Another silver lining to 2026! Please check out our study now published @genomeresearch.bsky.social on the tracking of human brain transposable element large and small RNAs during aging and in two neurodegenerative disorders: Huntington's and Parkinson's Disease genome.cshlp.org/content/36/6...

For anyone who is a scientist or has benefitted from basic research on model organisms (that's EVERYONE), please take the time to leave a comment about priority 1 here: rfi.grants.nih.gov?s=6998c3a23e... by the deadline May 28! I know I wouldn't be here today without modern medicine

At last! Please check out our study now published @natcomms.nature.com on the #virus small #RNAs profiles across Aedes aegypti #mosquitoes from labs and around the world: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Small RNA genomics of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes discovers infectious viruses that trigger an RNA interference response - Nature Communications

This study is a small RNA genomics survey from global Aedes aegypti mosquito samples, and detected replicating viruses. This study then isolated several mosquito viruses into cell cultures to show tha...

nature.com

www.cruk.cam.ac.uk/news/in-memo...

Sure, it's snowing on April 7 today, but will it be TACO Tuesday tonight?

#Dros26 was so great last week to only think of Flies and forget all the world's messes. Bonus to witness @lucksmith.bsky.social and @tarafinegan.bsky.social great performance of "Don't you know that the Fly is fly!" www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tht-...

Eric Lai & Tara Finegan perform "Don't you know that the Fly is fly!" at DROS26 Meeting

YouTube video by douglasthepug

youtube.com

eric lai@lucksmith.bsky.social · 5mo ago

@tarafinegan.bsky.social+me had a blast rocking #Dros26! maybe we do it again?🪰 @burgesslab.bsky.social @benoitbruneau.bsky.social @chrmosimann.bsky.social @docdellaire.bsky.social @daphsci.bsky.social @thelovelylab.bsky.social @mads100tist.bsky.social @genetics-gsa.bsky.social @flybase.bsky.social

thanks @lucksmith.bsky.social 15 years after your key paper with Nelson Lau showing the abundance & widespread nature of piRNAs from 3' UTRs, we now start to get the logic. dissecting how the Yb protein reads out U-content, and talks to the Upf1-related SF2 helicase Armitage, will be interesting.

eric lai@lucksmith.bsky.social · 6mo ago

as always, beautiful mechanistic dissection by @86dominik.bsky.social @juliusbrennecke.bsky.social lab, taking advantage of genetics and genomics to get decisive insights into piRNAs! surprising how instructive U content is for piRNA biogenesis, but it makes total sense, the system is very clever! 🪰

Will Venezuela beat Canada for becoming the 51st U.S. state?

Klingon Bond – Today is a Good Day to Spy! Klingon Sajak – Today K is a Good Letter to Buy! Klingon Chong – Today is a Good Day to Get High! Klingon Miyagi – Today is a Good Day to Yell Bonsai! Klingon Borg – Today is a Good Day to Comply!

🏳️‍⚧️ Ani 🧹 say Ah-nee@zerokijz.bsky.social · 10mo ago

There's a fun game I want to share. Try to keep it going (or not🤷‍♀️), here or IRL. Klingon fast food cooks "Today is a good day to fry!" Klingon spinners "Today is a good day to ply!" Klingon infants "(in a baby voice) "Today is a good day to cry." Klingon desiccants "Today is a good day to dry."

Salient that the late Sir John Gurdon's seminal Nobel-prize discoveries of pluripotency was accomplished with Xenopus frogs, another model organism whose NIH funding support has massively declined as much as its invertebrate brethren.

Alejandro Montenegro@aemonten.bsky.social · 10mo ago

PREACH! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

The moose out front should have told you… grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...

This guy's shirt I saw walking to work sums up today's Oval office Dunning Kruger-esque press briefing on ASD.

Real Slim Shady in Boston?

That is some nice luciferase activity!

Jordi 🔻@jordi77am.bsky.social · last yr.

💡 Luciérnaga empezando a iluminar y alzando el vuelo

Welp! Sitting in dark office, entire lab building on emergency power since 3pm. Whole chunk of downtown Boston without power!

Michael, so sorry! You have alot of fans of your research, myself included. Keep fighting and thank you for this brave post! Hope HMS backs up you and your lab to fight another day!

Michael Baym@baym.lol · last yr.

Yesterday, the NIH R35 “Outstanding Investigator” grant to fund scientists in my lab studying antibiotic resistance was terminated for reasons not related to the content of the science, or any actions taken by me or members of my lab

Happy Dog Day, Chester the Tennis Pug!

Masuke🐶+rocogirl👩@rocogirl.bsky.social · last yr.

愛犬の日の犬🐶 May 13 is Dog Day. This is my partner, Masuke.He came to me when he was 2 months old and has been with me for 16 years and 4 months.I want to be with him forever.

If Spongebob Squarepants can find these two planes, he can help fund 60 biomedical research labs on land for at least 5 years. www.cnn.com/2025/05/06/p...

Second US Navy jet is lost at sea from Truman aircraft carrier | CNN Politics

Another F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jet from the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier has been lost in the Red Sea, the second jet lost from the carrier in just over a week, four people familiar with ...

cnn.com

"The NIH budget has not increased in more than 20 years despite research being more expensive to conduct. This is a necessary data point for policymakers to consider as they determine funding priorities." 🧪 jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

NIH Funding Has Stagnated Since 2003

This Viewpoint explores how funding has changed at the National Institutes of Health over time and discusses how continued investment is necessary to maintain the current level of biomedical research.

jamanetwork.com

Why NIH/NIGMS funding of basic research matters with our latest work now out in @cp-cellreports.bsky.social sky.social. We solved a >30-year-old mystery of what transcription factor drives the Flamenco piRNA cluster required for female Drosophila fertility. /1 www.cell.com/cell-reports...

Traffic Jam activates the Flamenco piRNA cluster locus and the Piwi pathway to ensure transposon silencing and Drosophila fertility

Rivera et al. discover Drosophila Flamenco piRNA cluster enhancers bound and activated by the Traffic Jam transcription factor. Traffic Jam also binds many follicle cell genes including activating mul...

cell.com

Before the ChatGPT Hyphen was derided, we @bartellab.bsky.social alumni were already trained in the ways of the em dash, amirite @shechnerlab.bsky.social ? wapo.st/4co1WvY

Some people think AI writing has a tell — the em dash. Writers disagree.

Em dashes have been derided as the “ChatGPT hyphen” — a punctuation mark overused by artificial intelligence. That’s not quite true.

wapo.st

Been listening to the @ezrakleinbot.bsky.social Ezra Klein Show, and wowed by this episode that quotes my friend @johndoench.bsky.social about NIH progress reports! If my PO follows me, yes I'm working on my RPPR now! Just hope I can still get my Non-competing funding, please please🙏?

Dara Kass, MD@darakass.com · last yr.

Listening to this in advance of reading their book Abundance. @ezrakleinbot.bsky.social and @dkthomp.bsky.social are so spot on. I am hopeful this helps people crack the code on pragmatic and effective progressivism. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...

@lucksmith.bsky.social will enjoy this HA-Tag. Hemagglutinin HA? or Funny HA?

Hopefully this will backfire and stop future institutions from caving. The admin has now shown (as anyone with half a brain already knew) that appeasement won't save you.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · last yr.

Trump: "You see what we're doing with the colleges and they're all bending and saying, 'Sir, thank you very much, we appreciate it.' Nobody can believe it, including law firms that have been so horrible. Law firms that nobody would believe and they're saying, 'Where do I sign? Where do I sign?'"

Also great to see Faculty peers here at @standupforscience.bsky.social BOSTON! Bill Theurkauf @rti-umasschan.bsky.social and @remlehmann.bsky.social Mitch McVey, Norbert Perrimon, Welcome Bender are here, Standing up for NIH funded Drosophila Research!

The Attack on Science in the USA is so bad right now, this moderate independent was compelled to protest at @standupforscience.bsky.social BOSTON! Good turnout with my colleagues from @bostonu.bsky.social !

Wondering if your study section cancelled? I update this sheet daily. As of today, 56/124 study sections that should have met since Jan 2, 2025 have "not met as scheduled." docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

2025 Study section tracking

docs.google.com

Will be there! Hope to see a crowd size that trumps Trump's @standupforscience.bsky.social

So sorry to learn of Scott Hawley's passing. I only had email communications with Scott and received some of his fly strains, but I was touched by his grace. When I wrote him about a sequencing error, he thanked me for reaching out instead of dismissing me as an inexperienced junior PI. RIP.

Soni Lacefield@lacefieldlab.bsky.social · 2y ago

Feeling very lost today with the news of the passing of my undergrad advisor Scott Hawley. He had a huge impact on the field and on me personally. He was the first person to see me as a scientist and gave me the confidence to apply to grad school. I am so grateful to be a part of his legacy.

Thanks @baym.lol for giving a great seminar at the BU Genome Science Institute! Hope you liked the tapas! Plasmid ecology is wild!