iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Kathleen Bachynski @bachynski.bsky.social · 17h

This reminds me so much of Penn Medicine boasting about Dr. Katalin Karikó’s Nobel Prize after the way the institution treated her. h/t @jackiantonovich.bsky.social

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Prof Gavin Yamey MD MPH @gavinyamey.bsky.social · 16h

At a panel today, on the future of global health, I am pleased panelists discussed the domestic terrorist attack on the CDC by an anti-vaccine activist; I agree with the panel that this was a genuinely seismic event for the global public health community & I feel its impact has been underappreciated

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BK. Titanji @boghuma.bsky.social · 19h

This study was unethical when it was announced last year and it remains unethical today. The birth dose of the hepatitis b vaccine prevents perinatal acquisition of the infection. You cannot randomize a group of newborns to not receive it while giving it to others. www.linkedin.com/safety/go/?u...

linkedin.com

Hepatitis B vaccine study condemned as unethical wins approval from Danish university

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Brittany Trang @brittanytrang.com · 17h

"I worry about calls to direct research funding primarily toward work with [immediate] applications...The most consequential research is often about what is not obvious. If scientists must know the practical outcome before asking the question, they’ll never ask some of the most important questions."

statnews.com

50 years ago, my colleagues and I pursued basic research science that became revolutionary

“Basic studies led to clinical and translational advances that no one could have predicted,” Robert Gallo writes of his work with interleukin-2.

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Lisa Messeri @lmesseri.bsky.social · 17h

This administration's science policy is very clear - funnel federal spending away from (non-profit) universities and toward (for-profit) companies. At the same time, raise the taxes on universities and lower the taxes on industry. These medals reflect exactly that. Infuriating.

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Greg Folkers @gregfolkers.bsky.social · 19h

AVAC Global Health Watch: NIH Orders Pause on HIV Trials, Zimbabwe + Zambia Health MoUs, WHO + Global Fund leadership, Foreign Assistance Funds, Issue 89 @avac.org bit.ly/4j7lday 💥

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Elizabeth Jacobs, PhD @elizabethjacobs.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

It’s hard to believe that CDC Director Dr. Erica Schwartz hasn’t had extensive training in research ethics. That means she’s intentionally going to let babies in Guinea-Bissau be infected with Hepatitis B by withholding vaccine when they have vaccine available.

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Harmit Singh Malik @harmitmalik.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

www.fredhutch.org/content/www/... Wonderful writeup by Kelsey Woodruff on thesis from Caroline Langley, and the final corresponding author research paper from my colleague @memerman.bsky.social's amazing career Paper: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... @basicsci.fredhutch.org @fredhutch.org

fredhutch.org

Deep mutational scanning reveals unappreciated mutational tolerance for the HIV-1 Vif protein

Researchers in the Human Biology Division use deep mutational scanning to parse epistatic effects on Vif evolution

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Iris van Rooij 💭 @irisvanrooij.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

✨ PSA ✨ Senior women scientists, who have been on social media for many years, can sense bad faith / reply guys instantly. If you truly believe that you are not like that, but your replies/posts are treated as such, you may want to reflect on the pragmatics of your interactions.

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Stand Up for Science! @standupforscience.net · 08/10/2026

The CDC just re-opened a previously shelved study that would withhold the hepatitis B vaccine from children in Guinea-Bissau, despite decades of evidence showing it is safe and effective. This is a violation of human rights, using “science” to harm some of the most vulnerable people in the world.

Breaking-news graphic featuring a photo of RFK Jr with headline that reads "RFK JR. TO GIVE 1.6M IN CDC FUNDS TO EXPERIMENT ON AFRICAN BABIES IN UNETHICAL TRIAL"

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Make Money - Do Magnets @sararah.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

To me, this sums up why having researchers with a range of backgrounds and life experiences is so critical to scientific innovation. We all experience different chaos and develop unique abilities to solve our way out of it. Science is poorer when it does not draw from many different lives.

Sometimes inspiration came from unexpected places. Hamilton would often bring her daughter, Lauren, to the lab with her on nights and weekends. Lauren, then four years old, liked to play astronaut in the team’s simulators, and one day, pressing buttons at random, she caused a spectacular software crash. Hamilton investigated and found that Lauren had confused the program by keying in a pre-launch sequence, called P01, “in the middle of the mission,” she says.

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Katherine Eban @katherineeban.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

SCOOP in @rollingstone.com 👇 CDC has set aside new $1.6M for controversial hepatitis B vax clinical trial in Guinea-Bissau, halted earlier amid uproar over medical ethics. CDC director's office resurrected it, taking $$ from global health security funds: www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...

rollingstone.com

CDC Is Moving Forward With a Previously Shelved Controversial Hepatitis B Vaccine Study

“It’s a wholly unethical trial, and it shouldn’t be allowed,” says Dr. Paul Offit of Guinea-Bissau study

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elizabethginexi.bsky.social @elizabethginexi.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

GAO: “HHS violated the [Impoundment Control Act of 1974] when the agency, without submitting a special message to Congress, withheld funds from obligation and expenditure following the RIF of AHRQ personnel responsible for grant administration.” ahsituationreport.substack.com/p/gao-finds-...

ahsituationreport.substack.com

GAO Finds AHRQ Funds Were Illegally Withheld

AcademyHealth applauds GAO investigation, which validates the intentional collapse of AHRQ grantmaking that AcademyHealth has documented over the last 18 months.

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Greg Folkers @gregfolkers.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

When he got the ax, Collins asked for a pass that would allow him to continue working at his lab at the NIH (without pay), ......

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Angie Rasmussen @angierasmussen.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Couldn't wait to finish Biological War: A Scenario to put Annie Jacobsen on blast for her contributions to disinforming the public about plague, pandemic risk, & Russian bioweapons so that she can use a crisis to sell her book on the national news. rasmussenretorts.substack.com/p/annie-jaco...

rasmussenretorts.substack.com

Annie Jacobsen’s Expertise in One Photo

Fearmongering For Profit: A Scenario launches on my Substack later this week

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Katy Stephenson @kstephensonmd.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

HIV clinical research funding is in grave danger. Please consider signing this letter to members of Congress to continue to support this vital research.

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Dan Garisto @dangaristo.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

NEW: In March the White House released an FY27 budget request that zeroed out the National Science Foundation's directorate of Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE). For months it was unclear what would happen. Now, with FY26 over, the damage to SBE is coming to light. My reporting:

science.org

‘Complete devastation’: How NSF gutted its social sciences research

Agency body that funds sociology, linguistics, and archaeology studies in U.S. gave 90% fewer new grants this year

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Mariana Lenharo @marilenharo.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

The flu season seems to be off to an early start in the Northern Hemisphere and scientists are worried about one particular mutation. That means it's a good idea to go get vaccinated as soon as possible! I wrote about what the early data tell us: www.nature.com/articles/d41...

nature.com

Flu season could kick off ‘incredibly’ early — what scientists are watching

Cases in the Northern Hemisphere are cropping up weeks early, and they are dominated by a virus with a concerning mutation.

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Mark Histed @markhisted.org · 05/10/2026

Heads up: Kristian Andersen @kgandersen.bsky.social is speaking at #NIH tomorrow. “On Viral Emergence and the Origin of Pandemics,” 2pm ET, NIH B40 (the Vaccine Research Center). Despite the non-Lab Leak topic, this isn’t part of Jay Bhattacharya’s so-called “Scientific Freedom” lecture series. 🧪

VIROLOGY AND NEUROPHARMACOLOGY INTEREST GROUPS
Present
On Viral Emergence and the Origin of
Pandemics
Kristian G. Andersen, MPhil & PhD
Dr. Andersen's laboratory explores viral systems biology and ecology and its impacts on global health
Tuesday October 6th, at 2 p.m.
Building 40 Conference Room 1201/1203
For more information, contact Eric Freed
efreed@mail.nih.gov or Lee Eiden eidenl@mail.nih.gov

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Mera L🪬 @mlicc1701.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

I use "stuff"/"things" for brevity's sake as well- just to clarify.

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Mera L🪬 @mlicc1701.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

I wouldn't have said anything if I didn't overall value what you do, but this is not the first time I have commented on this kind of framing around ID stuff (which is my field) and it concerns me. Not sure why you'd leave up the original conspiratorial framing if Dr. Yamey cleared stuff up for you.

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Colin Carlson @colincarlson.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Finally: stop reading or sharing Annie Jacobsen, jesus fucking christ

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Mera L🪬 @mlicc1701.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

I am begging you to stop posting stuff framed in such a conspiratorial, click-baity manner. It disrupts already fractured trust in public health while leaning in to some of the worst and oldest of completely unfounded stereotypes about Jewish people as bringers of disease. It's not helping anyone.

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Jennifer Nuzzo, DrPH, SM @jennifernuzzo.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

We need to be careful calling the situation in Siberia a "plague outbreak". "the woman was diagnosed with 'pneumonia of unknown etiology,' or origin, and...'extensive' testing found 'no microorganisms associated with the patient’s professional activities.'" apnews.com/article/russ...

apnews.com

Russia reports a worker at a Siberian plague institute got pneumonia from an unknown cause and died

Russian authorities say a staffer at a plague research institute in Siberia contracted pneumonia of an unknown cause, and local state TV reported the woman died last week.

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Lighthouse @armholster.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

A Florida state proposal to eliminate the requirement for the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine and further declines in childhood vaccination could unleash a widespread measles epidemic in Florida within 3-5 years, the largest in 50 years. #measles #epidemic www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

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Prof Gavin Yamey MD MPH @gavinyamey.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Essential, brilliant reporting by @by-cjewett.bsky.social It's TERRIFYING: MAHA folks are INVESTIGATING pediatricians, who are some of the lowest paid docs in the professions, for vaccinating kids It's part of a 20-year anti-vaxx campaign by RFK Jr "that some of his political allies have joined"

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Harsha Thirumurthy @hthirumurthy.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Summary below with results from 3-year study in Kenya assessing whether savings interventions can strengthen economic prospects for the future and also reduce engagement in behaviors that increase HIV/STI risk. Our results are extremely promising!

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Mark Lubell @envpolicycenter.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Trump's NSF appears to have basically eviscerated social science research. Can't even find the names of the traditional directorates on the webpage. All of the RFP landing pages are "awaiting" publication of the next due date...which may be never until Trump is gone.

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Dr. Princess Vimentin PhD | Cancer Biologist @princess-vimentin.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

How has Vought et. al disrupted NIH funding? 1. Grants were awarded more slowly in 2025-2026. 2. Peer reviewed grants enter a digital black hole. 3. Most of the staff that process the awards is gone. 4. Grants are flagged if they contain banned words. 🧪 www.npr.org/2026/09/24/n...

npr.org

These 6 charts show how NIH research funding has been reshaped under Trump

Stories of science funding being cut, labs shutting down and scientists losing jobs have flooded the media under Trump's administration. These six graphics show how those changes have affected U.S. bi...

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Colin Carlson @colincarlson.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Lab-acquired infections happen. Only a small percent ever become public information, in part because they never need to. The plague thing is interesting and unfortunate, and also the pandemic risk of wild type Yersinia pestis in 2026 is indistinguishable from zero. www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

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Jenna Norton @jenna-m-norton.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

This language will be crucial to protect NIH science from being politicized. Thanks to @murray.senate.gov and Sen Collins for leading this. Kennedy is opposed, so especially if you are in Louisiana, time to flood phone lines. rollcall.com/2026/10/01/l...

rollcall.com

Lame-duck effort brewing to protect NIH grantmaking

Senate appropriators from both parties are workshopping language that could be added to a spending bill to prevent the White House from exerting political influence on medical research grants. The pr...

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Mera L🪬 @mlicc1701.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Your kiddo sounds awesome- must run in the family!

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Mera L🪬 @mlicc1701.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Maybe TROSA or Scrap Exchange? I know they both regularly have cassettes for sale. Can't imagine they, y'know, at least try to stock the players based on available inventory.

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elizabethginexi.bsky.social @elizabethginexi.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

NIH’s move toward multiyear funding is a major reason for the drop in grant numbers: The agency now commits several years of funding at once to fewer awards, rather than paying for projects one year at a time. www.the-scientist.com/federal-rese...

the-scientist.com

NIH Grant Awards Fall to a Six-Year Low in FY2026 | The Scientist

A public dataset from Grant Witness shows NIH has issued about 11 percent fewer grant awards this fiscal year than its five-year average pace.

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Ryan Hisner @ryanhisner.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Had no idea how common dengue has become in Florida. Per the CDC, >1000 non-travel-associated US dengue cases in 2026, mostly Florida. A guy I ran cross-country with in high school lost a teenage daughter to dengue last year. Can't believe this isn't big news. www.microbe.tv/twiv/twiv-13...

microbe.tv

TWiV 1362: Clinical Update with Dr. Daniel Griffin

In his weekly clinical update, Daniel Griffin and Vincent Racaniello continue their ongoing exasperation over 5 deaths in Pennsylvania associated with measles infections, the absurdity of RFK Jr.’s st...

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Alicia Ault @aliciaault.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

CDC reporting a big increase in cases of a rare fungal disease that primarily attacks the brain and has a 60-70% fatality rate. Increase likely not due to a rise in referrals or detection, per this MMWR paper. #IDSky #EpiSky #NeuroSky #fungusamongus

cdc.gov

Cladophialophora bantiana Detections

This report describes 48 confirmed cases and one probable case of C. bantiana in clinical samples from 2009–2026.

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Bénédicte C @benecal.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Jim O’Neill lawyer and NSF Director + Russell Vought OMB Director “diverted” NSF funds. NSF is an institution. People are responsible.

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Elizabeth Jacobs, PhD @elizabethjacobs.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

As more people die of measles, I’m reminded of this quote from RFK Jr. appointee Kirk Milhoan: “What we’re going to have is a real-world experience of when unvaccinated people get measles. What is the new incidence of hospitalization…of death?” They are running their experiment.

theguardian.com

US committee is reconsidering all vaccine recommendations

Move is dramatic departure for advisory group under Kirk Milhoan, who says he dislikes the term ‘established science’

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The Monarch Diaries @monarchdiaries.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Great thread, why a H5N1 mink farm outbreak is a big red alert. When the 1918 flu virus genome was recovered I asked the late Bob Lamb, an eminent virologist, if this was a terrorism hazard. His answer: “Not unless they’ve got a lot of ferrets. Or a mink farm.”

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Stand Up for Science! @standupforscience.net · 28/09/2026

The Trump admin rejected the UN Declaration on Preparing for Future Pandemics because it mentioned equity, solidarity & universal access to sexual & reproductive health care services. They're so obsessed with banning words & controlling women that they’ll risk millions of lives to do so.

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Chenxin Li, PhD @chenxinli2.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Requiring scientists to be political neutral is to require scientists to shut up when the facts are inconvenient.

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ASM @asm.org · 28/09/2026

ASM is launching the Detection to Protection (D2P) Initiative, bringing leading voices together to lay out a specific, expert-validated blueprint to address emerging infectious and zoonotic disease threats. Read the press release: asm.social/36D

asm.social

ASM Launches Detection to Protection Initiative

ASM is launching the Detection to Protection Initiative, bringing leading voices together to lay out a specific, expert-validated blueprint to address emerging infectious and zoonotic disease threats.

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Stuart Neil @tetherin.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

US Gov fuckwittery and incompetence has not gotten a handle on H5N1 spreading in a mink farm - an animal through which WE KNOW the virus can acquire respiratory transmissibility and human tropism. But no - you can’t study these viruses under MAGA b/c scientists can’t be trusted….🤦 Stupid fuckers

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Nonia Pariente @npariente.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

⬇️⬇️ Important tool to identify and track #Dengue virus lineages #ViroSky 🧪

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