Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Hiten Madhani @hitenmadhani.bsky.social · 15h

For those who don’t know: Herb isolated EcoRI, invented recombinant DNA and founded Genentech. Mike discovered cancer genes with Harold Varmus, a Nobel prize winning discovery. Rutter cloned insulin, developed the Hep B vaccine, and isolated Hep C, the latter two at Chiron, his biotech.

Hiten Madhani @hitenmadhani.bsky.social · 1d

Today was UCSF’s celebration of life for Bill Rutter who built our Department. I had the good fortune of having dinner with both Herb Boyer and Mike Bishop—two major figures in our institution’s history (and the history of science). What a treat!

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Colette Delawalla @cdelawalla.bsky.social · 1d

I’m a mom.
I’m a scientist.
I’m an activist.

I’m not going to stand by while unqualified, Quack, fringe-ass conspiracy theorists make decisions about my family’s health that is going to kill people.

Join me outside of HHS on 10/16 at 3pm.
@standupforscience.bsky.social

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Hiten Madhani @hitenmadhani.bsky.social · 1d

Today was UCSF’s celebration of life for Bill Rutter who built our Department. I had the good fortune of having dinner with both Herb Boyer and Mike Bishop—two major figures in our institution’s history (and the history of science). What a treat!

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Carolyn Bertozzi @carolynbertozzi.bskyverified.social · 1d

Pres. Kornbluth articulates such moral clarity in this rejection of the proposed “compact”:

“the premise of the document is inconsistent with our core belief that scientific funding should be based on scientific merit alone”

orgchart.mit.edu/letters/rega...

Regarding the Compact | MIT Organization Chart

orgchart.mit.edu

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Rick Steves @ricksteves.bsky.social · 2d

Thread:

A year ago yesterday was a very happy day for me. I had lost my prostate. It was good riddance, as it was riddled with cancer. I’m now cancer-free — and thankful for the tax-funded technology that saved my life.

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Hiten Madhani @hitenmadhani.bsky.social · 3d

Our Department is recruiting as well. As a public institution we can’t afford professional quality videos so this post will have to suffice😱.

The Francis Crick Institute @crick.ac.uk · 3d

We're now recruiting early career group leaders at the Crick to lead ambitious research programmes and explore bold scientific questions.

Hear our Director, Edith Heard, explain why the Crick is a unique place for curiosity-driven research.

Apply now ➡️ www.crick.ac.uk/careers-stud...

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David Katz @katzlab.bsky.social · 5d

Very excited to share our very exciting story on how misinherited chromatin affects individual cells to cause a behavior defect in C. elegans (a thread👇) www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

PNAS

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans...

www.pnas.org

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Hiten Madhani @hitenmadhani.bsky.social · 5d

Every university leader should read this.

Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 5d

I just emailed my "Silence" essay to the Presidents/Chancellors and Provosts of the 9 Compact universities as well as those from the 4 orgs with which I have been formally affiliated.

The essay can be found here:

jeremymberg.github.io/jeremyberg.g...

and here:

www.linkedin.com/posts/jeremy...

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sdwarcher.bsky.social @sdwarcher.bsky.social · 5d

@altnih4science.bsky.social

Trump slashed funding for universities that helped create these vital drugs

Medications that prevent HIV, shrink tumors and treat seizures were invented with government funding. At research universities, that money is now canceled or in jeopardy.

www.washingtonpost.com

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EPIGENETIC HULK @epigenetichulk.bsky.social · 5d

NUCLEOSOME NOMENCLATURE JUST FINE! WHY BE SO CRAZY! {[("H3meLIKEY2"])} www.cell.com/molecular-ce...

A needed nomenclature for nucleosomes

Keogh et al. propose a nomenclature to clearly and concisely describe the post-translational modifications, proteoforms, and nucleoforms that drive chromatin function. This communicates experimental n...

www.cell.com

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Reposted by Hiten Madhani

NPR @npr.org · 5d

Two groups are calling for new leadership at HHS after Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s actions on substance abuse treatment and mental health medications, among other issues.

Psychiatrists call for RFK Jr. to be replaced as health secretary

Two groups are calling for new leadership at HHS after Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s actions on substance abuse treatment and mental health medications, among other issues.

n.pr

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Hiten Madhani @hitenmadhani.bsky.social · 6d

😱

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North Carolina Conference of the AAUP @ncaaup.bsky.social · 7d

www.aaup.org/news/univers...

Universities Must Reject Trump Admin "Loyalty Oath" Compacts

The AAUP and AFT warn that the Trump administration’s offer to give preferential treatment to colleges and universities in exchange for allegiance to a partisan ideological agenda is entirely corrupt.

www.aaup.org

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Hiten Madhani @hitenmadhani.bsky.social · 7d

Nice day for a ride!

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Stand Up for Science! @standupforscience.bsky.social · 9d

The Trump admin has been targeting whistleblowers, from the #FEMA36 to the countless other patriotic public servants and scientists across NIH, CDC, NASA, and more who spoke out about the danger posed by the chaos in our federal agencies. This is an concerted, autocratic effort to silence dissent.

RFK Jr fires top NIH scientist weeks after she files whistleblower complaint

Jeanne Marrazzo’s complaint reportedly involved the Trump administration’s hostility toward vaccines

www.theguardian.com

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Stand Up for Science! @standupforscience.bsky.social · 8d

Today is October 3rd, another day where we are calling to #ImpeachtheQuack!

Page which has the handwritten red text: “This guy is the worst, most useless and unqualified HHS Secretary I have ever met. DO NOT TRUST HIM. He is an incompetent QUACK!”

A picture of RFK Jr. with “Robert F Kennedy Jr.” written underneath it.

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Science and Freedom Alliance - SAFA @safa-science.bsky.social · 9d

@jenna-m-norton.bsky.social ‘s speech at the Capitol on Monday.

“As a federal worker, I am here to tell you that every awful thing that would happen in a shutdown—shuttering programs that Americans rely on, damaging our economy, firing federal workers—all of this is already happening.”

"Nearly impossible for NIH staff to do our jobs": Jenna Norton's speech for the Civil Servants Coalition

At the Capitol, Monday 9/29

scienceandfreedomalliance.substack.com

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Jason Moore @moorejh.bsky.social · 9d

We introduce here the emerging concept of vibe coding, in which AI accelerates coding by converting natural language or abstract intent (a vibe) into functioning software modules, shortening development cycles biodatamining.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.... #vibecoding #bioinformatics #coding

Vibe coding: a new paradigm for biomedical software development - BioData Mining

biodatamining.biomedcentral.com

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Ming Tommy Tang @tommytang.bsky.social · 9d

Your data is lying to you. Here’s how technical artifacts distort biology—and how to see the truth. 👇
1/ Beautiful t-SNE? Shiny heatmap?
Look closer.
Technical artifacts can fake whole cell types.
Here’s where the ghosts hide.

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Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 9d

A thread with some interesting (at least to me) observations on multi-year funding, past and present...

1/8

a man wearing glasses is looking at the camera and saying let 's take a closer look .

ALT: a man wearing glasses is looking at the camera and saying let 's take a closer look .

media.tenor.com

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ClutchScience (Jen Phillips) @clutchscience.bsky.social · 10d

Very nice reporting on the importance—and the vulnerability— of model organism databases

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Model organism databases face budget cuts and closures

Beyond the crucial data they contain, these digital archives have provided an important space for academic communities to exchange ideas and resources.

www.nature.com

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Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 10d

👇👇👇👇👇

Liz Neeley @lizneeley.bsky.social · 10d

Some problems have simple solutions. This new “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” is one. The answer is simply saying no.

Simple does not mean easy. But Brown, Dartmouth, MIT, Vanderbilt, Univ of AZ, UPenn, USC, UT Austin & UVA must understand what they’ll lose if they sign on.

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Union of Concerned Scientists @ucs.org · 10d

The data and evidence are clear. Over the past 8 months, the egregious actions of President Trump and his enablers have caused real harm to people and communities across the country.

Science and Democracy Under Siege

This administration's first 6 months have been characterized by destruction, division, and chaos.

www.ucs.org

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Prasad Jallepalli, MD, PhD @prasad.bsky.social · 10d

I am astounded, disgusted, demoralized, & fed up

every single institution of our great nation is under siege by these grifters, scammers, liars, & idiots

they are sabotaging the greatest engine of progress, prosperity, and power that the world has ever known

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/u...

The White House on Wednesday sent letters to nine of the nation's top public and private universities, urging campus leaders to pledge support for President Trump's political agenda to help ensure access to federal research funds.

The letters came attached to a 10-page "compact" that serves as a sort of priority statement for the administration's educational goals - the most comprehensive accounting to date of what Mr. Trump aims to achieve from an unparalleled, months long pressure campaign on academia.

The compact would require colleges to freeze tuition for five years, cap the enrollment of international students and commit to strict definitions of gender. Among other steps, universities would also be required to change their governance structures to prohibit anything that would "punish, belittle and even spark violence against conservative ideas."

Colleges that sign the agreement would receive "multiple positive benefits," according to a letter included with the compact signed by Education Secretary Linda McMahon; Vince Haley, the director of the White House Domestic Policy Council; and May Mailman, the White House's senior adviser for special projects.

Colleges that agree would get priority access to federal funds and looser restraints on overhead costs. Signed compacts would also serve as assurance to the government that schools are complying with civil rights laws. Federal civil rights investigations have been used to halt much of the research funding that the administration has blocked so far this year.

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European Research Council (ERC) @erc.europa.eu · 11d

Maria Leptin re-appointed as ERC President! 🇪🇺

ERC Vice Presidents said:

This is excellent news, ensuring continuity at a critical moment. On behalf of the Scientific Council, we thank Maria for her leadership & strong commitment that has taken ERC to new heights.

👇
erc.europa.eu/news-events/...

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