Peri Kurshan

@pkurshan.bsky.social

Associate Professor of Neuroscience and Genetics at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Love synapses and C elegans, science and mentoring, NYC and mountains. Mom of 2. www.KurshanLab.org

“Terrible things are happening outside. Poor helpless people are being dragged out of their homes. Families are torn apart. Men, women, and children are separated. Children come home from school to find that their parents have disappeared.” Diary of Anne Frank January 13, 1943

🚀 NY-CURES Launch — Championing State-Wide Investment in Science! 🚀 Our new coalition advocates for sustained public support of New York’s vibrant biomedical research ecosystem — creating cures, economic gains & strengthening communities. Sign up. Stay informed. Join the movement: www.nycures.org/

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The National Science Foundation is critical to our future, but Trump wants to cut it by $5 billion. Here are 5 things we wouldn't have today if it wasn't for the NSF.

🧪 Basic science boosts the economy: "The proposed dismantling of NSF [and NIH] raises an urgent question: do these cuts actually save money or merely delay spending until the bill gets larger? The answer is clear: these cuts will cost the economy billions."

Trump’s NIH And NSF Cuts Estimated To Cost The U.S. Economy $10 Billion Annually

Economists find public R&D drives a quarter of U.S. productivity growth — and pays for itself

forbes.com

The NYT wants you to think universities became dependent on government. This is false. The government invested in the national research infrastructure by competitive grants to universities. The taxpayers built this. It got us to the moon. Won the Cold War. Created Silicon Valley. Made the McRib.

🚨 Everyone needs to call their Dem Senator right now. They are starting to cave. Tell them: 1. Vote NO on Cloture AND 2. Vote NO on the Republican spending bill. Don’t let them pivot to reconciliation. GOP doesn’t need Dem votes on that and they know it. TODAY is the showdown. 🤳🏽: (202) 224-3121

Finally, those of us with Blue State Senators have something we can do- call your Senator (especially those of you with centrist Democrats!) and tell them to vote NO on the dirty CR that lets Trump/Musk keep gutting the govt. A full shutdown will show that Dems have a spine and are not OK with this!

➡️ January 20: FAA director fired ➡️ January 21: Air Traffic Controller hiring frozen ➡️ January 22: Aviation Safety Advisory Committee disbanded ➡️ January 28: Buyout/retirement demand sent to existing employees ➡️ January 29: First American mid-air collision in 16 years Making America Great Again!

Interested in doing a postdoc in NYC? Registration is now open for the second EDGE symposium for senior Ph.D. students, hosted by the Department of Neuroscience. Registration deadline is March 1. The event takes place in NYC on May 7. Visit bit.ly/3Wa6G1C to learn more and register.

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New paper out from the lab! We propose a new model for how synapses are initially pre-assembled, prior to the arrival of cell adhesion molecules (it involves protein-lipid interactions!). Also propose a role for that pesky short gamma neurexin isoform... www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Protein-lipid interactions drive presynaptic assembly upstream of cell adhesion molecules

bioRxiv - the preprint server for biology, operated by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, a research and educational institution

biorxiv.org