How Bruce the Parrot Landed Atop the Pecking Order, Without a Beak

“In 2021, a disabled parrot named Bruce made headlines worldwide for creating his own prosthetic beak. He didn’t stop there: Scientists reported on Monday that Bruce has now become the alpha male of his group.” 🧪

Central dogma* 🧪

I'm looking for #NewPIs (<3 years as lab heads) in the gene regulation/functional genomics space. If you are one or know one, please comment below! 🧪

B lymphocyte protein factories produced by hematopoietic stem cell gene editing | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Some day I’ll figure out how to work this into a talk

Epidermal growth factor receptor controls sex differences in lung type 2 responses to inhaled allergen Female mice have exacerbated, EGFR-dependent lung type 2 immunity when exposed to inhaled house dust mite throughout sexual maturation.

Hello world, it's a g̶i̶r̶l̶/̶b̶o̶y̶ PhD baby 🎉

Very elated, proud (and relieved!) to announce that my PhD work is now out in @science.org #ScienceImmunology 👇 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Read to find out how we made EGFR sexy again! 💃

Thanks to all involved @lloydlab.bsky.social 🙏

For those interested in T cell trafficking to the gut - maybe LPAM is not so dominant during enteric infection...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Fascinating work! 🧪🩺

Jellyfish sleep a lot like us—and for the same reasons Study adds to evidence that sleep likely evolved among ancient animals as a means of repairing neurons

This is wild -- JELLYFISH sleep!

The reason is a good reminder why we all need consistent and restful sleep:

"sleep arose early in animal evolution to help the first neurons repair themselves"

www.science.org/content/arti...

“Ten years from now, if children are still dying of conditions we know how to correct, it will not be because the science wasn’t ready. It will be because we lacked the imagination to build a system worthy of it.”🧪🩺

www.statnews.com/2026/04/08/t...

😱

is this a new record ??

via @steveroyle.bsky.social

Earth behind the Moon

Awesome image from Artemis.
Big!

The Black Death by Thomas Asbridge review – a medieval horror story A magisterial history of one of the worst ever pandemics focuses on the individuals caught up in the chaos

Uh oh, @guardian, you should take a hint from a lesson @npr learned years ago. If you're going to use a "historical" image in a piece, make sure it actually relates to the history you're talking about. Your Black Death (plague) image is actually leprosy! www.theguardian.com/books/2026/a... 🗃️

Mountains Beyond Mountains, by Tracy Kidder

RIP Tracy Kidder (November 12, 1945 – March 24, 2026)

If you know a graduating undergraduate looking for the chance to spend 1-2 years in a lab before graduate school, we're hiring! Our lab explores morphogenesis, defining how the cell adhesion & cytoskeletal machinery work together to allow cells to change shape & move tarheels.live/peiferlab/ 1/n RT

Abortive infection: T cells as early, antibody-independent defenders Nature Reviews Immunology - Neutralizing antibodies are widely viewed as the frontline of antiviral defence. Yet emerging evidence reveals that T cells can terminate infection before it is...

Abortive infection: T cells as early, antibody-independent defenders

T cells can terminate infection before it is detectable by routine clinical assays, independently of antibodies.

www.nature.com/artic...
1/3

One-Month Treatment for Latent Tuberculosis Why aren’t we using it?

One-month treatment for latent tuberculosis.

Why aren't we using it? (Hint: We should.)

voices.nejm.org/doi/full/10....

This is so, so well-articulated.

Two years after it emerged, ‘cow flu’ is still circulating—and baffling scientists Researchers still aren’t sure how H5N1 influenza spreads between cows and from farm to farm

"But it could still bounce back, and efforts to eliminate it entirely face formidable challenges. How it spreads between cattle remains unclear. And although candidate vaccines look promising in early tests, farmers and the government may be reluctant to embrace them."🧪🩺

Acute and chronic infections drive distinct trajectories in human memory CD4+ T cell formation Different clinical courses of HCV infection shape CD4+ T cell immunity. Reinscheid et al. show that a stem-like subset of CD4+ T cells arising during chronic infection is maintained after successful a...

"our findings delineate antigen-specific CD4+ T cell fates in different courses of human viral infections, identifying stem-like subsets as potential immunotherapeutic targets and highlighting the need for tailored strategies to re-direct or boost CD4+ T cell responses." #Immunology 🧪🩺

While this will not have the level of detail that most critics would want, looky here at Princeton's page on the F&A rate by category. I've never seen even this level of description.
h/t @jeremymberg.bsky.social

finance.princeton.edu/budgeting-fi...

CRISPR makes enhanced cancer-fighting immune cells inside mice Gene-editing technique promises a potentially safer way to create CAR T cells with a simple injection.

This is cool 🧪🩺

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Physicians, Corporatization, and the Unmeasured Quality of Care | NEJM Society depends on clinicians to provide high-quality services in the vast areas of medical care in which quality isn’t measured. But corporate entities may not support this type of professionalism.

Great piece on the problems of corporatization in medicine

"In a classic article, Nobel Prize–winning economist Kenneth Arrow argued that physician 'behavior is supposed to be governed by a concern for the customer’s welfare which would not be expected of a salesman.'"🧪🩺

Epigenetic memory of colitis promotes tumour growth - Nature Colonic stem cells retain a memory of inflammation following disease resolution and there is a mechanistic link between chronic inflammation and malignancy, suggesting potential strategies to mitigate...

#WeekendRead! #RemeberMe! @snaga13.bsky.social @jbuenrostro.bsky.social &co show @nature.com that intestinal stem cells remember multiple cycle of inflammation by epigenetically favoring AP-1 accessibility, thus increasing proliferation & repair, but also favoring tumorigenesis!

A line graph of the number of NIH new and competitive renewal awards for fiscal years 2020-2026. The curve for fiscal year 2026 lies substantially below that for other years, even fiscal year 2025.

Now for new and competitive renewal awards.

The number of awards through March 20th, 2026 is 1452 compared to 4008 in FY2023, 3741 in FY2024, and 2847 in FY2025.

NIAAA and NLM have yet to make any awards.

576 R01s, 150 R35s, 259 R21s, 14 F30s, 34 F31s, 15 F32s, 32 K99s, 59 R00s

4/6

Prime Editing for p47phox-Deficient Chronic Granulomatous Disease | NEJM Chronic granulomatous disease (CGD) is a severe monogenic immunodeficiency caused by damaging variants in genes required for microbicidal NADPH oxidase activity. Autosomal recessive p47phox-deficie...

“In this study, prime editing of autologous CD34+ cells corrected the molecular defect in p47-CGD and restored neutrophil function to near-healthy levels in the two participants.”🧪🩺

David Botstein, Gene-Mapping Pioneer, Dies at 83

David Botstein was one of the giants of genetics and genomics, and my mentor, colleague and friend for more than 40 years. I’m sad that he is gone, but his larger-than-life persona comes through here. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/20/s...

Anna's hummingbird hovering. Facing to the right. With a small ant on the tip of its bill.

Sometimes you just get that shot. Anna's hummingbird with a little friend, in my yard. Davis, CA. #birds #ants

Still one of my all time favorites