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G. Andrés Cisneros @cisnerosres.bsky.social · 1d

Enhorabuena María!

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G. Andrés Cisneros @cisnerosres.bsky.social · 1d

the force is strong with this padawan 😆

Dr. Mark A. Hix @markahix.bsky.social · 1d

Dear Every Academic Journal,

You are *publishers*. Your submission templates should include LaTeX templates, and those templates should also actually make proper use of LaTeX functionality. It's not just for the math kids, it'll actually make your own jobs easier.

I'm dying here.

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G. Andrés Cisneros @cisnerosres.bsky.social · 4d

Congratulations to Shubham Chatterjee @shubhamchatterjee.bsky.social on passing his PhD defense with flying colors!
Shubham is the 15th PhD from our group.

research group with Shubham Chatterjee in the middle after successfully defending PhD

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G. Andrés Cisneros @cisnerosres.bsky.social · 9d

Congratulations to Mozhdeh Ghafari on successfully passing her QE3 and defending her MS dissertation!

Reposted by G. Andrés Cisneros

Elise Cutts @elisecutts.bsky.social · 17d

Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin ✨ figured out what stars are made of ✨ when she was just 25. 🔭🧪

Her PhD thesis basically established the Harvard astro department — at a time when Harvard didn't officially allow woman students.

I wrote this little profile to mark the 100th anniversary of her thesis:

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G. Andrés Cisneros @cisnerosres.bsky.social · 17d

pubs.aip.org/physicstoday...

Advocating for science gains urgency

In response to the US government’s attacks on science, professional societies intensify efforts to prep scientists to lobby effectively.

pubs.aip.org

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G. Andrés Cisneros @cisnerosres.bsky.social · 17d

@arkanil.bsky.social's article with pages and Front Cover now out:
"Comparison of Magnesium and Manganese Ions on the Structural and Catalytic Properties of Human DNA Polymerase Gamma"
doi.org/10.1021/acs....

Effects of Mg(II) (yellow) and Mn(II) (red) ions on the catalysis of DNA polymerase γ. Mn(II) ions show more efficiency (longer red DNA) than Mg(II) ions (shorter yellow DNA).

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G. Andrés Cisneros @cisnerosres.bsky.social · Sep 3

Latest preprint from our group. Great collaboration with @vicentmoliner.bsky.social @kswiderek.bsky.social Maite Roca and Yazdan Maghsoud: Comparing Force Field Treatments in QM/MM Studies of the SARS-CoV-2 RNA-Dependent RNA Polymerase (RdRp) Mechanism
| ChemRxiv

Comparing Force Field Treatments in QM/MM Studies of the SARS-CoV-2 RNA-Dependent RNA Polymerase (RdRp) Mechanism

Molecular simulations have been instrumental in elucidating the SARS-CoV-2 lifecycle, thereby supporting the design and development of antiviral therapies and diagnostic tools for COVID-19. Here, the ...

doi.org

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Reposted by G. Andrés Cisneros

Kim Lane Scheppele @kimlanelaw.bsky.social · Aug 28

Stacey Abrams and I sound the alarm - the time to act to stop autocracy is now. time.com/7312340/stop...

We Can Stop the Rise of American Autocracy

Stacey Abrams and Kim Lane Scheppele argue that we must act now to stop autocracy from taking over America.

time.com

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Reposted by G. Andrés Cisneros

Emily L. Hauser (she/her) ❌👑 @emilylhauser.bsky.social · Aug 28

🧵*8/28/2025 thread of noncooperation*

A daily thread of acts of noncooperation/noncompliance/defiance by individuals, communities, or institutions.

Let's fucking go.

*

Demetre Daskalakis, director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases: "Enough is enough."

Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · Aug 28

Full resignation letter from Demetre C. Daskalakis, a CDC leader, does not hold back.
"The recent shooting at CDC is not why I am resigning. My grandfather, who I am named after, stood up to fascist forces in Greece and lost his life doing so. I am resigning to make him and his legacy proud."

My resignation letter from CDC.

Dear Dr. Houry,

I am writing to formally resign from my position as Director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), effective August 28, 2025, close of business. I am happy to stay on for two weeks to provide transition, if requested.

This decision has not come easily, as I deeply value the work that the CDC does in safeguarding public health and am proud of my contributions to that critical mission. However, after much contemplation and reflection on recent developments and perspectives brought to light by Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., I find that the views he and his staff have shared challenge my ability to continue in my current role at the agency and in the service of the health of the American people. Enough is enough.

While I hold immense respect for the institution and my colleagues, I believe that it is imperative to align my professional responsibilities to my system of ethics and my understanding of the science of infectious disease, immunology, and my promise to serve the American people. This step is necessary to ensure that I can contribute effectively in a capacity that allows me to remain true to my principles.

The recent change in the adult and children’s immunization schedule threaten the lives of the youngest Americans and pregnant people. The data analyses that supported this decision have never been shared with CDC despite my respectful requests to HHS and other leadership. This lack of meaningful engagement was further compounded by a “frequently asked questions” document written to support the Secretary’s directive that was circulated by HHS without input from CDC subject matter experts and that cited studies that did not support the conclusions that were attributed to these authors. Having worked in local and national public health for years, I have never experienced such radical non-transparency, nor have I seen such unskilled manipulation of data to achieve a political end rather than the good of the American people.

It is untenable to serve in an organization that is not afforded the opportunity to discuss decisions of scientific and public health importance released under the moniker of CDC. The lack of communication by HHS and other CDC political leadership that culminates in social media posts announcing major policy changes without prior notice demonstrate a disregard of normal communication channels and common sense. Having to retrofit analyses and policy actions to match inadequately thought-out announcements in poorly scripted videos or page long X posts should not be how organizations responsible for the health of people should function. Some examples include the announcement of the change in the COVID-19 recommendations for children and pregnant people, the firing of scientists from ACIP by X post and an op-ed rather than direct communication with these valuable experts, the announcement of new ACIP members by X before onboarding and vetting have completed, and the release of term of reference for an ACIP workgroup that ignored all feedback from career staff at CDC.

Their desire to please a political base will result in death and disability of vulnerable children and adults. Their base should be the people they serve not a political voting bloc.

I have always been first to challenge scientific and public health dogma in my career and was excited by the opportunity to do so again. I was optimistic that there would be an opportunity to brief the Secretary about key topics such as measles, avian influenza, and the highly coordinated approach to the respiratory virus season. Such briefings would allow exchange of ideas and a shared path to support the vision of “Making America Healthy Again.” We are seven months into the new administration, and no CDC subject matter expert from my Center has ever briefed the Secretary. I am not sure who the Secretary is listening to, but it is quite certainly not to us. Unvetted and conflicted outside organizations seem to be the sources HHS use over the gold standard science of CDC and other reputable sources. At a hearing, Secretary Kennedy said that Americans should not take medical advice from him. To the contrary, an appropriately briefed and inquisitive Secretary should be a source of health information for the people he serves. As it stands now, I must agree with him, that he should not be considered a source of accurate information.

The intentional eroding of trust in low-risk vaccines favoring natural infection and unproven remedies will bring us to a pre-vaccine era where only the strong will survive and many if not all will suffer. I believe in nutrition and exercise. I believe in making our food supply healthier, and I also believe in using vaccines to prevent death and disability. Eugenics plays prominently in the rhetoric being generated and is derivative of a legacy that good medicine and science should continue to shun.

The recent shooting at CDC is not why I am resigning. My grandfather, who I am named after, stood up to fascist forces in Greece and lost his life doing so. I am resigning to make him and his legacy proud. I am resigning because of the cowardice of a leader that cannot admit that HIS and his minions’ words over decades created an environment where violence like this can occur. I reject his and his colleagues’ thoughts and prayers, and advise they direct those to people that they have not actively harmed.

For decades, I have been a trusted voice for the LGBTQ community when it comes to critical health topics. I must also cite the recklessness of the administration in their efforts to erase transgender populations, cease critical domestic and international HIV programming, and terminate key research to support equity as part of my decision.

Public health is not merely about the health of the individual, but it is about the health of the community, the nation, the world. The nation’s health security is at risk and is in the hands of people focusing on ideological self-interest.

I want to express my heartfelt gratitude for the opportunities for growth, learning, and collaboration that I have been afforded during my time at the CDC. It has been a privilege to work alongside such dedicated professionals who are committed to improving the health and well-being of communities across the nation even when under attack from within both physically and psychologically.

Thank you once again for the support and guidance I have received from you and previous CDC leadership throughout my tenure. I wish the CDC continued success in its vital mission and that HHS reverse its dangerous course to dismantle public health as a practice and as an institution. If they continue the current path, they risk our personal well-being and the security of the United States.

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Reposted by G. Andrés Cisneros

Alt NIH Bluesky 🧪 @altnih4science.bsky.social · Aug 24

A wonderfully-done depiction of what America is losing by destroying science. This isn’t just a story about these scientists, it is a story about how Russ Vought and MAGA are killing medical cures. That will touch everyone.

With David Ho, Kamila Naxerova, @docsirianni.bsky.social, 1/

Opinion | America First? Not When It Comes to Your Health.

www.nytimes.com

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G. Andrés Cisneros @cisnerosres.bsky.social · Aug 22

Today is bittersweet as we say farewell to Jessica and Arkanil (middle front). We are so proud of everything they've accomplished and are very excited about their next stages!

photo of the lab members of the Cisneros research group

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Reposted by G. Andrés Cisneros

Rachel Maddow @maddow.msnbc.com · Aug 20

"We sign this declaration in our own personal capacities, on our personal time, and without the use of government equipment, as protected by our First Amendment rights..."

www.savehhs.org

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Reposted by G. Andrés Cisneros

Jennifer C @thejenniwren.teamlh.social · Aug 20

🔥 Vice President Kamala Harris phoned Rep. Nicole Collier, who has refused for over 30 hours to bow to the GOP’s police-state tactics on the TX House floor.

Harris told her: “History will reveal you as heroes of this moment.”

Texas is the front line. The nation is watching.

#WeveHadEnough

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Reposted by G. Andrés Cisneros

Adolfo Neto @adolfont.github.io · Aug 19

Imagine how crazy it sounds to cut Terence Tao’s funding — but it actually happened.

newsletter.ofthebrave.org/p/im-an-awar...

I’m an award-winning mathematician. Trump just cut my funding.

The “Mozart of Math” tried to stay out of politics. Then it came for his research.

newsletter.ofthebrave.org

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G. Andrés Cisneros @cisnerosres.bsky.social · Aug 18

Latest preprint from our group, led by Jessica Arcudia and Niyati Arora: Biomimetic Pore Engineering in Two-Dimensional Covalent Organic Frameworks | ChemRxiv

Biomimetic Pore Engineering in Two-Dimensional Covalent Organic Frameworks

Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) are permanently porous, molecularly engineered scaffolds that exemplify the intersection of design, chemistry, and function. They are composed of organic monomers st...

doi.org

G. Andrés Cisneros @cisnerosres.bsky.social · Aug 14

‘A whole body of health-equity research is being disappeared’ — why I resigned from the NIH

As federal support vanishes for research addressing the root causes of health disparities in the United States, we are left with a dangerous void and an urgent need to rethink science funding.

www.nature.com

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Reposted by G. Andrés Cisneros

Stephen Uitti he/him/it/they/hey-you @suitti.bsky.social · Aug 10

This is hot

T-shirt with text:
algorithm
when programmers don't want to explain what they did
heuristic
when programmers can't explain what they did
machine learning
when programmers don't know what they did

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Reposted by G. Andrés Cisneros

PBS @pbs.org · Aug 7

An update from us here at PBS 💙

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G. Andrés Cisneros @cisnerosres.bsky.social · Aug 9

Friday vibe

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Science and Freedom Alliance - SAFA @safa-science.bsky.social · Aug 7

The Supreme Court is reviewing a vitally important NIH case on its shadow docket.

It is likely that the Court will back Trump, and say his (illegal) grant terminations are ok.

We must speak up now.
1/

Tell the Supreme Court: No Stay. Hands off NIH

The Supreme Court is poised to allow Trump to illegally terminate NIH grants. Let's speak out. There is not much time.

scienceandfreedomalliance.substack.com

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G. Andrés Cisneros @cisnerosres.bsky.social · Aug 8

Our latest paper on the investigation of PTMs and cancer mutations on PARP2 by Bridget Hughes, Shubham @shubhamchatterjee.bsky.social , and Mozhdeh Ghafari is online:
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Effects of a cancer-associated mutation and multiple serine phosphorylation on poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase 2

Poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase 2 (PARP2) plays a crucial role in DNA repair. A common single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the PARP2 gene, rs3093921, …

www.sciencedirect.com

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G. Andrés Cisneros @cisnerosres.bsky.social · Aug 1

Great job by Rawan who presented her poster during the UTD SPUR Symposium for the project she worked on as a Clark summer research fellow!

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Reposted by G. Andrés Cisneros

Saganism @sagan.bsky.social · Jun 19

“This combustible mixture of ignorance and power, sooner or later, is going to blow up in our faces”

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G. Andrés Cisneros @cisnerosres.bsky.social · Jul 16

Latest preprint from our group:
Improvement of the Density Fitting Approach for the Gaussian Electrostatic Model via the use of the Discrete Picard Condition in Tychonov Regularization |
#NIHfunded
ChemRxiv - doi.org/10.26434/che...

Improvement of the Density Fitting Approach for the Gaussian Electrostatic Model via the use of the Discrete Picard Condition in Tychonov Regularization

The Gaussian Electrostatic Model (GEM) is a density-based force field that employs Hermite Gaussian auxiliary basis sets (ABSs) to represent molec- ular electronic densities for accurate intermolecula...

doi.org

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