Jan. 5, 2026 The rationale for the recent updates to the U.S. childhood immunization schedule is, at best, uncertain and sets a potentially dangerous precedent for public health. Whatever improvements may be needed to the process the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has followed in the past to update vaccine recommendations, it is unclear what scientific evidence led to these new guidelines. Protecting a country’s public health presents unique challenges that are specific to that country’s population. The prevalence of diseases in the U.S. is not the same as it is in other countries, and public health recommendations should be made based on the public health challenges faced by the American people. The changes by the CDC will reduce the number of recommended childhood vaccines from 17 to 11. This includes narrowing the recommendation for the flu, which has already contributed to the deaths of at least 9 children this season and a near record number of pediatric flu deaths last season. Vaccines are a safe and effective tool to prevent the spread of infectious disease and infection-related deaths, and they have saved and continue to save lives. While we concur with National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya that “science demands continuous evaluation,” that must occur with full transparency and input from the scientific community. The schedule changes weaken vaccine recommendations at a particularly critical time. It is crucial that expert consultation and a review of scientific evidence be included in the decisions that impact the health and safety of the country.

The @asm.org statement in response to the changes in the childhood immunization schedule:

asm.org/press-releas...

Women seem to retract fewer papers than men — but why? Nature - In an analysis of nearly 900 retracted medical research studies, the number of female authors is disproportionately low.

A new study finds that women’s names filled just 23% of author slots in a sample of nearly 900 retracted articles published in medical journals between 2008 and 2017

go.nature.com/4i9KxtM

Psychiatrists call for RFK Jr. to be replaced as health secretary Two groups are calling for new leadership at HHS after Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s actions on substance abuse treatment and mental health medications, among other issues.

Two groups are calling for new leadership at HHS after Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s actions on substance abuse treatment and mental health medications, among other issues.

Faculty Professor Associate - Full-Time | Vaughn Cooper We are recruiting Faculty microbiologists in three (3) different, complementary, and collaborative areas at the University of Pittsburgh associated with the School of Medicine. 1) Fundamental researc...

🚨 Microbiologists! We are recruiting Assistant / Associate Professors in 3 collaborative areas of our U. Pittsburgh School of Medicine.
1) MMG (my dept): fundamental research in med micro
2) Peds ID / I4Kids institute
3) Center for Vaccine Research
🔗 to all 3 w/info: www.linkedin.com/posts/vaughn...

Flexible competency framework: A tool for optimizing life science training Life sciences research requires high standards of rigor and professionalism, which need to be woven into the training future scientists. This Community Page presents a competency-based framework to us...

How can we improve the #training of future #biology researchers? This Community Page presents a competency-based framework to use to align curriculum and trainee outcomes with educational objectives in the life sciences. 🧪 #academicsky
plos.io/3HIpuB1

An illustration of a man riding a bike surrounded by wheels and other bike parts, with text: How a Ph.D. is like riding a bike

"For half an hour, I vented everything I had been holding in for months … my supervisor … then calmly offered a line I’ll never forget: 'You are here to learn to ride a bicycle, not to invent a bicycle.' That one sentence landed softly, but it cracked something open." https://scim.ag/4lt1Ru0

few outcomes, except for 99% of FDA-approved drugs, 174 recipients of 104 Nobel Prizes, training ~30K MDs and ~10K PhDs per year to enter the workforce, and a 34% reduction in age-adjusted cancer deaths since 1990 -- the largest decrease in history

Survey of US postdocs finds threefold increase in job losses Country-wide cuts are difficult to determine, but a survey by the National Postdoctoral Association reveals mounting pressures.

Cuts across the US are difficult to determine, but a survey by the National Postdoctoral Association reveals mounting pressures

go.nature.com/4nNqvba

The microbiota vault initiative: safeguarding Earth’s microbial heritage for future generations - Nature Communications Nature Communications - The microbiota vault initiative: safeguarding Earth’s microbial heritage for future generations

A #WorldMicrobiomeDay special from @natcomms.nature.com!

The Microbiota Vault Initiative - an attempt to preserve the microbial diversity for our future generations.

#MicroSky #MicrobiomeSky 🦠

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Behind many scientists is a lifetime of invisible, unsustainable costs. From unpaid internships to underpaid postdocs, the economic toll of a STEM career is staggering—and it's pushing talent out. My new perspective explores this crisis. #STEM #AcademicBlueSky journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

Exciting fundamental discovery!

Early embryos fight bacteria WITHOUT immune cells

Zebrafish, mouse, and human embryos use epithelial cells (trophoectoderm)—not immune cells—to engulf and destroy 𝘌. 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘪 and 𝘚. 𝘢𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘶𝘴

Hoijman Lab Barcelona 🇪🇸
𝘊𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘏𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘔𝘪𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘦

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Shattered Science: The Research Lost as Trump Targets NIH Funding The Trump administration cut research funding that sought cures for future pandemics, examined the causes of dementia and tried to prevent HIV transmission. More than 150 researchers shared with ProPu...

An incredible interactive look at the thousands of NIH grants and billions of dollars cut — and the real people, both researchers and patients, behind them.

Bravo @anniewaldman.bsky.social et al at @propublica.org

Registration for MMPC 2025 opens today! We can’t wait to see you in St. Charles, IL, for the first MMPC hosted by Loyola University Chicago!
www.mmpconference2025.com/registration

Rapid Response Bridge Funding Program In the face of recent abrupt shifts in federal funding for education research, including large-scale terminations of National Science Foundation (NSF) research grant awards, we have developed a rap...

Very smart, high ROI initiative from the Spencer Foundation.

Providing bridge funding for canceled NSF grants:

1) directs funds to projects already screened by a top-noch review process.
2) avoids imposing proposal prep costs on researchers.
3) ameliorates the disruption from GOP sabotage.

Make America dangerous again 🤡

Trump’s NIH And NSF Cuts Estimated To Cost The U.S. Economy $10 Billion Annually Economists find public R&D drives U.S. productivity growth — and pays for itself

In case you need some numbers when you call your representatives about the cuts to basic research funding:

www.forbes.com/sites/johndr...

“A growing recognition that women’s pain should be treated.” Why is this being presented like a revolutionary concept?? As women I guess we all kind of know our pain is ignored in the medical field but seeing it presented as fact is certainly eye opening…

A chocolate cake with red and white decorations and lit candles shaped as the number 75. Bold text reads: ‘The NSF Turns 75 Today. What has it done over the past 7 decades?’ The background is a celebratory red with a spray-paint texture.

HAPPY 75th, NSF!

We’re celebrating this milestone by highlighting some of NSF’s most transformative accomplishments—innovations that have shaped our world and continue to drive progress in health, technology, the environment, and beyond.

Read on 🧵(1/11):

Rapid Response Bridge Funding Program In the face of recent abrupt shifts in federal funding for education research, including large-scale terminations of National Science Foundation (NSF) research grant awards, we have developed a rap...

FYI: The Spencer Foundation, Kapor Foundation, The William T. Grant Foundation, and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation have collaborated to offer $25K rapid response grants.

"This rapid response bridge funding opportunity is for scholars and teams whose grants have recently been cancelled by NSF."

A huge majority of Americans (77%) oppose the cuts to medical research that the current administration has made.

(Source: Wash. Post/ABC/Ipsos poll)

BREAKING: We're suing the National Institutes of Health over their politically-motivated purge of research grants.

This is an unlawful attack on scientific progress that puts lives at risk.

75% of US scientists who answered Nature poll consider leaving More than 1,600 readers answered our poll; many said they were looking for jobs in Europe and Canada.

The massive changes in US research brought about by the new administration of President Donald Trump are causing many scientists in the country to rethink their lives and careers

https://go.nature.com/41OhAgK

Science Under Threat in the United States: How scientists and institutions should respond Individual researchers and university leaders need to make the case for science to their elected representatives and to the public at large.

Science is under threat in the US. @elife.bsky.social have commissioned a series of articles discussing the implications and what we can do. The first three articles are now live. More to follow:
elifesciences.org/articles/106...
elifesciences.org/articles/106...
elifesciences.org/articles/106...

NIH Grants Fueled $95 Billion In FY 2024 Economic Activity, Finds New Report National Institutes of Health grants generated almost $95 billion in economic activity nationwide in FY 2024 according to a new report by United for Medical Research.

New report shows that NIH grants fueled $95 billion in economic activity and 407,782 jobs in 2024.

That's not to mention the countless lives that biomedical research has saved.

Show me a better investment than that.
www.forbes.com/sites/michae...

This feels like a situation in which we should very specifically NOT be using AI…

If you've been calling Congress, keep calling & if not, start-we're getting their attention. We had a good visit to a Congressional office yesterday to discuss science funding & the staffer told us how busy they've been-usually the Senate shwitchboard gets 64 calls/minute-now they're getting 1600 🧪

U.S. early-career researchers struggling amid chaos Uncertain funding, government firings, and distressed universities hit vulnerable groups especially hard

www.science.org/content/arti...

This clearly shows that the administration doesn’t care at all about the price of eggs. If they did they would not be firing people in an office that coordinates testing and tracking of bird flu across a network of national labs in the middle of a massive bird flu outbreak

Opinion | Kennedy’s Anti-Vaccine Views Don’t Represent America Threatening vaccine access is not only bad science, it’s bad politics.

Americans don’t agree on much, but nine in 10 endorse childhood vaccines, Caitlin Rivers writes. Emphasizing the popularity of the shots is not just about correcting the record — it’s key to protecting them.

How Trump’s Medical Research Cuts Would Hit Colleges and Hospitals in Every State Changes to a key funding formula will reduce research grants at hospitals and universities by billions — and may discourage future research.

How Trump’s medical research cuts would hit colleges and hospitals in every state: www.nytimes.com/interactive/... My colleagues and I crunched the numbers.