New preprint on conserved BCG in myxobacteria from Cole Steven's lab!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
New preprint on conserved BCG in myxobacteria from Cole Steven's lab!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
The Extraordinary Benefit of Natureβs Chemistry to Health, Society, and the Economy | Journal of Natural Products pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10....
NIH is freezing funds for research abroad, threatening thousands of projects. 9/10
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Important story of NSF cuts by @carolynyjohnson.bsky.social, & important perspective from @alondra.bsky.social: βThese accounts of how we are decimating with a thousand cuts the science & research ecosystem are devastatingβ¦ Itβs sort of cutting off the future.β www.washingtonpost.com/science/2025...
Affected by the foreign subawards policy? Help run clinical trials abroad on a project with a subaward? I want to hear how this policy impacts you.
Send me a message on Signal at mkozlov .01 or email me at maxkozlov [at] protonmail [dot] com. You can stay anonymous.
There's an open call for editors (5-year terms) at Applied and Environmental Microbiology, for those of you who might be interested:
journals.asm.org/journal/aem/...
If anyone has concerns, the biosecurity bureaucracy of Australia should allay them!
I know conservation biologists have ethical concerns about Colossal Biosciences, etc., but one thing is for sure: DAFT and the OGTR are never ever going to let a GMO thylacine-like animal that is actually a GMO numbat or whatever wander the bush in Tassie.
I injured my thumb tripping on a run this morning, and it is kinda annoying typing, but I am really glad that I am not a PhD student/postdoc anymore because pipetting would be literally impossible.
Great news: NIH postbac program is recruiting again! If your grad school plans were affected by program cutbacks or admissions freezes this year I highly encourage you to apply, this could be a perfect opportunity. Please repost.
www.training.nih.gov/research-tra...
NSF will award ~1,000 instead of their usual ~2,000 Graduate Research Fellowships this year.
NSF slashes prestigious PhD fellowship awards by half www.nature.com/articles/d41...
My biggest comment on paper I am reviewing today is going to be that their technical sales pitch jargon literally makes the paper hard to follow even though it's a pretty straightforward genetic circuit.
Not to throw rocks at glass houses (because I definitely am guilty of this) but sometimes synthetic biology is so vibey. Sometimes people are just doing a pretty basic genetic experiment and dressing it up in technical futuristic jargon.
General vibes right now
π§ͺ #ScienceSky and #AcademicSky: Weβre trying to learn more about the real-life scope and impact of the Trump administration terminating NIH grants.
Here's how you can help our reporting π
I worry about all the focus on commercialision from the ARC here in Oz for the same reason
This came to mind after hearing recent discussions on podcasts etc. about the rise of Chinese innovation with companies like Byd and Xaomi, Byd's accession while Tesla flounders and Elon Musk is DODGE-ing, etc. China has won biotech: thehill.com/opinion/tech....
Big ups to ACS for providing complimentary childcare at #ACSFall2025. Attending conferences is enough logistical work as-is. Not having worry about week-long arrangements for kiddos makes a huge difference, especially to early-career folks who are more likely to have young kids.
Nobel Prizes by country and year.
The dominance of Germany is striking every time. Before 1933, that is. And the utter dominance of America (and the UK) after 1945.
See this chart for one stark example: NIH funding has dramatically slowed down.
Grant awards are down *$3 billion* so far, compared to same time period last year
I asked the White House to explain.
βThis is not a researcher entitlement program,β said an official, defending their new approach.
Sounds like a grift
Countries that have issued a travel advisory this year warning their citizens about visiting the United States:
Canada
Denmark
Finland
France
Germany
Ireland
Netherlands
New Zealand
United Kingdom
This doesn't look good, folks
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Imagine if those funds went to paying students, technicians, or postdocs to do more research. π§ͺ
biorxiv.org/content/10.1... Hereβs a paper that was many years in the making. The idea that the climate can affect the thermodynamic mechanism of binding due to the temperature dependence of the entropy term is interesting- we see gradual shift in binding mode along evo trajectoryβ¦
Studies terminated at NIH:
-On reducing asthma from mold
-On prenatal risks & screening
-On statins influence on dementia
-On the safety/risk of gender-affirming care
-On how Covid vax outcomes & disparities
-On improving HIV care
-Training programs for the next generation of scientists
Feels like the ultimate goal in molecular construction, but is only relevant if it's to make something that will be used by others