Steve Ekker
@scekker.bsky.social
Platypus entrepreneur scientist precision genomes engineer (nuclear&mito). Zebrafish J EIC. ‘Longhorn’ leader@ UT Austin & Dell Med. Active w/ LEAH Labs, LifEngine, Forjazul. DGI/Immusoft cofounder. First SAB @ OpenTrons. Was faculty UMN & Mayo. Posts=mine
Amazingly, despite the limitations, this show gets better with age. Catch the Animated Series if you want to see the 4th season!
Eric Deggans@edeggans.bsky.social · 2w agoStar Trek celebrates its 60th birthday today. I have a new story coming, but I'm now posting my fave past stories, including an NPR piece published exactly 10 years ago on the show's 50th anniversary, w/star George Takei revealing he never thought the show would last. READ: https://loom.ly/Mi0L9HI
Sneaking out of my day job to share new work from @UViiVE: our third preprint on building an agentic-first biotech, from bits to bioactives. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
The NIMH Director job announcement and search is back on: hr.nih.gov/jobs/search/... The NIMH Director provides executive direction and scientific leadership for NIMH, overseeing a $2.3 billion budget and ~1600 employees, trainees, and contractors. Up for the challenge 😉? Apply!
hr.nih.gov
A quiet conversation on the side, a closed-door phone call, a printout showing an email out of context... this 'whispernet' is a true poison in academia. Our 'culture of silence' feeds these voices, and the threat of being a recipient keeps most of the reasonable folk on the sidelines.
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.
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...
spencer.org
URGENT: FlyBase has lost practically all its funding overnight; even user fees are tied up in denied grant funding. 🤬🤯 Any lab using @flybase.bsky.social please donate using the link in post below. This incredible community, on whose backs our #Drosophila labs depend, can't be left out to dry.
Marc Dionne@marcsdionne.bsky.social · last yr.My lab studies bacterial infections. We spend a lot of time looking at (or for) species-specific genetic and genomic databases for hosts and microbes. FlyBase is the best of all—there is literally no comparison. Its existence is under threat. Please donate. www.philanthropy.cam.ac.uk/give-to-camb...
From a wonderful group of colleagues! We hope it helps with thoughts and suggestions on using #zebrafish. Ping me with any questions. #werallfish
Zebrafish Rock!@zebrafishrock.bsky.social · last yr.Useful tips from @scekker.bsky.social et al. 🐟
Sebastian is awesome. Catch him while he has extra availability.
Sebastian S. Cocioba@atinygreencell.bsky.social · last yr.I got hit by some rather sudden and extreme financial hardship so if anyone is in need of remote wetlab contract research, strictly BSL1, do let me know. Currently scrambling for gigs. Plant, Bacterial, Archaeal Non-model Bioeng Custom Lab Hardware Turn Key Genetic Design Please repost for reach 💚
The Spencer Foundation is offering rapid response bridge funding for those who lost NSF research grants. www.spencer.org/grant_types/...
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...
spencer.org
Genotyping zebrafish can be a challenge. We have been refining a non-destructive approach that is scalable, accessible and can be used in 48 well and 96 well formats. We use this for measuring mitochondrial DNA editing and heteroplasmy, but works on nuclear DNA, too. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Non-Destructive Larval Genotyping of Danio rerio for Mitochondrial DNA Genetics
The rapid advancement of nuclear and mitochondrial genomic editing tools has created an urgent need for efficient, non-lethal larval genotyping methods in zebrafish Danio rerio research. This study op...
biorxiv.org
🚨 JOB OFFER in our lab at Institut Pasteur 🚨 We are looking for a postdoc! Please repost 🙏
Just finishing up with the amazing 7th European Zebrafish Investigators' Meeting, hosted by the Paris Brain Institute. Some take-homes:
#zebrafish Our Zebrafish Community Cre/lox Resource is online!! zebrafishccr.org Check out what's available, imaging and information, and make a request. We're so very grateful to the NIH ORIP for supporting this work! Huge thanks to Parnal Joshi from Iddo Friedberg lab for creating the website!
Zebrafish Community Cre/lox Resource - Zebrafish Community Cre/lox Resource
Bringing you precision Cre/CreERT2 and floxed lines driven by GeneWeld CRISPR targeted integration. Mission Our mission is to provide the Zebrafish community with Cre resources that open new areas of ...
zebrafishccr.org
If you or someone you know has been negatively affected by NIH-funded clinical trials being paused, disrupted, cancelled etc., I have a contact with the Senate HELP Committee eager to collect stories of everyday Americans affected by the NIH closures. Please DM me.
Just realized I passed an unusual anniversary - I've been an academic professor for more time on Planet Earth than I spent becoming a professor. Have a few more years, I hope! Do not plan to go for 2x however...
This is an awesome new site for a terrific resource that's taken years to make! Congrats to the great @mauramcgrail.bsky.social for getting this launched.
Maura McGrail@mcgraillab.bsky.social · last yr.#zebrafish Our Zebrafish Community Cre/lox Resource is online!! zebrafishccr.org Check out what's available, imaging and information, and make a request. We're so very grateful to the NIH ORIP for supporting this work! Huge thanks to Parnal Joshi from Iddo Friedberg lab for creating the website!
LinkedIn- ‘are you looking for a new job?’ Me. Why no. Also me- is LinkedIn telling me something?!
Federal judge halts Trump administration cuts to NIH research payments in 22 states www.statnews.com/2025/02/10/n...
Federal judge halts Trump administration cuts to NIH research payments in 22 states
Attorneys general sued the Trump administration to block a NIH decision that would slash grant payments for research overhead
statnews.com
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Mark Cuban@mcuban.bsky.social · 2y agoSome don't want posts like this on @bsky.app. I want more. Why ? This is a moderated platform. Which means unbridled hate is removed. And blocked. Making this is a platform where we can engage and have real discussions on real issues. @bsky.app w 100m users changes political discourse.
The challenges around academic research literally never changes…
Moudhy Al-Rashid (she/her)@moudhy.bsky.social · 2y agoIn this ancient Assyrian letter, astronomers complain that they can’t do their jobs or teach astronomy “because of the ilku-duty”, a type of taxation in the form of labour. “we cannot keep the watch of the king, and the pupils do not learn the scribal craft” cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts/33...
This is an important message. Historically, the NIH is considered money well-spent that saves lives. Win that fight and mindshare, we can argue over how to improve once we get the core story around value right.
Drug Monkey@drugmonkey.bsky.social · 2y agoI dunno about you guys but this is one of those very rare times when neighbors and mothers-in-law suddenly and unsolicitedly ask about our business, ie “is that IDC thing going to ruin science”. It matters that you convey the right message and the accurate message. Not your unverified grievances.
Shocking, but not surprising. Science article from 2017 www.science.org/content/arti...
NIH plan to reduce overhead payments draws fire
White House wants to reduce indirect payments from 28% to 10%
science.org
Harris Wang@harriswang.bsky.social · 2y agoYikes… NIH dropping IC to 15% grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...
The entire archive of all CDC datasets uploaded before January 28th, 2025 has been backed up on Internet Archive. Incredible work everyone. Science will never be silenced!
The best time to start a Babylon 5 rewatch is now 🤗
a man with a leopard print on his face and the words oooooh yes
Alt: oooooh yes
media.tenor.com
I hope you will all join me in expressing your thanks to the NIH and NSF staff who are working in an impossibly difficult and chaotic environment to keep science going in our country.
