tzvi-pollock.bsky.social - Profile | ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

Friends, I am at a loss of words for how devastating it would be to lose the entire intramural #NIH program. Some of the biggest medical and scientific breakthroughs have come from scientists in the NIH Intramural program. #SaveTheNIH 🧬🧪 🖥️ 🧠 www.science.org/content/arti...

submitted 3 days ago • 30 comments

Everything else aside, the world has been in a sustained golden age of infection control. Our ancestors would be floored at the lowered global mortality to pathogens. The willingness of those in positions of power to throw away all our monumental gains in pursuit of their own egos is heartbreaking.

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

America has been the kind of country that extends a hand to other nations which is partly why as a former Soviet immigrant i have been proud to be an American. This is just wanton cruelty. I am horrified, heartbroken, and ashamed that the US would do this www.theguardian.com/global-devel...

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

This is censorship and in contrast to the open spirit of collaboration in science. It’s just wrong.

submitted 2 days ago • 1 comment

Today, the study section I am a member of is one of 26 out of 26 canceled. No new post on the federal registry and councils are postponed indefinitely. Universities focused on overhead cuts considering these a challenge to their survival. But no grant at all seems like the issue to battle first..

submitted 3 days ago • 9 comments

Also worth paying attention to this on research involving animals. acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:...

submitted 2 days ago • 1 comment

I've seen some discourse about the recent pre-print from @virusesimmunity.bsky.social, @putrinolab.bsky.social, and @hmkyale.bsky.social (linked below). As always it's great to see research dedicated to #longCovid, #mecfs, and post-vaccine illness. I think this paper is a miss, however. 1/7

submitted 6 days ago • 1 comment

PLOS has issued a statement on recent US Executive Orders and scientific integrity. We are determined to stand firmly behind our mission, our values and our principles, and against any attempt at censorship or undermining of the core principles of scientific inquiry. plos.io/3D4O8cH

submitted 9 days ago • 28 comments

I understand and appreciate the sentiment I do but thats not what it means either. The idea of being aware of systemic racism being made a byword by the right only to be sanitized as general good heartedness demonstrates how concepts are drained of vigor. variety.com/2025/film/ne...

submitted 6 days ago • 80 comments

We are seeking controls for our research study. If you either: 1) have not had COVID-19 or 2) had COVID-19 and completely recovered within 12 weeks, you may be eligible.

submitted 10 days ago • 0 comments

My PI let us know today that the study section she was on had been cancelled - and she's certainly not alone. I don't know if this hold on the FR is circumventing the letter of the law or simply the spirit, but either way it's like a plastic bag over the head of American research science.

submitted 10 days ago • 0 comments

That is, unfortunately, the point. States need to wake up. www.wired.com/story/reveng...

submitted 11 days ago • 0 comments

This is not news to most scientists by now, but others might be interested. Biomedical research is undergoing tremendous damage, even beyond the firings at NIH, CDC, and NSF; the suppression of data sharing; and the attacks on initiatives to improve scientific quality.

submitted 11 days ago • 1 comment

In 2025, we continue to advocate for policy based on scientific evidence. This 2020 Editorial, “We need leaders that believe in scientific evidence”, resonates today as loudly as ever: plos.io/34lyl59. PLOS Biology also continues to push for DEI and a diverse scientific community: plos.io/3rzxczU 🧪

submitted 11 days ago • 2 comments

A repugnant assault on the dignity & personhood of trans folks that contradicts basic ethics and biological fact. Also: since when are athletic rosters under the jurisdiction of the Department of Health & Human Services?

submitted 11 days ago • 1 comment

I had two grant proposals up for review in the NIH Bacterial Virulence (BV) study section. It was canceled without notice this morning. Without those grants, my lab must close within a year. And so the purge of scientific research in the US continues 🤬 #MicroSky 🦠🧫🧪🧬🔬

submitted 11 days ago • 57 comments

This commission statement refers to people with Autism, ADHD, asthma, auto-immune disease, and chronic illness as a “dire threat to the American people and our way of life”. This is a manifesto against disability. This is the language of eugenics.

submitted 13 days ago • 853 comments

And then there's the issue of what lack of staff can mean for sensitive ecosystems protected by the national park system.

submitted 12 days ago • 2 comments

You also don’t have to sign up for protests

submitted 12 days ago • 0 comments

Just boosting the love for the VEC - I've been working with them for a while now and they do phenomenal work!! Important to have good sources for critical information in the current climate.

submitted 12 days ago • 0 comments

Trump's pick for NIH Director hasn't been confirmed yet but he previously stated his support for mass firings in HHS and funding cuts at NIH.

submitted 15 days ago • 5 comments

This is disingenuous. They most certainly are intentionally gunning for any programs that support Disabled folks, because they are racist, misogynist, transphobic, xenophobic, ableist eugenicists. It's not in error.

submitted 13 days ago • 1 comment

"The largest standardized and coordinated sampling data for tropical mammals to date" - this @plosbiology.org study uses >63k days' worth of data from >2k camera traps in 37 tropical forests across S America, Africa & SE Asia to assess the impact of humans on 239 species of mammal.

submitted 13 days ago • 0 comments

A reminder of all the harm Kennedy could, and likely will, do in the HHS secretary role. Of all the confirmations, this one is going to have the most noticeable impacts on people's daily lives. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

submitted 17 days ago • 91 comments

Here is the pre-RFK vaccination schedule for your kids. Please download it before he is confirmed and changes/deletes it. Give it to your pediatrician and say this is the schedule you want your kids on. Making this my pinned post.

submitted 26 days ago • 95 comments

One thing people do not know about vaccine preventable childhood illnesses is how severe they can be in adults. Every adult I have ever consulted on with chickenpox or measles ended up in the hospital and some even needed ICU care. These illnesses are not benign we do NOT want them to re-surge!

submitted 17 days ago • 9 comments

Thank you, @washingtonpost.com, for using correct verbiage. @nytimes.com you really really need to do better - it's embarrassing and incredibly damaging by now.

submitted 17 days ago • 2 comments

A fantastic article by Dr. @gregggonsalves.bsky.social on the dangers we’re facing and a potential path forward 👇🏻

submitted 17 days ago • 0 comments

Again, this idea has been floating out there for ages, and many other governments around the globe use the concept of shadow cabinets. Why haven't the Dems actually done this?

submitted 17 days ago • 147 comments

I have work to do but I'm distracted by watching US scientific progress & leadership being irreversibly undermined because a few unelected malcontents are penalizing researchers for following legal requirements set out by congressional orders to augment basic research with benefits to society.

submitted 18 days ago • 94 comments

in what meaningful way can we say that the constitution is in effect when an unelected and unaccountable billionaire is wielding state power to unilaterally cancel congressional appropriations?

submitted 19 days ago • 490 comments

BREAKING The Trump administration is maintaining a funding freeze at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in defiance of two federal court orders. The ongoing freeze was confirmed by an NIH official and internal correspondence reviewed by Popular Information.

submitted 19 days ago • 256 comments

Indirect costs support our entire research infrastructure. Without indirect costs, we wouldn’t have been able to develop this vaccine against H5N1 bird flu. If indirect costs are cut, we won’t be able to prepare and respond to our next pandemic threat. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

submitted 22 days ago • 17 comments

from a decade of comms experience my advice is to just call them cuts. they are making huge cuts to ALL the research on medicines we use every day, and cures for diseases like cancer. 1) keep it simple 2) keep it brief 3) make it actionable

submitted 22 days ago • 21 comments

Under fascism, no one is safe. Universities stayed quiet as the admin targeted DEI & foreign aid, censored research, etc. Now, they face devastating cuts to indirect cost rates, threatening research & operations. Silence won’t protect institutions. It won’t protect people; it never does.

submitted 22 days ago • 358 comments

“Efforts by Trump officials to control the publication have stalled the release of three studies about bird flu for weeks, as the virus continues spreading through wild birds, poultry farms and cows around the country.” www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-o...

submitted 22 days ago • 88 comments

Children’s Hospital of Pennsylvania has indirect rate of 70%, but they probably didn’t want to list that atop Harvard because defunding a children’s hospital might be perceived as problematic. This is devastating

submitted 22 days ago • 43 comments

NIH cuts indirect rates on grants to 15%. This will be the end of American excellence in science. Universities will struggle and many (likely most) will terminate their research programs. Independent research institutions will not be able to survive this. grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...

submitted 22 days ago • 20 comments

This is a de facto massive budget cut to research universities. We are talking Great Recession size impacts.

submitted 22 days ago • 97 comments

A lot of regions are about to find out just how much their economies rely on universities. For some places, this could be like the town factory closing shop. Not to mention the brain drain. 69% is a lot for overhead. But 15% will decimate the whole knowledge production ecosystem of the country.

submitted 22 days ago • 5 comments

Worst week for science EVER. Sunday: ASM scrubs DEI mentions from website. Tue: NASA scrubs DEI from website; ICE arrests a student on campus; NSF plans to cut staff; USAID halted. Wed: HHMI kills diversity program; NIH trashes applications for diversity F grants. Fri: NIH cuts indirects.

submitted 22 days ago • 24 comments

Good thread on a devastating assault on research (one of many this month.)

submitted 22 days ago • 0 comments