, Director of the OMB, has issued a set of proposed changes that would dramatically alter federal grant funding. However, we can each take action to prevent these from taking effect. Here's how, a 🧵 🧪 1/n www.science.org/content/arti...
science.org
White House seeks to tighten political oversight of grantmaking
Sweeping proposed rule, now open for comments, would also restrict foreign collaborations and remove federal funding for open-access fees
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Stand Up for Science! @standupforscience.net · 29/05/2026
MARK YOU CALENDAR for our EMERGENCY SCIENCE MEETING June 2nd at 4pm ET. We will be giving an overview of the rule and assigning EVERY SCIENTIST IN AMERICA their marching orders. Register at the link in our bio, or go here: zurl.co/YVcXc #Science #StandUpForScience #OMB #SaveScience #Research
The graphic contains an image of the Statue of Liberty faded into the background and an Emergency Siren. The graphic reads: "Tuesday, June 2nd at 4PM EST, EMERGENCY SCIENCE MEETING, An Urgent, Public Meeting on the OMB Grant Funding Proposal, Resgister with the LINK IN BIO! Background: On May 28th, the OMB proposed a rule that would expand political interference into federal grant funding. The proposal would allow ideology - not scientific merit - to decide which research receives federal support. THE PASSAGE OF THE PROPOSAL, WOULD END AMERICAN SCIENCE AS WE KNOW IT."
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Stand Up for Science! @standupforscience.net · 28/05/2026
BREAKING: New proposed OMB regulation, applying to all federal grants, requiring grant reviews by senior political appointees and re-emphasizes that "peer review remains advisory and does not replace agency discretion". #standupforscience public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2026-10817.pdf
public-inspection.federalregister.gov
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Torsten Wittmann @microtubule.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
A day in the life of a growing hiPSC spheroid expressing endogenously mStayGold-tagged histone 3.3 for #FluorescenceFriday and the #Snouty aficionados. 28 hours (and >50,000 exposures) later and they are still going! Home-brewed volume projection.
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Torsten Wittmann @microtubule.bsky.social · 19/03/2026
@jeremymberg.bsky.social how come that there were ~7000 more NIH grant applications in 2025 compared to 23/24? Who wrote those? AI?
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Reposted by Torsten Wittmann
Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 13/03/2026
Good story from Vox on falling numbers of new and competitive renewal R01 grants. [Gift Link] www.vox.com/future-perfe... 1/5
vox.com
The US slashed research for cancer, Alzheimer’s, mental health — and nearly everything else
Revealed in one chart.
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Reposted by Torsten Wittmann
Drug Monkey @drugmonkey.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
NIH has not updated the overall success rates pages drugmonkey.wordpress.com/2026/03/12/n...
drugmonkey.wordpress.com
NIH has not updated the overall success rates pages
The NIH finally updated the data underlying good ol’ Report 302 of the Databook to include FY2025, which ended 09/30/2025. This allows us to examine the fate of R01-Equivalent applications by…
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Reposted by Torsten Wittmann
Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 09/03/2026
A short Bluetorial on plots of NIH application success rates as a function of percentile. 1/20
media.tenor.com
a cartoon says hey everybody an old man 's talking while bart simpson looks on
ALT: a cartoon says hey everybody an old man 's talking while bart simpson looks on
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Torsten Wittmann @microtubule.bsky.social · 04/03/2026
Does anyone know of an anti mStayGold antibody that works for immunoblots / IP? Anyone tried the one from HUABIO (not even sure that’s a real company)? Thanks!
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Reposted by Torsten Wittmann
Nick Desnoyer @nickdesnoyer.bsky.social · 01/12/2025
The hidden danger of Biorender (& the death of scientific illustration) A short thread 🧵
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Needhi Bhalla 💅🏽 @needhibhalla.bsky.social · 30/10/2025
🧪hey all, a friend and colleague, @maddoxfornc.bsky.social, is running for Congress in North Carolina. He is a scientist, professor, and parent, perspectives that are especially important right now. I hope you will support his run for Congress. Find out more here: www.maddoxforcongress.com/about/
maddoxforcongress.com
Meet Paul Maddox
Paul Maddox is a world-renowned cancer researcher, two-time entrepreneur, and native son of Western North Carolina–and now, a candidate for U.S. Congress. ....
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Torsten Wittmann @microtubule.bsky.social · 08/10/2025
Playing around with how to represent volume in #Snouty light sheet data. Here is a dividing hiPSC with endogenously tagged histone in all three orthogonal projections. Bluer is further away. If anything, it distracts from politics.
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Reposted by Torsten Wittmann
Thiago Carvalho @cyrilpedia.bsky.social · 03/10/2025
'Innovation does not occur in a vacuum. It requires raw materials: the findings of basic research. We are currently burning through a stockpile of knowledge accumulated during a more enlightened era of public investment, while allocating insufficient resources for replenishing it.'
embopress.org
For the love of frontier research, or why Elon’s rockets keep blowing up | EMBO reports
EMBO Press is an editorially independent publishing platform for the development of EMBO scientific publications.
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Torsten Wittmann @microtubule.bsky.social · 29/08/2025
Some first raw (not deskewed) data of live human induced pluripotent stem cells from #Snouty now ready for some serious live imaging. Light sheet moving at a 38-degree angle through the cell layer; coverslip is on the bottom.
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Reposted by Torsten Wittmann
Miriam Posner @miriamposner.com · 10/08/2025
I’m heartened to see this.
universityofcalifornia.edu
Stand Up for UC
We must stand together to protect our students, staff, faculty and our mission.
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Torsten Wittmann @microtubule.bsky.social · 25/07/2025
Finally having some time to play with ‘Snouty’ again. Thanks a million once more @tanner-fadero.bsky.social and @amsikking.bsky.social
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Torsten Wittmann @microtubule.bsky.social · 01/07/2025
Vaccine samples from the 1880s in Louis Pasteur’s laboratory in Arbois … Vaccines work!
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Reposted by Torsten Wittmann
Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 17/03/2025
Bluetorial: Non-Competitive Renewal (Continuation) Awards Normally, multiyear NIH grants are paid with awards each year, pending administratively reviewed progress reports. “NIH” has been slow in making these awards. This has led to $1.83 B being withheld from institutions through February 2025.
media.tenor.com
a cartoon of homer simpson holding a card
ALT: a cartoon of homer simpson holding a card
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Torsten Wittmann @microtubule.bsky.social · 08/03/2025
Got stentor … thanks @wallaceucsf.bsky.social
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Torsten Wittmann @microtubule.bsky.social · 08/03/2025
At the North Bay Science Discovery Day today in Santa Rosa
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Torsten Wittmann @microtubule.bsky.social · 07/03/2025
Crowd is forming in SF #standupforscience
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Stand Up for Science! @standupforscience.net · 02/03/2025
WHERE WILL YOU BE ON MARCH 7TH!? Head to www.standupforscience2025.org/local-event-information/ or the link in our bio to find your closest event—or add one if you're hosting one! #standupforscience2025
Map of Stand Up for Science events, with official SUFS events in Red and solidarity events in Blue
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Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 23/02/2025
“The idea is that the public has the right to know who’s giving advice to the federal government and when they’re meeting,” said Jeremy Berg, a genetic scientist who has overseen NIH funding in the past. 1/3 [I am a genetic scientist in the sense that I have genes, but I am a biochemist]
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Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 21/02/2025
New York Times article now up on Federal Register stuff. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/21/s... 1/n
nytimes.com
Trump Administration Stalls Scientific Research Despite Court Ruling (Gift Article)
Using an arcane law, officials have effectively delayed funding from the National Institutes of Health, leaving medical studies in jeopardy.
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Richard M. Carpiano, PhD, MPH @rmcarpiano.medsky.social · 20/02/2025
Myths vs. Facts regarding federal cuts to f&a (indirect) costs on NIH grants... 🧪 medsky 🛟😷 sociology idsky ucop.edu/communicatio...
ucop.edu
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Laura Haynes👩‍🔬⚾️🐾💙 @drlaurahaynes.bsky.social · 19/02/2025
I can’t believe this is happening: grants awarded by the NIH cannot be funded for the foreseeable future because of a hold on submissions to the Federal Register, where such public notices about upcoming meetings are required by law to be posted www.thetransmitter.org/funding/fede...
thetransmitter.org
Federal Register hold makes ‘end run’ around court pause on NIH funding freeze
NIH-related updates to the Federal Register, which are required for the scheduling of study sections and advisory councils, are on hold indefinitely, according to an email reviewed by <i>The Transmitt...
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John Henderson @jmhenderson.bsky.social · 18/02/2025
"At NIH, offices involved in reviewing and administering grants to researchers outside the agency, such as at universities and medical centers, were hit hard, one staffer with knowledge of the situation said." www.npr.org/sections/sho...
npr.org
Health agencies lose staff members in key areas as Trump firings set in
As the dust settles from the first wave of firings at health agencies, here's how many people got cut and the impact of the roles that were lost.
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Reposted by Torsten Wittmann
chasingmicrobes @chasingmicrobes.bsky.social · 17/02/2025
No! Only study sections already announced in the federal register have resumed. Nothing has been posted by the NIH to the federal register since Jan 21. I am finding it wild how many professors don't know this. Please spread this info to your Universities!
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Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 16/02/2025
Thanks to all of the NIHers and their friends who reached out to me. I am still here (DM me or Signal jeremymberg.78) I still have a very incomplete picture but based on what I have been told, the damage to NIH and to many wonderful people who work(ed) there is/was impossible for me to imagine 1/n
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Dave Levitan @davelevitan.bsky.social · 12/02/2025
Internal NIH guidance updated yesterday. Just canceling stuff each day from here on out I guess, pending new guidance. Killing science off both slowly and incredibly rapidly.
Effective February 10:

NIH Federal Advisory Committee meeting notices to the Office of the Federal Registare are now on hold. This affects NIH's ability to move forward with National Advisory Council/Board meetings that were previously noticed as having open and closed sessions and with Scientific Review Group (study sections and Special Emphasis Panels) meetings and Boards of Scientific Counselors that had not yet been noticed with a Federal Register Notice. As such, NIH will cancel those meetings on a day-by-day basis until additional guidance is received. Scientific Review Group meetings and Boards of Scientific Counselors that were previously noticed are moving forward.
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David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 14/02/2025
Evergreen cartoon
A cartoon depicts a man and a woman walking side by side on a street. The woman wears a stylish dress and holds a purse, while the man is in a suit. The caption reads, "My desire to be well-informed is currently at odds with my desire to remain sane.”
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BWJones @bwjones.bsky.social · 12/02/2025
YEEEEEAAAAAAAHHHH! Grants look like they should resume being issued. popular.info/p/breaking-n...
popular.info
BREAKING: NIH admits funding freeze is illegal, will resume issuing grants
An internal memo issued February 12 was obtained by Popular Information.
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Lisa Gets Politik @lisagetspolitik.union.place.ap.brid.gy · 12/02/2025
The combined budgets of USAID, EPA, NSF, NASA and NIH make up 2.5% of the federal budget. That equates to $1 a day per family. That's all we are spending to cure diseases, have health advances, basic science, the environment, and foreign aid that helps people who are suffering around the world […]
union.place
Original post on union.place
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Torsten Wittmann @microtubule.bsky.social · 10/02/2025
Temporary restraining order to halt NIH F&A cuts … will it make a long term difference? static1.squarespace.com/static/65d93...
static1.squarespace.com
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Vaughn Cooper @vscooper.micropopbio.org · 10/02/2025
Many people, including academics, don't understand what F&A is for. Please share to help. 1) Translate to "overhead" in common business accounting: 60% IDC => 60/160 = 37.5% overhead (low!) 2) Infographic explaining what it's for, linked here: www.cogr.edu/sites/defaul...
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Mark Peifer (He, him) @peiferlabunc.bsky.social · 10/02/2025
Please join my cell biology colleagues and CALL Congress. emails are not as impactful. Here is a simple sample script
“Hello, my name is [Dr. Jim Smith], and I live on [Main Street in Anytown, Connecticut]. I am a [biomedical researcher at the State University], where I study [briefly describe your research]. This research is funded by the [NIH] and is crucial because [in one sentence explain why your research is important to the public].
 
The decision by the NIH to immediately reduce the amount of funds it provides universities to support biomedical research will have a devastating impact on American science.
 
Universities are vital partners in the research we do. Without the administrative support and the research facilities they provide, I could not do my research.
 
I am deeply concerned about the implications of this decision on America’s standing as the world’s leader in life science research.
 
I urge [Senator Jones] to take action to stop these reductions in university research support. Thank you for your time, and I would be happy to discuss this further at any time.”
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Laura White @laurakwhite.bsky.social · 10/02/2025
Made some slides for scientists to talk about what's been happening & what we should do next. There are probably many people better qualified than me to talk about these issues. If that's you, please, please, please consider holding some virtual advocacy training sessions for researchers this week.
docs.google.com
The War on Science (Feb 2025 teach-in draft)
The War on Science What’s happening? What can we do about it? An interactive teach-in for biomedical researchers Please share, modify, and repurpose this template presentation (with credit). Good luck...
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Mark A. Hanson @hansonmark.bsky.social · 08/02/2025
Today they went nuclear. Imagine all firefighters were told "You all still have salaries, but as of today the government will no longer pay for building maintenance, firetruck maintenance and repair, hydrant upkeep, or admin assistants." That's what they're doing to US universities.
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Gregg Gonsalves @gregggonsalves.bsky.social · 08/02/2025
Remember, through all the noise and tumult. This is what it is about. (image: street artist in Washington DC).
Graphic of Elon Musk with words "I am stealing from you."
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Tim Clancy @viewfromarchstreet.com · 08/02/2025
On changes to #NIH indirect rates, there is a law in place that prohibits NIH from making such changes without the approval of Congress. See Division D, Title II Section 224 of The Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024 (Public Law No: 118-47) grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...
grants.nih.gov
NOT-OD-24-110: Notice of Legislative Mandates in Effect for FY 2024
NIH Funding Opportunities and Notices in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts: Notice of Legislative Mandates in Effect for FY 2024 NOT-OD-24-110. NIH
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American Society for Cell Biology @ascbiology.bsky.social · 05/02/2025
Your Action Is Needed! Congress needs to hear from scientists. Call your representatives to oppose funding freezes and restrictions on research. Find contact info at govtrack.us and make your voice heard today! #SciencePolicy www.ascb.org/science-poli...
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Simon Hammann @simonhammann.bsky.social · 04/02/2025
Important read. www.science.org/content/blog...
science.org
What's Happening Inside the NIH and NSF
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