Kind of makes sense. I mean, we haven't had the outbreak of a new and deadly worldwide pandemic in almost five years.

Congratulations Fellows!

The American Academy of Microbiology proudly announces the election of 63 fellows to the Class of 2026. Over the past 50 years, the Academy has elected +2,700 distinguished scientists. This year, the new fellows hail from 14 countries. Read press release: asm.social/2OC

A line curve showing number of awards for fiscal year 2026 compared to fiscal years 2021-2025 across NSF. The fiscal year 2026 curve lies well below curves for other fiscal years.

NSF Update

Funding curve overall. A little bit of progress in the past week, but only a little bit.

Now by Directorate...

1/11

No more paylines at the NIH
grants.nih.gov/news-events/...

Guess what NIH funded friends. No more paylines! This will be replaced by an entirely opaque system that appears to bool down to “whatever we want.”

They have destroyed the meritorious peer review system. Score will just be “considered”.

grants.nih.gov/news-events/...

Unraveling Streptococcus pyogenes Carriage: Genomic and Transcriptomic Insights from Acute and Post-Treatment Phases www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.10....

Opening Remarks happening NOW!! Come join us at #IDSOG2025

NEW: Researchers have sued the NIH and HHS, alleging that they have engaged in a "reckless and illegal purge to stamp out NIH-funded research that addresses topics and populations that they disfavor" by terminating hundreds of grants, violating the APA, Fifth Amendment and the Separation of Powers.

Exclusive: NIH to terminate hundreds of active research grants Studies that touch on LGBT+ health, gender identity and DEI in the biomedical workforce could be terminated, according to documents obtained by Nature.

In an unprecedented move, the US National Institutes of Health has begun mass terminations of research grants that fund active scientific projects because they no longer meet “agency priorities”.


https://go.nature.com/4bpG2It

Judge issues preliminary injunction blocking Trump cuts to NIH research overhead payments A federal judge issued a nationwide preliminary injunction blocking the Trump administration from slashing NIH payments for research overhead

A federal judge issued a nationwide preliminary injunction blocking the Trump administration from slashing NIH payments for research overhead

Well said!

'Omg, did Pubmed go dark?' Blackout stokes fears about database’s future A brief outage has focused attention on scientists’ reliance on the US-government-funded website.

🧪 PubMed’s brief outage sent researchers into panic, underscoring global reliance on the free biomedical database. While restored, the incident raises concerns about access, resilience, and the need for backups. 🩺💻

Fired CDC Scientists Are Reinstated for Now The fellows had been let go as part of the push to cut federal probationary employees that caused thousands of scientists from the C.D.C. and other agencies to lose their jobs.

www.nytimes.com/2025/03/04/u...

Science agency reinstates some fired employees, includes people with disabilities, veterans, military spouses The National Science Foundation said in a memo it's reinstating some of its fired probationary employees. A federal workers union says it's 84-86 workers.

The National Science Foundation said in a memo it's reinstating some of its fired probationary employees. A federal workers union says it's 84-86 workers. www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...

Ok, now do Advisory Councils…

Public Inspection: Hearings, Meetings, Proceedings, etc.: Center for Scientific Review Hearings, Meetings, Proceedings, etc.: Center for Scientific Review

🧪 First posting of NIH grant review panels to #FederalRegister since Jan 21. Very limited. Just NIH Directors Awards (New Innovator, DP2) and one NIDDK study section, meeting dates range from March 24-April 4 www.federalregister.gov/public-inspe...

NIH announces some key grant-review meetings will restart in late March Trump policy blocking required notices has frozen reviews of thousands of grants

At least some meetings essential to approving new grants by the National Institutes of Health will be back on track later this month. scim.ag/41FbfEg

NSF downsizes summer research program for undergraduates Many participants are from groups underrepresented in science

I hope we find our way...

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

Just received notice that our grant was terminated. 5R24AG066599-03
TheRiseRegistry.org

How about grants that are being terminated? Shouldn’t they count as negative?

bsky.app/profile/jace...

Here are the data for non-competitive renewals, downloaded today. The last awards in NIH Reporter are on 2/22. Given the lag in posting in Reporter, I think this pause is real and this is supported by inside sources who indicate that folks are being told not to issue NoAs.

NIH ban on renewing senior scientists adds to assaults on its in-house research Policy follows firings of tenure-track scientists and suspension of training programs

The NIH is being gutted. 🧵

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

I don't know how else to say this except for bluntly:

It is not normal to have outbreaks of preventable diseases in wealthy countries.
It is not normal to have children dying from preventable diseases in wealthy countries.

This is the first US measles death in 10 years. There should be none.

As of today, at least 73 study sections have not met. If they review 50 applications, plus 30 triaged, 10% funding rate = 8 grants per SS.

That's 584 fundable grants on hold. Probably 5000 researchers affected in those teams composed of our best and brightest.

SABOTAGE.

BREAKING:
The NIH summer internship program (SIP) has been officially cancelled, across all institutes.

It’s a sad loss for the brightest science students in America, for American science, and for future cures for diseases like cancer and Alzheimer’s. 🧪 1/

a muppet news anchor says " and now a muppet news flash " while holding a piece of paper ALT: a muppet news anchor says " and now a muppet news flash " while holding a piece of paper

Confirmed (by many sources) news about 50 NIH Study Sections being allowed to announce meetings in the Federal Register.

As usual, MANY more questions than answers...

1/2

DOGE Is Inside the National Institutes of Health’s Finance System At least three people linked to Elon Musk’s DOGE task force have access to NIH systems that control budgets, procurement, and more, according to records and internal documents viewed by WIRED.

DOGE Is Inside the National Institutes of Health’s Finance System www.wired.com/story/doge-i... #nih #privacy #security #sicence #research

Leadership is doubling down, but GOP members are getting nervous about the budget’s extreme unpopularity.

You can call your Representative now at 202-224-3121.

a man in a red suit and tie is holding a piece of paper that says breaking news on it ALT: a man in a red suit and tie is holding a piece of paper that says breaking news on it

Some good-ish news from NIH

“Federal Register notices for study sections run by CSR (but not those by ICs) will start being permitted again”

As far as I know, the timing for this is not clear, but I will be checking the Federal Register.