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svasti.bsky.social
Cancer biologist interested in host characteristics; advocate for equitable research environments; associate professor at SDSU; posts my own
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Had an excellent GRC hearing about all the latest outstanding research in mammary gland biology and breast cancer. Shout out to my lab who showed up in force and represented. And ty @eranandrechek.bsky.social and Traci for letting me introduce Yi Li as keynote, it was an honor. See y'all in Italy ❤️🧪

New work from my lab looking at how dopamine neurons are affected by stress and males and females! This paper comes to you through three rounds of major building construction, a pandemic, six months that we could not get TTX, some animal facility shenanigans and now is here on your internet!

This needs to be amplified by everyone everywhere all at once 🧪

I doubt Katie Britt is aware of the intensely fierce competition for every NIH$ that means that only 30% of our trainees receive their first independent NIH grant that allows them to become successful academic faculty. You want more impact, increase the NIH budget. 🧪

oh crazy, it is as if protests have consistently hurt trump since 2017

Universities hold patents on 50% of FDA approved drugs, and research done at universities contributed to 90% of current medications. Think about what we stand to lose if federal funding is cut by 50% 🧪 www.statnews.com/2025/06/06/u...

"percentage of papers published in Science with at least one corresponding author with funding from the US federal government has been declining over the past 7 years [...] 54 to 44%. By contrast, the number of published papers originating from China has doubled...." www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Big shout out to all those standing up for science and putting money where their mouths are. Thank you, Conrad Prebys Foundation! This will be a huge help for retaining research talent and potential @sandiegostate.bsky.social 🧪

🧪 #resist #resistrfk #defendresearch #standupforscience

Major update to #SCIMaP visualization of impacts of cuts to federally supported health research. Map now includes information on future economic losses (impact of proposed reduction of NIH IDC to 15%) and current economic losses (impact of terminated NIH grants). scienceimpacts.org

"America under Trump is rejecting one of the most effective health-care infrastructures in human history and embracing woo-woo nonsense" 🧪https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/05/trump-defund-schools-research-republicans/682742/?utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share

Yes, exactly. I want to see more Dems pulling a Van Hollen, getting on Fox, on right leaning podcasts, putting themselves and information in news cycles that all Americans access.

This list is a blueprint for using science to weaponize against scientists. It is also ignorant & arrogant. Scientists already try to do all of this, it is hard and an ongoing protocol optimization that we will and should continue to engage with, without non-expert interference.

As I was saying, constant repetition of the claim that the public has significantly lost trust in scientists is misleading and plays into the hands of bad actors. Maybe the administration should be applying some of their gold standard principles to their EOs 🧪 www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...

So strange because I could have sworn RFK Jr said that they'd be able to fund soo many more grants with their new and more efficient NIH. Color me surprised to find out that paylines actually go down. 🧪

I'm hearing a lot about how people have lost faith in science and in scientists. This is not accurate and is largely based on a few polls that came out a few years ago showing a moderate decline of public trust in science, driven largely by those who are republican learning. 🧵🧪

"The poll found that on a weekly basis more than 90% of people use weather forecasts, job market reports, food safety warnings & other info based on federal science. But only 10% of respondents are concerned that cuts to federal support for science might impact their access to such information." 🧪

Let's break it down. Majority of the funding loss will be felt by the basic sciences: biology, chemistry, maths and physics, and in education. Think about that for a minute. It's like deciding to build houses without a foundation because it's cheaper to pile up bricks than to do all that digging 🧪 🧵

Watching a world power crash and burn in real time is fascinating and tragic in equal measure. It diminishes us all. Ask not for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee...

"Knowing, actually knowing, should count for something." Words of wisdom in troubled times. Also loved the take on how to know a medical expert. If you'd go to then when you're sick and follow their advice, then those are the people you should be listening to before you get sick. 🧪

Fact check 🧵: 1) "More money has not meant more scientific discovery, and total dollars spent has not been a proxy for scientific impact." Unclear what is meant by scientific discovery here or impact. This is an indefensible statement. 🧪