Another paper from our collaboration with Rob Britton’s lab! We’ve been focusing on novel methods to make nucleoside analogues for over 7 years now. This week we published our 2nd Science paper in the area. Congrats to the team! #MerckChemistry
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
If you could do a sabbatical in any lab to recharge your energy and get excited again about a totally different field in biology (different from what you are studying), where would you go?
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
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.
7/ In reality, my colleagues still inside NIH tell me that their assessments are largely ignored.
Once a grant or application is picked up by the tool, they are almost never able to move the grant forward as is - regardless of the scientific justification.
Original (left) and corrected (right) Fig. 4a in the paper https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-026-10305-0 showing the chemical structures of amino acids (only the right one) the left figure is just an embarrassment
I wonder... 🤔🤔🧪 #chemsky
a) what program did the authors use to make the original (left) figure in the paper? Wild guess, ChatGPT
b) how such high school science level of disgrace pass peer review in @nature.com?
Note this was Fig.4.a NOT in SI
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
This goes for Chemistry too.
***Publish in society journals***
not journals by for-profit publishers!
There are so many great ACS and RSC journals. They have name recognition and they are run by actual scientists who care about publishing quality work. Even if you need OA they are way cheaper.
Jadzia Dax on Deep Space 9 with a spent Phaser power core. making a speech to her crew.
*Me putting a full sharps container on a shelf* Take a good look at this, people. It says something about this Life. It says that we will fight and we will keep on fighting until we can't fight anymore. You don't just throw something like this away.*
*you take it to a designated needle exchange
r/boston u/LEM1978 • 23h • i.redd.it The Waymos are here
oh this is going to go very poorly
Great 🧵
Rearrangement of amphipathic helices enables lipid uptake at ATG2A N-terminus.
📢 New #preprint from CRN Team Hurley!
The team uncovers the mechanism of ATG2A-mediated lipid transport 🧪
Structural modeling and simulations show that N-terminal helices gate lipid transfer, and a designed mutant transfers lipids three times faster in vitro.
🔗 bit.ly/3ZVAxw6
NIH leadership wants to strip worker's rights from the majority of scientists on its campuses.
But, the NIH does not get to say whether we are a union or not. We do, and we are no strangers to having to fight for our union. Time for a short history lesson. 1/n
Disclaimer: all views are my own.
If you look at the list of peptides, one of the peptides on that list (Melanotan II) is one where my husband treated someone in the ER who lost the ability to speak in words for half a day after injecting it.
We have started a project trying to predic the interactions/structures of all yeast protein pairs using an AlphaFold pooling approach. We are making the current dataset open and we welcome collaborations.
www.evocellnet.com/2026/03/mapp...
Glatt Tuesday
With this war on Iran costing $1B per day, we are now at 4$B, an amount that would fund 3,200 five year NIH biomedical research grants.
Try hamantaschen!
Just don’t overfill :)
To enable reuse by the research community we're making the two parental FPBase libraries available on @addgene.bsky.social as pooled plasmid libraries (Addgene #245482 #245483). Use them. Shuffle them. Train on them! addgene.org/Calin_Plesa/ 12/n
If you ever want to read a paper for free and can't find it otherwise, email the lead author and politely ask for a copy. You will not be bothering the person. You will in fact make their whole entire day. I have had scientists get so excited I asked they sent me everything they ever published.
An announcement that the Senate voted to reauthroize the SBIR/STTR program.
The Senate has (finally) voted to reauthorize the small business SBIR/STTR program.
Not reauthorized yet, but this was likely the biggest hurdle.
After much careful thought and analysis I have determined that there are two types of chemists. You're either an ACN chemist or a MeCN chemist.
"Since Trump took office 13 months ago, NIH has posted only 84 NOFOs, down from 787 in the previous year. Many more are in limbo. NIH has 323 opportunities listed as 'forecasted.' ... many on the list were announced in 2024 and ’25 and still are not open."
just got my summary statement 😭😭
and as I gear up to write a MIRA (re)submission, I'm trying to INTERNALIZE this thread:
more declarative statements, less hedging
more leading w/ conclusions, less leading w/ data
more broad and expansive language, less narrow language
maybe it'll work? 🤷🏽♀️
a headshot of David Botstein
We are deeply saddened to share the news of the passing of David Botstein, a towering figure in modern #genetics and a foundational force behind SGD.
www.yeastgenome.org/blog/in-memo... #yeast #modelOrganism
blue and black ink painting of a black hole
I was gonna show you anyway. This is most of my new body of work, called Forces of Nature, going on exhibit soon at @hhmijanelia.bsky.social #sciart
Black Hole, Ink on Yupo, 2026
Since I moved to @mrclmb.bsky.social I’ve been trying to answer this: Why are some mammals active at night and others in the day? Today our answer is out @science.org www.science.org/doi/10.1126/....
If you’re interested in circadian biology, evolution or how timing shapes physiology, take a look
The impact is already hitting science agencies hard. The NIH—the world's largest public biomedical research funder—has had to rely on leftover stopgap funds.
New grant awards have slowed to a trickle — exacerbating the effects of a record-long shutdown in October.
(h/t @jeremymberg.bsky.social)
Made a short video as a response. 3 questions remain for me.
1) What is the definition of a "DEl activity," and how is it being communicated to NIH staff so they can determine whether a grant qualifies?
(Continued below)
I just made an account and voted for this biology laboratory made of LEGO to "promote biological research and inspire more people into the world of biology". They need 10K votes. Reposting and/or voting below would be helpful. 🤗
beta.ideas.lego.com/product-idea...
A line graph showing NSF grant awards made through 2/27/26 for fiscal year 2026 compared with grant awards for fiscal years 2021-2025.
NSF Update (Awards through 2/27/26)
Directorates to follow
1/10
“Dolly Parton Children’s Hospital did not share how much Parton donated as part of the naming announcement. But Matt Schaefer, its president and CEO, said her support would ensure ‘every child who walks through our doors receives the treatment they deserve.’”
GOD BLESS DOLLY PARTON
