How are people dealing with AI use in their grad programs, specifically for thesis proposal, qualifying exam, dissertation? Banned completely? Allowed, but have to recognize its use? No guardrails at all? We have to develop a policy and I’m totally at a loss.

Most basic neuroscience research in the U.S. is funded by the federal government, but there is an entire funding landscape that lies beyond those federal agencies. To bring those sources together, @thetransmitter.bsky.social presents a funding source directory: bit.ly/4pBBF2B #StateOfNeuroscience

Neuroscience funding: A source directory

Our list features expected and lesser-known governmental and nongovernmental sources of funding for basic neuroscience research.

bit.ly

Glad to see this story right up top on the NYT page today -- NIH is paying out multiple years of funding to existing grants in an explicit effort to AVOID funding new grants. Clear as day that destroying science is an explicit goal of the federal government. #academicsky #psychscisky 🧠🟦

Jeremy Berg@jeremymberg.bsky.social · 8mo ago

New York Times article on science funding with some depressing but familiar curves with interactive graphics. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

🔬 Biomedical researchers! Struggling to nail your grant’s Specific Aims? For December, I’m trialing a new service! Get expert, targeted feedback on your Aims page to make it clear, compelling, and ready to impress reviewers. Learn more: kavyadevarakonda.com/Specific-Aim... #GrantWritingTips 🧠🧪

Just got an email from my SRO for the study section that was missed in October. Good news is that they are trying to reschedule ASAP (Dec/Jan). The bad news is that CSR is mandating that only the the top third (not half) of applications will get discussed for the next 2 rounds.

A really good podcast description of the chaos imposed on NIH this year. 🧪 #NIHGrants podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/p...

975 - A Tumultuous Year for NIH Funding

Podcast Episode · Public Health On Call · 11/12/2025 · 24m

podcasts.apple.com

Thrilled to share our new paper, out now in @natneuro.nature.com, uncovering how estradiol, the most potent estrogen, modulates reinforcement learning and reward prediction errors across biological levels. www.nature.com/articles/s41... #blueprint 1/7

Estrogen modulates reward prediction errors and reinforcement learning - Nature Neuroscience

Dopamine encoding of reward prediction errors naturally fluctuates over females’ reproductive cycles with estrogenic signaling due to reduced expression of dopamine reuptake proteins.

nature.com

grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...

🚨New preprint alert🚨 We used closed-loop optogenetics to causally test the importance of inhibitory spike timing in network function and found that manipulating PV+ cell theta phase locking in the dentate gyrus can shift seizure susceptibility (both ways!)

Excited to share that my PhD work has been published! www.nature.com/articles/s41... 🧠🧪

Amygdala–liver signalling orchestrates glycaemic responses to stress

Nature - Studies in mice show that acute stress activates hyperglycaemia via activation of a medial amygdala–ventral hypothalamic circuit that controls glucose metabolic responses in the...

nature.com

Another piece on the NIH responding to the deluge of AI-written grants www.404media.co/nih-capping-... #nih #artificialintelligence

The NIH Is Capping Research Proposals Because It's Overwhelmed by AI Submissions

The NIH wrote that it has recently “observed instances of Principal Investigators submitting large numbers of applications, some of which may have been generated with AI tools."

404media.co

I am not going to call this a Bluetorial, because I do not want to sully that term (which, at least I, find joyful). Let’s call it a Orwellial.

a cartoon of homer simpson holding a card

ALT: a cartoon of homer simpson holding a card

media.tenor.com

Ffs

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

From NIH Office of Research on Women's Health webpage Sex as a Biological Variable tab "Historic document published prior to January 20, 2025" It looks like we are headed back to the good old days when women were consider to be small men for the purposes of research...

If the block on the Federal Register isn’t removed in the next few months, I fear a majority of labs will close within a year. This small procedural wrench has the power to kill US science indefinitely, losing an entire generation of discovery and innovation.

Brian Stevenson Ph.D. spirochete lab@bstevensonlab.bsky.social · last yr.

I had two grant proposals up for review in the NIH Bacterial Virulence (BV) study section. It was canceled without notice this morning. Without those grants, my lab must close within a year. And so the purge of scientific research in the US continues 🤬 #MicroSky 🦠🧫🧪🧬🔬

@nature.com “Are the Trump team’s actions affecting your research? Tell Nature” www.nature.com/articles/d41... via Signal: Max Kozlov: mkozlov.01; Dan Garisto: dgaristo.72; Heidi Ledford: hledford.01; Jeff Tollefson: jtollefson.11; Alexandra Witze: alexwitze.01; General Nature: naturenews.61 🧪

Are the Trump team’s actions affecting your research? How to contact Nature

Use this form to share information with Nature’s news team, or to make suggestions for future coverage.

nature.com

ATTENTION (PARTICULARLY NIHers) If anyone has information about the numbers and types of folks in your institute, center, office, or whatever who were were terminated, please share them with me by DM or on Signal (jeremymberg.78). I am putting together an inventory.

a man wearing a white shirt is standing in front of blue stairs

ALT: a man wearing a white shirt is standing in front of blue stairs

media.tenor.com

I thought it would be cathartic to start a list of bad advice for writing grants. I'll start. Make sure to cram as much information in your grant as possible. The more you can say, the better your score.

A lot is happening in US science. Bluesky is the best place to stay up the rolling political crisis in America that is crushing US science. It's also a good place to learn what we all can do. We have a starter pack for this. Please send your colleagues here too. 🧪 go.bsky.app/2K6jTi5

also this same org has this super useful infographic, breaking down the difference between direct and indirect (also called Facilities and Administration) costs and what F&A costs can and cannot be used for at a research university or institute

Rebecca D. Burdine, PhD@rburdine1.bsky.social · last yr.

PDF fact sheet: www.aau.edu/sites/defaul...

It's bleak out there. But it's my birthday week and I'm treating myself to Eagles Super Bowl content (still!) and the 2nd House in the Cerulean Sea book (delightful!) if anyone needs self-care ideas

🦅🦅🦅

The. Most. Philly. Thing. Ever. Everybody in the world thinks they are going to grind clock… and PHI goes deep for the TD. Grease the light poles. 🎉

BABY COOPER!!!!!

Le sigh

Wow, first OPI the NFL has called all season and it’s to stop the Eagles from converting on a fourth down.

I have learned from several sources that NIH staff tried to find out how to transfer F31-diversity applications to other program announcements for funding but were not able to do this. I don't know whether this was technical (regulations) or ideological. 1/n

On this ridiculous shit show of a week, congratulations to everyone who managed to get their NIH grant proposal submitted on deadline! Well done. Make it rain.

PLEASE SHARE 💜 With uncertainty in federal research funding & hiring, we are offering *FREE* resume/CV reviews for early-career scientists in the US who have rescinded job offers or who risk layoffs. If you feel this support would benefit you, submit resume/CV here: forms.gle/CCbbu2X5GJwH...

Hi all, I am in contact with a reporter at Science magazine who would like to talk with a trainee or mentor who successfully applied for an equity/DEI-related NIH training grant or a training supplement but have not received the Notice of Award and probably won't get the grant.

This a funding myth. There are no untapped wells of charity money that can support the kind of research biomedical scientists need to perform today. Most foundation grants are in 25 to 75K/year range, many are on the order of 1-3 years, and in spite of this, are highly competitive.

Drug Monkey@drugmonkey.bsky.social · last yr.

Institutions “encouraging their PIs to seek alternate funding” do not seem to understand we’ve been doing that for two bloody decades. It’s not like we’ve been leaving stones unturned and can now find a ton of undisturbed grubs just waiting to feed us!