🔬 In 1966, a microbiologist and an undergrad scooped bacteria from a Yellowstone hot spring. No medical goal. No product plan. Just curiosity. NSF funded it. Critics said it didn't sound important. It became the foundation of a $15 billion industry.
Spread the word! We are recruiting for 6 new research professors at UC Davis' California National Primate Research Center. Open rank, open area, but must leverage 🐒 resources.
recruit.ucdavis.edu/JPF07561
New York Times article about the slow pace on NIH grant making as well as enforcement of political constraints.
[Gift Link]
www.nytimes.com/2026/04/22/s...
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We’re hiring! The University of Pittsburgh is recruiting a tenure-track faculty member in pain research to join the Department of Neurobiology and the Pittsburgh Center for Pain Research—an outstanding and highly collaborative community.
Please share. More here: cfopitt.taleo.net/careersectio...
Officially out today! Long-running project, many thanks to give - in particular to my mentors & collaborators, the postbacs who worked so hard on each experiment, and the reviewers. If you love the amygdala, give it a read.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Very excited to announce that my textbook on “Working Memory” is now available for pre-order!
shop.elsevier.com/books/workin...
A few thoughts
The Russ Vought hearing is starting now. It's the first time Vought has testified before Congress since his confirmation hearings, so it's the first time Congress will be able to question him about the onslaught of illegal budgetary actions he has undertaken. I'll be posting in this thread.
DOGGETT: Doesn't your budget propose another 12% cut for NIH?
VOUGHT: Most of what you said is untrue. NIH was not cut at all--
D: My Q is don't you propose another 12% cut?
VOUGHT: We propose a cut
D: Is it your feeling that we just can't afford to invest more in doing something about cancer?
During college, he was only allowed to live in a frat where “he served food and stoked the furnace”. The science and math center is named after him, but not all of us have forgotten what his life on campus was really like.
Smiling man wearing a tuxedo with a flower in his lapel.
In 1935 Dr. Percy Julian invented glaucoma medicine, a milestone in the history of US chemistry. Descended from enslaved grandparents, he was valedictorian at his university but not allowed to live in the residence halls & became “one of the most important scientists of the 20th century.”
Don't miss THE Frontal Cortex meeting with this amazing, not-to-miss line up! 🤩
Frontal Cortex Peeps: The full program for the 2026 GRC Frontal Cortex is now available! Applications are due July 12, 2026 - don't delay! Spots are starting to fill up! Check out the complete program and register here --> www.grc.org/frontal-cort...
Also, last but definitely not least:
We are going to win.
The victory in Hungary by the pro-democracy and pro-freedom side is a reason to celebrate.
⚠️ Postdoc Opportunity in System Neuroscience at the Paris Brain Institute ⚠️
Feel passionate about neuroscience and sleep 🧠? Want to learn cutting-edge techniques 🔬 to answer exciting basic science questions? Want to work in a multidisciplinary environment at the heart of Paris 🏨?
Come join us !
It’s brutal in academia right now. A lot is out of our control, but it doesn’t cost anything to remember that there are humans behind papers and grants…reviewers, program officials and funders can be more empathetic in the face of unprecedented chaos in the US scientific enterprise.
Yes. Give people grace, everyone.
There is a light on the horizon.
But things are bad right now, and people are not doing well. Hold fast, take care of yourself, be kind, and if you can, keep doing something to bend the arc of history.
🐟!JOB ALERT!Duke, Durham, NC!🐟 We are looking for a research tech (our current tech is starting grad school this Fall (Yay!)). The candidate will contribute to our ongoing research projects on tissue morphogenesis using zebrafish. Please RT🙏
www.munjallab.com/join-us
🪰 In the 1930s, USDA paid scientists to study the sex life of the screwworm fly. Congress called it waste. Result: a $250K investment that eradicated a flesh-eating parasite from an entire continent, saved ranchers billions, and cut beef prices 5%. Still in use today.
The recent presidential budget request has a 40% increase in military spending and 10% cut to non-military spending, including a 25% cut to the NIH.
It seems worth pointing out that NIH (and other R&D) boosts the economy by 250%, whereas military spending (except R&D) shrinks the economy by 10%.
Academic friends,
It's beyond heartbreaking to watch what's unfolding in Iran & the region.
A few of us drafted an open letter calling for protection of civilians & of educational, research, medical & cultural institutions.
Please read & sign if you agree:
sites.google.com/view/protect...
#IranWar
Happening Tuesday and Wednesday. Links for the online videocast can be found here: bit.ly/4bYlbxw
This is a terrific opportunity for a sharp undergrad to work in a top-notch lab. I was able to take a year working as a lab tech before grad school, and it was a great decision. Highly recommended.
🚨 Rats and mice drink alcohol, sometimes heavily, but are the rewards they derive from it comparable to those of people with alcohol use disorder? How can we know?
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www.preprints.org/manuscript/2...
@lofgren.house.gov agrees with us:
She is saying the president does not have the legal authority to make these changes to NSF. We — scientists and societies like @aaas.org — should say that until the lawlessness is covered that way.
I am shocked to see this language from the NSF.
“The U.S. National Science Foundation's Fiscal Year 2027 Budget Request reflects a strategic alignment of resources in a constrained fiscal environment while eliminating woke and weaponized grant programs that previously funded radical DEI projects.”
The President's fiscal year 2027 Budget was released today.
Important---Important---Important
The President's Budget is always fundamentally a political document that Congress may or may not (usually not) take very seriously.
www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/u...
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🧠 Stop reacting to the headline number. The topline cuts are theater. The institute eliminations and structural changes are not.
Call your reps. Be specific. Name the institutes. Name the structural changes.
Do not let another year of relief cover another year of damage.
#NIH #NSF #SciencePolicy
Please do not boycott reviewing for the NIH. Help the SROs and other staff who are doing their part to get grants funded. And help the applicants - your peers and most importantly, young investigators - who deserve experienced reviewers.
Yep. See
grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...
Not a huge deal but definitely a slap in the face.
