Tessera
Folgen

John Higgins

@jhigginswriter.bsky.social

Science writer, Fred Hutch News, covering the Basic Sciences and Human Biology research divisions of Fred Hutch Cancer Center @fredhutch.bsky.social. Frmr @seattletimes-rss.bsky.social, Akron Beacon Journal, soljourno.bsky.social, @ksjatmit.bsky.social.

214 Posts890 Follower2554 Folgt
John Higgins@jhigginswriter.bsky.social · 4w ago

Some days I scroll this site and despair for modern civilization. But I just left a PhD defense that filled me with hope (more to come soon on that at Fred Hutch News). This place has always made great science but it should also be known that Fred Hutch makes great scientists.

Fred Hutch Basic Sciences Division@basicsci.fredhutch.org · 2mo ago

"Open science before it had a name." @FredHutch.org's Dr. Steve Henikoff has been doing it for 50+ years! Read @springernature.com how he helped shape modern genomics and pushed for more open scientific practices:

Open science before it had a name: An interview with molecular biologist Steven Henikoff | For Researchers | Springer Nature

Dr. Steven Henikoff shares his experiences of how sharing protocols enables other people to use a method you develop, and how this moves the

springernature.com

The Cancer Letter@cancerletter.com · 2mo ago

“This is a 5-alarm fire, and we need people, everyone, to first of all, understand the implications of these new policies and make sure that you reach out and make your voice heard,” said Carolyn Bertozzi, Nobel laureate, about the new OMB rule https://cancerletter.com/the-cancer-letter/20260612_1/

Proposed OMB rule aims at the heart of the U.S. research enterprise—and scientists are fighting back “The question isn’t whether politics will influence research. Under this proposal, that’s the point....

Here are the battle lines: The White House Office of Management and Budget has published a “Regulation for Federal Financial Assistance,” a proposed rule that seeks to fundamentally redraw the ground rules for all federally funded research. On the other side are America’s scientists who aren’t just crying foul—they are readying for a political fight. […]

cancerletter.com

John Higgins@jhigginswriter.bsky.social · 2mo ago

"What OMB is proposing is not a reform of grants management. It is a complete political control apparatus layered over every stage of the federal science funding lifecycle."

Carl T. Bergstrom@carlbergstrom.com · 2mo ago

Of all the harm this administration has done to US science, today's proposed changes to the way federal grants are awarded and administered is the most damaging yet. The text of the federal register document is impenetrably tedious by design, so here's an excellent summary of what it says.

Behnam Nabet@behnamnabet.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Proud to share our latest paper in @rscchembio.rsc.org, where we tackle oncogenic TRK fusions. Together, @sauravk05.bsky.social and Jiewei Jiang develop potent and selective degraders of the TPM3-TRKA fusion, a key cancer driver. pubs.rsc.org/en/content/a...

Development of PROTACs for targeted degradation of oncogenic TRK fusions

Chromosomal translocations leading to the fusion of tropomyosin receptor kinases (TRKs) with diverse partner proteins have been identified as oncogenic drivers in many adult and pediatric cancers. Whi...

pubs.rsc.org

John Higgins@jhigginswriter.bsky.social · 4mo ago

"We cannot just say ‘okay, we're going to stop work on anything that is not related to human research’, because – actually – it's all relevant to humans."

Harmit Singh Malik@harmitmalik.bsky.social · 4mo ago

I was interviewed by @katiepickup.bsky.social recently for @dmmjournal.bsky.social. This has a little bit of my background, a little bit on science and mentoring, and a little bit (ok, more than a little bit) on funding in science. Check it out at: journals.biologists.com/dmm/article/...

How important do you feel discovery research and ‘basic’ science is for understanding disease? Well, I have a little bit of a biased view on the topic, since I'm a basic scientist myself. The lab has made more and more discoveries with very strong therapeutic implications, and often people ask me why we are not pursuing these further ourselves. Part of it is that I think about this very much as an ecosystem. People have different skills – I have colleagues who are very good at the application side of things and I have other colleagues, including people in my lab, who are very good at the basic science. There are a lot of very smart people at every stage in the ecosystem and, sometimes, we have to acknowledge that we can't all be experts in every step. A lot of basic science discoveries will end up having profound implications in the clinic – if you don't have the full imagination about how to get it there, that's okay, because you're still a very important piece of the jigsaw puzzle and other people can help. If the basic science discoveries didn't exist, then it's quite possible that the well would run dry. We cannot simply rely on the idea that the therapies currently in clinical trials are going to be enough because we already know that – for diseases, such as cancer, and with rapidly evolving viruses – there needs to be a constant influx of new ideas to stay ahead of the arms race. I'd also make a plug for the fact that, ultimately, we are all interested in human disease, but disease research in humans is not ethical or possible. This is why creating and studying model organisms in a high-throughput, low-investment context is incredibly important. We cannot just say ‘okay, we're going to stop work on anything that is not related to human research’, because – actually – it's all relevant to humans.
John Higgins@jhigginswriter.bsky.social · 4mo ago

@behnamnabet.bsky.social at Fred Hutch Cancer Center is doing important work on KRAS degraders www.fredhutch.org/en/news/cent...

Tricking cells into trashing cancer

In a study published today in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Fred Hutch Cancer Center cancer chemical biologist Behnam Nabet and his collaborators describe how they used targeted protein degradation in mice to rapidly destroy lung and pancreas tumors caused by a variant of a commonly mutated, cancer-driving gene.

fredhutch.org

@doublewhammied@doublewhammied.bsky.social · 4mo ago

"In March, Park & colleagues reportd results of the 1st KRAS degrader 2B tested in humans. The drug, called setidegrasib & made by Astellas Pharma in Tokyo, shrank tumours in more than 1/3 of participants w/a form of #lungcancer & nearly 1/4 of those w/a form of #pancreaticcancer." #CanSky #FuckYeah

Kristian G. Andersen@kgandersen.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Since I'm getting a questions about the new data - a few _preliminary_ comments: 1️⃣ Are the outbreaks in the US connected? 👉 Very likely. 2️⃣ Does this mean US will lose elimination status? 👉 Yes, but that's been clear for a while. Data: nextstrain.org/measles/geno... A few details + caveats 🧵👇

Amy Maxmen, PhD@amymaxmen.bsky.social · 4mo ago

🔔Exclusive: CDC just posted a tranche of genomic data from measles. 1,000 genomes have been sequenced, so researchers expect an answer to the elimination question within the month. "That we're even talking about this is nuts," said @kgandersen.bsky.social kffhealthnews.org/news/article...

John Higgins@jhigginswriter.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Remember this when you hear someone opine that there's not a dime's worth of difference between the parties, it's just two wings of the business party, etc. There's a cost in human life when D's lose elections. That should count in the moral calculus of withholding support from flawed candidates.

Ami Fields-Meyer@fieldsmeyer.com · 5mo ago

This is very grim “This erodes roughly one-fifth of the average worldwide decline in maternal mortality achieved since 1985.”

Helen Branswell 🇨🇦@helenbranswell.bsky.social · 5mo ago

1. A #flu update: #CDC has learned of 8 more pediatric flu deaths, bringing this season's total to 123. That number will continue to rise; deaths are often reported on a delay. Case in point: 2024-25's peds death total rose by 1 last week with a death from Feb '25 just reported. ~85% were not vaxed.

Bild
John Higgins@jhigginswriter.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Salute to Susan Parkhurst, the newest AAAS fellow from Fred Hutch Cancer Center @fredhutch.org @basicsci.fredhutch.org

American Association for the Advancement of Science@aaas.org · 5mo ago

Join us in congratulating the new 2025 AAAS Fellows class! This distinction is among the highest in the scientific community and honors scientists, engineers, and innovators whose efforts on behalf of science and its applications are scientifically or socially distinguished. https://bit.ly/4svrgaB

The image features a blue background with the AAAS logo at the top. Text reads "Congrats to the 2025 AAAS Fellows" in white. A gold emblem is centered at the bottom.
John Higgins@jhigginswriter.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Seattle should appreciate what an increasingly rare thing it is to have a real independent local newspaper (with a Sunday Magazine!) doing real journalism and not some hedge fund-owned, skeleton crew-operated, AI-boosted, content-cranking outfit milking the last dime out of a newspaper in name only.

Sanjay Srivastava@sanjaysrivastava.com · 5mo ago

It’s… a little weird for a newspaper to run a long form story about its own retired publisher lauding him for fighting for journalistic values? But this is a cool story about a paper that’s stayed locally owned and controlled because someone fought for it www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news...

The Blethens stuck by the paper even when they could have made a pile selling it. The family has sold nearly all its property — from a state-of-the-art printing plant in Bothell to that prime land in South Lake Union — to keep publishing. “I heard them say it all the time, and it has always stuck with me,” noted David Boardman, The Times’ former executive editor and senior vice president, “they don’t publish a newspaper to make money, they make money to publish a newspaper.”