Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Brittany Bennett

Matthew Lawrenz @lawrenzlab.bsky.social · Aug 17

My alma mater is hiring a microbiologist! Assistant/Associate Prof. 👇👇

Assistant/Associate Professor, Microbiology and Molecular Genetics - McGovern Medical School in Texas, United States | Faculty & Physicians at UTHealth Houston

Apply for Assistant/Associate Professor, Microbiology and Molecular Genetics - McGovern Medical School job with UTHealth Houston in Texas, United States. Faculty & Physicians at UTHealth Houston

careers.uth.tmc.edu

32 20

Reposted by Brittany Bennett

Rebecca Fishbein @bfishbfish.bsky.social · Aug 6

I believe one of the new mRNA vaccines was expected to treat colon cancer, and another had the potential to keep pancreatic cancer from recurring. That’s what they’re taking away.

Laura Weiss @lauralew105.bsky.social · Aug 5

WHAT, WHAT, WHAT ARE WE DOING!!!
“Vaccine experts and people steeped in pandemic preparedness expressed horror at the news.” www.statnews.com/2025/08/05/m...

Health secretary RFK Jr. shuts door on U.S. investment in mRNA vaccine research

Vaccine experts and people steeped in pandemic preparedness expressed horror at the news that RFK Jr. has shut the door in U.S. investment in mRNA vaccine research.

www.statnews.com

350 4.5K 9.4K

Reposted by Brittany Bennett

Kara Jorgensen @authorkaraj.bsky.social · Aug 5

RFK Jr. backs down all the time when he gets push back, so if anyone wants to call, here's the HHS number 1-877-696-6775.
I'd also call your senators/reps as well.

Phil Lewis @phillewis.bsky.social · Aug 5

WASHINGTON (AP) — Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announces he will cancel $500 million in vaccine development projects.

89 5.7K 8.4K

Reposted by Brittany Bennett

Anna Merlan @annamerlan.bsky.social · Aug 5

We could have had cancer vaccines, and instead the United States will contribute nothing whatsoever to mRNA research, condemning millions of people worldwide to unnecessary illness and death

Phil Lewis @phillewis.bsky.social · Aug 5

WASHINGTON (AP) — Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announces he will cancel $500 million in vaccine development projects.

180 2.4K 7.8K

Reposted by Brittany Bennett

Katie Mack @astrokatie.com · Aug 5

Every reputable expert I know considers mRNA vaccine technology to be one of the most revolutionary advances in medicine in our lifetimes. Its inventors won the Nobel Prize in 2023. Shutting it down now is pointless self-harm to humanity.

Eric Michael Garcia @ericmgarcia.bsky.social · Aug 5

Release from HHS: HHS will wind down its development of the mRNA vaccine development activities under the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA).

HHS Winds Down mRNA Vaccine Development Under BARDA

WASHINGTON, DC—AUGUST 5, 2025—The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) today announced the beginning of a coordinated wind-down of its mRNA vaccine development activities under the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), including the cancellation and de-scoping of various contracts and solicitations. The decision follows a comprehensive review of mRNA-related investments initiated during the COVID-19 public health emergency.

“We reviewed the science, listened to the experts, and acted,” said HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. “BARDA is terminating 22 mRNA vaccine development investments because the data show these vaccines fail to protect effectively against upper respiratory infections like COVID and flu. We’re shifting that funding toward safer, broader vaccine platforms that remain effective even as viruses mutate.”

550 6.8K 18K

Brittany Bennett @greenwoodbritt.bsky.social · Jul 30

Make Alzheimer’s Great Again

Liz Essley Whyte @lizessleywhyte.bsky.social · Jul 29

NEW
The White House is blocking the NIH from awarding new research grants for the rest of the fiscal year

Chokes off billions in research funding

Gift link www.wsj.com/politics/pol... with @nidhisubs.bsky.social

Trump Administration Puts New Chokehold on Billions in Health-Research Funding

The National Institutes of Health can’t award grants to outside researchers under a new White House restriction.

www.wsj.com

1

Brittany Bennett @greenwoodbritt.bsky.social · Jul 27

How can any person with a soul defend what is being done in Gaza? “This is man-made starvation being used as a weapon of war.” Babies are dying. This is monstrous. Evil. Abhorrent.

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/27/w...

No Meals, Fainting Nurses, Dwindling Baby Formula: Starvation Haunts Gaza Hospitals

www.nytimes.com

1

Reposted by Brittany Bennett

The New York Times @nytimes.com · Jul 18

Breaking News: The EPA said it would eliminate its scientific research arm and begin firing hundreds of scientists, after denying that it intended to do so.

E.P.A. Says It Will Eliminate Its Scientific Research Arm

The decision comes after a Supreme Court ruling allowing the Trump administration to slash the federal work force and dismantle agencies.

trib.al

80 260 460

Reposted by Brittany Bennett

Chris Hayes @chrislhayes.bsky.social · Jul 18

Not really an overstatement to say that the test of a free society is whether or not comedians can make fun of the country's leader on TV without repurcussions.

1.5K 19K 74K

Reposted by Brittany Bennett

Zack Labe @zacklabe.com · Jul 8

I can't stress enough how close U.S. science is to the cliff.

"Numbers released in May by the National Science Foundation (NSF) indicate that if Congress approves the cuts to the agency proposed by the White House, the number of early-career researchers it supports could fall by 78%" (@science.org)

‘It’s a nightmare.’ U.S. funding cuts threaten academic science jobs at all levels

“There is a lot of pressure to essentially leave the country or not pursue research,” one Ph.D. student says

www.science.org

45 850 1.5K

Brittany Bennett @greenwoodbritt.bsky.social · Jul 1

Heck yeah! I would watch a youtube tutorial about changing your spark plugs if Edgar Wright directed it.

Edgar Wright @edgarwright.bsky.social · Jul 1

Millions Hunt. One Runs. Everyone Watches. Watch the Official Trailer for my new film The #RunningManMovie – Only in theatres November 7!

Reposted by Brittany Bennett

David A. Graham @dgraham.bsky.social · Jun 27

Duke appears to have lost NIH grants because they used the prefix "trans" in reference to disease transmission, transgenic genetic material, translational studies, or signal transduction www.dukechronicle.com/article/2025...

210 1.9K 4.6K

Reposted by Brittany Bennett

Sean Eddy @cryptogenomicon.bsky.social · May 22

NIH funding supporting the HMMER and Infernal software projects has been terminated. NIH states that our work, as well as all other federally funded research at Harvard, is of no benefit to the US.

37 230 290

Reposted by Brittany Bennett

Kara McKinley @karalmckinley.bsky.social · Jun 23

This is an excellent article on the termination of all federal funding at Harvard.

This visualization shows all of the terminated programs that were supposed to train the next generation of scientists.

www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Image showing all ~$2 billion in grants terminated at Harvard, highlighting the many terminated grants that were focused on training and career development

14 28

Reposted by Brittany Bennett

Andrea Love, PhD | Biomedical Scientist @drandrealove.bsky.social · May 5

Why not do a placebo-controlled clinical trial in these instances?

Because a beneficial version of the medicine exists already, FROM a placebo-controlled trial.

It is unethical and immoral to deny people a medicine when they are volunteering to participate in research.

6/

1 59 410

Reposted by Brittany Bennett

Tiffany Lowe-Power 🌱🦠 @tlowepower.bsky.social · Jun 8

Considering the Federal situation, campuses are encouraging labs to enter partnerships with industry.

A plant breeding company reached out to see if my lab could rate their plant lines for their resistance to Ralstonia. I said "maybe, but these assays require personnel time and materials"

1 12 35

Brittany Bennett @greenwoodbritt.bsky.social · Jun 23

It was a great session! I’m so pleased to have been a part of it!

1

Reposted by Brittany Bennett

Cameron Thrash @jcamthrash.bsky.social · Nov 8

Our latest, and a tour de force by postdoc Brittany Bennett!

Polyhydroxybutyrate production in freshwater SAR11 (LD12) www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Polyhydroxybutyrate production in freshwater SAR11 (LD12)

SAR11 bacteria (order Pelagibacterales) are oligotrophs and often the most abundant bacterioplankton in aquatic environments. A subset of sequenced SAR11 genomes, predominantly in the brackish and fre...

www.biorxiv.org

8 19

Brittany Bennett @greenwoodbritt.bsky.social · Jun 23

The rest of the meeting was great! (Other than the constant conversations about how bad the funding situation is!)

1

Brittany Bennett @greenwoodbritt.bsky.social · Jun 21

Well this is f’in sad #ASMicrobe

An empty booth at ASM that should have housed the NSF

2 40 200

Brittany Bennett @greenwoodbritt.bsky.social · Jun 20

Best swag yet from @markowenmartin.bsky.social! #ASMicrobe

1 4

Reposted by Brittany Bennett

Taniel @taniel.bsky.social · Jun 14

Melissa Hortman, who was assassinated last night, was the Speaker of the Minnesota House in the 2023-2024 session, when Democrats ran the state government.

That means she had a leading role in shepherding the many landmark reforms that Dems adopted in that period—an important legacy. Brief 🧵.

50 3.4K 9K

Brittany Bennett @greenwoodbritt.bsky.social · May 31

Some of us sooner than others

Brian Tyler Cohen @briantylercohen.bsky.social · May 30

GOP Sen. Joni Ernst responds to voters saying that cutting Medicaid will kill them: “Well, we all are going to die.”

Reposted by Brittany Bennett

Dani Rodrik @drodrik.bsky.social · May 22

Three things made the US a rich and powerful nation: the rule of law, its science & innovation system, and openness to foreign talent. Remarkable how Trump has taken a sledgehammer to all three. No enemy of this country could do more.

300 3.8K 11K

Reposted by Brittany Bennett

Aatish Bhatia @aatishb.bsky.social · May 22

NEW: Under Trump, the National Science Foundation is awarding grants at the slowest pace in decades. We took a detailed look at every area of science affected by the funding lag. Here's a gift link: www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

23 230 380