Lange lab @ Aarhus University/SDCA/UC San Diego

NIH FY2025 funding data finally emerges on RePORT The FY2025 funding picture was disrupted significantly by the mandate for Multi-Year Funding of about half of the budget for extramural awards. This produced a mid-year declaration by NCI that thei…

NIH FY2025 funding data finally emerges on RePORT drugmonkey.wordpress.com/2026/03/06/n...

My lab @cri-utsw.bsky.social is looking for a highly motivated postdoct interested in mechanobiology!

We are building a highly collaborative and interdisciplinary team working on how mechanical forces shape immune and cancer cell behavior.

Come do cool science with me!

lnkd.in/gKEXWUGy

Postdoc positions in Nuclear RNA Biology - Vacancy at Aarhus University Vacancy at Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics - RNA Biology and Innovation, Aarhus University

Postdoc positions available in my lab in Aarhus, Denmark on 'Mammalian Nuclear RNA Production and Turnover Systems'. Please get in touch for further information or simply apply here:
mbg.au.dk/en/news-and-...

A photo of Doc Brown from Back to the Future holding jumper cables labelled "Deranged Activist" with a grant of NIH funding curves below it.

My weekly update on NIH funding

This includes awards made through 2/27/26

Warning: This thread contains data compiled by a known deranged_activist™. Do not read while operating heavy machinery.

1/9

On sabotage of our young scientists, by @holdenthorp.bsky.social @science.org
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Delays in awards and funding calls worry NIH-funded researchers Many programs may be pushed into the next fiscal year, and some could face funding gaps

“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.’ “

Seems like an innovative and exciting research environment for early career folks!

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

First PhD dissertation of the lab at Aarhus University submitted. Congratulations to Virginia. Great feat!
Now onto the viva!

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

Not spending money that is appropriated for science is a tricky subject to explain, but for people in limbo (like myself, as I mentioned yesterday), it can have cause serious career harm.

Many celebrated the NIH budget bill. It’s not supporting science when an unchecked bottleneck still remains.

Job losses at research-intensive universities double in two years - Research Professional News Exclusive: Scale of redundancies revealed branded a “disaster” for UK research capacity

Job losses at UK research-intensive universities double in two years.

Exclusive: Scale of redundancies branded a “disaster”.

www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-u...

All projects must focus on one of the following topic areas: • The 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence • American Military Valor • The American Dream and Economic Freedom • America's Role on a Global Scale Public Humanities Projects supports two categories, Historic Places and Exhibitions, at two funding levels (Planning and Implementation). Proposed projects may include complementary components: for example, a museum exhibition might be accompanied by a website or mobile app. Proiects mav be international (but must

A colleague sent this along from the NEH. What an absolute joke. As they said, we’re in an era that is post-satire. I’d say it’s just rank stupid.

Opinion | The Human Cost of Trump’s War on Science

Deep, well sourced, moving, and enraging story from the NYT

[Gift Link]

www.nytimes.com/2026/02/23/o...

“There is an inescapable problem if we are going to keep driving new entrants with ESI policies with an unchanging, or decreasing, appropriation for the NIH. We have to have PIs who exit if we are to have new PIs enter. It’s simple math.”
Podcast appearances dont change math @drugmonkey.bsky.social

UCSD, facing federal cuts, will no longer guarantee funding for incoming grad students The school warns admitted first-year students that their support packages are contingent on state and federal funding.

It’s PhD admission season in the US and elsewhere. Is anyone collecting and sharing info about what admissions letters are saying this year, especially in the neuro/psych/bio space? Last year there were some (unfortunate) changes at some Unis, eg
www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2025/03/08/u....

Are you an early career biologist seeking a position (Masters up to faculty)? I have talked to so many people who feel alone, like they don't have resources, or who are seeking community during this difficult time in the job market. I created a Discord community to help. discord.gg/nmktHJhUPH

I see the University of York is offering a fixed-term post in public history for the same salary (£37k) I earned for a fixed-term post in public history, also in Yorkshire, in 2012. Had the rate risen with inflation it would now be £53k.

A familiar move with a new twist: Trump tries to cut CDC funds he just signed into law A federal judge in Illinois quickly issued a restraining order after the Trump administration slashed more than $600 million in CDC grants to four blue states.

A federal judge in Illinois quickly issued a restraining order after the Trump administration slashed more than $600 million in CDC grants to four blue states.

‘We’re no longer attracting top talent’: the brain drain killing American science As Trump slashes science funding, young researchers flee abroad. Without solid innovation, the US could cease to have the largest biomedical ecosystem in the world

‘We’re no longer attracting top talent’: the brain drain killing American science 🤬 www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

“NIH” put out a memo about how they are making a “concerted effort” to support Early Stage Investigators (ESI). In the data presented, there is a decrease in funding rates from 26.1% in ‘24 to 18.9% in ‘25. Median age of ESIs stayed flat at 40.

grants.nih.gov/news-events/...

How the Kakistocracy Became a Quackistocracy Corruption is a germ’s best friend

To understand the catastrophic turn in U.S. health policy, follow the money paulkrugman.substack.com/p/how-the-ka...

Would like to reiterate that the ~implied~ requirement of having K01 level funding for most asst. prof jobs is fairly explicit now. People didn’t like it before, and it felt questionable to me about the willingness for a dept to invest in your future.

If that’s required, who meets the criteria…

Scientists no Longer Find Twitter Professionally Useful, and have Switched to Bluesky Synopsis. Social media has become widely used by the scientific community for a variety of professional uses, including networking and public outreach. For

Bluesky is the new science Twitter, new study by @whysharksmatter.bsky.social and Julia Wester concludes!

"Results show that for every reported professional benefit that scientists once gained from Twitter, scientists can now gain that benefit more effectively on Bluesky than on Twitter."

A line curve showing number of awards for fiscal year 2026 compared to fiscal years 2021-2025 across NSF. The fiscal year 2026 curve lies well below curves for other fiscal years.

NSF Update

Funding curve overall. A little bit of progress in the past week, but only a little bit.

Now by Directorate...

1/11

Shriners Children’s Opening First-of-Its-Kind Research Institute in Atlanta | Alison Cernich | 157 comments After 11 years at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development at The National Institutes of Health, I am excited to announce my new role as the inaugural direct...

Another NIH Institute Director is leaving...

Alison Cernich (NICHD)

www.linkedin.com/posts/alison...

And another institute director... She had only been in place for 1 5-year term but no renewal.

The dismantling of the NIH leadership is painful to watch especially with the lack of clear process for replacing them and the history of hiring cronies.

This graph basically shows that the MSCA are, as of now, useless unless the EU governance does something about it 🧪

taps microphone...

Look at the replies and then understand why I yell at the nonsense initiatives the EU has pulled instead of reinforcing what we already have 🧪

$1.65M per day in DC alone. That’s approximately two NIH R01 Grant *years* burned per day. Ninety *five year* R01s projects burned in the last seven months with no end in sight.

Instead of lasting scientific advance we get….what?
Civil rights violations and authoritarian replacement of democracy.

We are watching in real time who some scientists are willing to sacrifice in favor of access to funding: early career researchers, trainees, scientists from historically excluded groups and immigrants.