Thoughts on the various Trump administration proposals to revamp US science funding - and what they all have in common:

The Assault On Science Funding Continues

science.org

bit.ly/4evhaSR - fantastic defense of basic science. Pursuing seemingly esoteric knowledge is the engine of biomedical research. Despite myriads of basic discoveries sparking cures, we continue to defund curiosity driven research. Fund scientists to work on what they choose

Opinion | The Science That Turned Lizard Venom Into GLP-1s Is Under Attack

nytimes.com

@schvartzman.bsky.social and I wrote a perspective on how dynamic metabolite-protein interactions can shape cell biology, and the open questions this raises about the broad roles of metabolism. It was fun to dig into Zabala-Letona, Carracedo et al.'s story as an example of this! tinyurl.com/4tcnrydm

Precision from broad strokes: How the non-specific interactions of metabolites and macromolecules can regulate biology

In a recent article in Nature, Zabala-Letona et al.1 propose that polyamines—small, positively charged metabolites—regulate RNA splicing by electrosta…

tinyurl.com

Thanks @nickburton.bsky.social and @vai.org for hosting me on a great day of science! Incredible people and science in an amazing institute

I had a great conversation with Bowei Li (Meaning Medicine) on communicating science to different audiences, talking with patients about science and the increasing role of AI in medicine. Thanks Bowei for inviting me! whatisglobalhealth.podcasts.library.columbia.edu/podcast/mean...

Today's research assistants, tomorrow's cure-finders: Federal funding helps train the next generation of biomedical scientists. By investing in researchers today means investing in decades of future discoveries. Speak up: http://fundresearch.org #SaveOurCures #ScienceEducation #FutureReady

Our work detailing the metabolic roles of serum for cancer cell proliferation is now out at JBC, @asbmbjournals.bsky.social! Congrats to Oliver and Eric and many thanks to the editor and reviewers for a thoughtful and efficient review process. See here: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Defined media reveal the essential role of lipid scavenging in supporting cancer cell proliferation

Fetal bovine serum (FBS) is an undefined additive that is ubiquitous to mammalian cell culture media and whose functional contributions to promoting c…

sciencedirect.com

Lucas Sullivan@lucasbsullivan.bsky.social · last yr.

Excited to share a recent preprint by Oliver Newsom, where we evaluate the functional contributions of serum for cancer cell proliferation. Inside: A broadly applicable serum-free media, Quantitative lipid uptake characterization, Evidence lipid scavenging > synthesis for cancer cell proliferation.

Check in at 12pm EST today @fnucleosome.bsky.social to hear our new story on how one metabolite regulates chromatin structure and function

This Wednesday at #FragileNucleosome seminar, we are excited to host Ali Wilkening and @schvartzman.bsky.social to tell us about amazing work they are doing! Register here for upcoming session and the entire series: us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

All of NIH funding to Northwestern University is frozen. This pause includes noncompeting approved funding, new and competing grants with fundable scores. No reimbursements for money already spent have been received since March. This situation is rarely reported so please Please get the word out!

If you’re at @theaacr.bsky.social don’t miss today’s session on 3D Topology & Cancer featuring giants of the field: Jane Skok @nyulangone.bsky.social & Brad Cairns @utah.edu Imposter syndrome at an all time high! 😬 Proud to represent @cohesinlab.bsky.social @columbiacancer.bsky.social #AACR25

There are so many stories like this. A weird colony in a plate in the rubbish to penicillin, fly eyes to ras inhibitors, weird repetitive sequences in bacteria to CRISPR. We should have a daily column on how science made your life better. #fundscience

Marcelo Bonini, Ph.D.@mbonini.bsky.social · last yr.

The story of ozempic - besides saving millions of lives and saving billions for the healthcare system - ozempic is a scientific breakthrough everybody should know about - it was discovered because someone studied the spit of a lizard that only eats 6 times a year the Gila monster - so first 🧵

Bluetorial: Women, courage, and leadership What follows will include some generalizations based on population averages of what I have experienced over the course of my career. There are, of course, exceptions in every group who are substantially more to one extreme or the other.

a cartoon says hey everybody an old man 's talking while bart simpson looks on

ALT: a cartoon says hey everybody an old man 's talking while bart simpson looks on

media.tenor.com

I was that woman! I have frequently told the story of how Jeremy responded after my second NIH rejection. He said, “Whatever you do, don’t stop spending. If you run out of startup, we’ll find more money for you.” I didn’t need it in the end, but knowing he had my back was huge. Thank you!

Jeremy Berg@jeremymberg.bsky.social · last yr.

Our first recruit struggled initially to succeed in obtaining NIH funding. But her science was/is terrific and we bridged her along. She subsequent received an HHMI appointment, and then substantial NIH funding. She is now a member of the National Academy and is the current department director 25/n

A patient reminded me of science’s power: 2 doses of immunotherapy and a fatal cancer GONE. Immunotherapy exists BECAUSE of basic research—work that can seem esoteric or wasteful. Before dismissing it, ask a scientist why it matters. Or ask the Nobel who discovered immunotherapy.

rupress.org/jcb/article/... A great piece on the life of Joe Gall, a giant of modern cell and molecular biology. Especially 👍 to the importance of exploring nature, model systems and supporting women in science. Really inspiring

posting here since bsky is taking off! nature.com/articles/s41586-024-08146-w Congratulations to my good friend @keunwooryu.bsky.social and the Craig Thompson lab on uncovering metabolically distinct mitochondrial subpopulations. Really cool cell biology Keun!!

Cellular ATP demand creates metabolically distinct subpopulations of mitochondria - Nature

Mitochondria are able to maintain two competing metabolic pathways—oxidative phosphorylation and the reductive synthesis of proline and ornithine—by generating two mitochondrial subpopulations that ar...

nature.com

As my postdoctoral mentor likes to say: "cells didn't read your textbook!". A perfect example: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... . Just wow!!

A transmitochondrial sodium gradient controls membrane potential in mammalian mitochondria

Eukaryotic cell function and survival rely on the use of a mitochondrial H+ electrochemical gradient (Δp), which is composed of an inner mitochondrial…

sciencedirect.com