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ampolter.bsky.social
Associate professor in Washington DC. Neuroscientist/mouse psychiatrist
930 posts 2,825 followers 400 following
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(•_•) <) )╯Publique fundinge / \ \(•_•) ( (> of the artes and humanityes / \ (•_•) <) )> doth benefit everyone! / \

must be incredibly frustrating and disheartening to have federal funding that was promised to you for important work suddenly and arbitrarily ripped away

if you are terminally online STAY ON LINE

This article says all you need to know about why basic science is the lifeblood of innovation. It’s the long game but there remains no substitute. Also a favorite example of @jeremymberg.bsky.social The Radical Development of an Entirely New Painkiller www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

Superstars/Nobel winners will get job offers from everywhere. They do anyway. We should be focused on the average student, postdoc and lab tech whose life is going to be turned upside down by all of this. They have nowhere to go. Let's write stories about that.

Hello friends, our 🆕 lab preprint w/ @jordanmarrocco.bsky.social is here; please enjoy! Investigating milk-derived extracellular vesicles as mediators of maternal stress and environmental intervention www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... #Neuroscience #Brain #STEM, #OpenScience #Neurosky #BrainResearch

I've seen folks talk about how "in four years" they'll be able to get back to their planned projects and I really don't think that's going to work out. People & projects losing funding now will not be able to hit pause and come back once funding is restored. Hard-won progress & capacity will be lost

Gun restrictions work. This horrendous act could have been even worse.

Good reminder from @aaas.org that the proposed cuts to science are in the president's budget REQUEST. Congress can and should* continue their strong bipartisan support for American science. (*Note, should in the moral sense. I don't know what they'll actually do but I do know we can still fight)

Remember folks, the budget cuts for NSF and NIH *can still be stopped*. That is a luxury not granted to our agency science colleagues who have or could still lose their jobs from the top down. So - Fight! Speak up! Pay attention!

We were so close to eradicating HIV in our lifetimes. I will never get over the cruelty & hate.

wow SOMEONE'S father never dragged him to visit the Huntsville Alabama NASA rocket museum and explained all the facts the museum was leaving out in a hushed whisper as you wandered from room to room

"you have to go play somewhere else" is an insane thing for a lawmaker to say about CHILDREN

Good thread. They have tried this before, they will probably try more of this in different ways, it's a rough time to be Chinese in America, and it's not good for America either.

The best students do this instead of using AI.

The bipartisan framing of Chinese people as dangerous to the United States has been building up for years and has created this deeply racist and xenophobic opening for the Trump administration. I stand with my Chinese colleagues and all of our Chinese students. 🧪

🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳 Gift link www.nytimes.com/2025/05/28/s...

Amazing

One thing we never talk about is how NASA was not allowed to fail in the same ways that SpaceX does. For NASA, they’ve been under a strict microscope of not wasting taxpayer dollars in their pursuits. The bar was always high. SpaceX has a lower bar, all while still using taxpayer dollars.

COVID infection in pregnancy is associated with DOUBLE the rate of stillbirths because the SARS-CoV-2 virus damages the placenta

Every day I am so heartbroken for all the brilliant, curious, and promising young scientists that have passed through my lab and classrooms, now having their futures stolen just to serve some guy’s ego.

Why are animal models useful for CNS drug discovery? zendudest.substack.com/p/why-animal...

curly hair + DC humidity I need this like three times a week minimum

Large-scale projects run the risk of stifling scientific independence. Instead, let’s explore alternative mechanisms of collaboration, writes @neuralreckoning.bsky.social. #neuroskyence www.thetransmitter.org/funding/neur...

I appreciate the offers from other scientists to help Harvard (students, labs, etc) through this attack, but what would be most helpful is for you to use your position to contact your elected representatives and make it clear this fight isn't just Harvard, it will affect you, and their districts too

‘The CDC program offered technical expertise to help under-resourced health departments prevent those outcomes. In 2023, it helped solve a nationwide lead poisoning outbreak linked to cinnamon applesauce.‘ www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcn...

Senator Durbin noted that some (I believe Republican Senators) had indicated the US had been doing more than its share of biomedical research and it was time for other countries take a turn. I felt I had to interrupt to respond...

"So I am reminded to tell any of them who feel panicky and frightened that they have not yet landed a major NIH award that they are not alone. Many have trod this path before you. Many are walking it now." Like me: Heyyyyyyyyy 👋🏽

This framing is all wrong Our international students are not a “crucial funding source” They are our STUDENTS They are the reason we EXIST We teach STUDENTS

Similar birth story except the movie in question was Sophie's Choice and my parents stayed till the end because they paid for tickets darnit

Fuck this, man. I take lots of prescription drugs and that is a success not failure. I have an autoimmune disorder and take drugs every day that suppress my immune system to keep me alive, treat my symptoms so I can go about my life without pain, and keep my disease from progressing.

I've seen some liberals earnestly argue that rhetorical concessions on youth healthcare or youth sports would get Republicans to back off on other trans civil rights issues. This is a complete misreading of Republicans. They want trans people to suffer and force them out of public life.

Yup. Always planned on getting rich by sitting on study sections.