Needhi Bhalla 💅🏽
banner
needhibhalla.bsky.social
Needhi Bhalla 💅🏽
@needhibhalla.bsky.social
Cell biologist and geneticist, Professor, mom and consumer of alcohol. Those might all be related. I grind til I own it.

She/her/hers.

ORCID: 0000-0002-6859-0073

personal account
Pinned
@joann-trejo.bsky.social, @marymunson4.bsky.social and I have a commentary in @natcellbio.nature.com on recent attacks on DEI in biomedical research: "If scientific research, especially biomedical research, is meant to serve everyone, then it requires that everyone has an opportunity to participate"
Scaling back DEI programmes and the loss of scientific talent
Nature Cell Biology - Programmes that support diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in science are under attack in the USA. Data indicate that diversity in the scientific workforce increases...
www.nature.com
Reposted by Needhi Bhalla 💅🏽
My local bookshop understands their audience.
January 22, 2026 at 4:13 PM
Reposted by Needhi Bhalla 💅🏽
MUST READ:

The best synthesis I have seen so far of things I knew or had put together from various sources but had not really seen pulled together 🧪

Importantly, I don’t think these academics were an aberration. I think a lot of scientists would have entered these circles, given the option.
The billionaires' eugenics project: how Epstein infiltrated Harvard, muzzled the humanities and preached master-race science
Edge - Jeffrey Epstein's favourite intellectual salon - was sold to me as a gathering of the world's finest minds, writes Virginia Heffernan. The files reveal it was something far darker: a decades-lo...
www.thenerve.news
February 15, 2026 at 7:05 PM
Reposted by Needhi Bhalla 💅🏽
Reading American history will break your heart a thousand times but it will also fill you with such admiration and awe for all the people who were excluded from the protection of America’s founding principles and fought to promote, protect and expand them anyways
February 16, 2026 at 12:19 AM
Reposted by Needhi Bhalla 💅🏽
This March 7th we are rallying for a second time in D.C. and nationwide! Join the fight by visiting standupforscience.net/march7 or fuel the fight for science by visiting standupforscience.net/donate
Thank you!
#March7
#standupforscience
#ImpeachRFKJr
#RemoveRFKJr
#science
February 15, 2026 at 11:51 AM
Reposted by Needhi Bhalla 💅🏽
“Asked how the cuts have affected science, one [researcher] said, ‘This is like asking, how do you think dropping an atomic bomb on New York City will affect the future of Broadway musicals? This is a generational loss of innovation, technology, and economic power.’” 🔗 archive.ph/2026.02.12-1...
February 15, 2026 at 9:46 PM
Reposted by Needhi Bhalla 💅🏽
Call me delusional but I am thinking more about improving the future vs blame. And for that our institutions have to do better- we cannot change human nature (there will always be morally bankrupt assholes among us) but we can hope for a system that does not allow these individuals to be successful
February 15, 2026 at 6:18 PM
Reposted by Needhi Bhalla 💅🏽
We are holding our annual Rising Stars in Genetics and Genomics Postdoc Symposium on September 24-25, 2026! Please nominate postdocs who are conducting cutting edge, creative work, and are likely to be a leader in their field. Please nominate by April 30, 2026: forms.gle/85NZaxFezUk8...
(1/2)
forms.gle
February 15, 2026 at 9:05 PM
Reposted by Needhi Bhalla 💅🏽
We just did.
February 15, 2026 at 7:05 PM
Reposted by Needhi Bhalla 💅🏽
Already doing it….
Can we start using “Epstein class” to describe scientists? 🤔
What I’m seeing in some of the Epstein revelations about well known scientists who maintained contact after his conviction, is folks who always thought they were the smartest person in any room, sure they could shrewdly navigate a route that gets them what they want without getting dirty themselves.
February 15, 2026 at 6:24 PM
Reposted by Needhi Bhalla 💅🏽
Endorse
Can we start using “Epstein class” to describe scientists? 🤔
What I’m seeing in some of the Epstein revelations about well known scientists who maintained contact after his conviction, is folks who always thought they were the smartest person in any room, sure they could shrewdly navigate a route that gets them what they want without getting dirty themselves.
February 15, 2026 at 6:20 PM
Reposted by Needhi Bhalla 💅🏽
I was just going to respond with this--these types become emotional black holes for departments. And much of the emotional toll is trying to mentor those affected by the bullshit bullying. In the rearview mirror, so I can see clearly now the impact on productivity and morale.
February 15, 2026 at 6:05 PM
Reposted by Needhi Bhalla 💅🏽
Menopause is a chapter in women’s lives that brings a myriad of sometimes debilitating medical issues that can last for more than a decade. It’s an area of medicine that for years has been overlooked and underfunded. (from 2025) https://to.pbs.org/3PFuQgE
How a decades-old study gave hormone therapy for menopause a bad reputation
Menopause is a chapter in women’s lives that brings a myriad of sometimes debilitating medical issues that can last for more than a decade. It’s an area of medicine that for years has been overlooked ...
to.pbs.org
February 15, 2026 at 6:02 PM
Reposted by Needhi Bhalla 💅🏽
"I was shocked. At the beginning, I didn't believe it."
Bad Bunny bought out this Palo Alto restaurant after the Super Bowl
"I was shocked. At the beginning, I didn't believe it."
bit.ly
February 15, 2026 at 6:00 PM
Reposted by Needhi Bhalla 💅🏽
i’ll end this little brainstorm by just asking what it is, exactly, that the MAGA right likes about the United States, since it explicitly rejects those things that make this nation distinctive — its pluralism, its revolutionary heritage and egalitarian aspirations, and its republican institutions
February 15, 2026 at 1:49 AM
Can we start using “Epstein class” to describe scientists? 🤔
What I’m seeing in some of the Epstein revelations about well known scientists who maintained contact after his conviction, is folks who always thought they were the smartest person in any room, sure they could shrewdly navigate a route that gets them what they want without getting dirty themselves.
February 15, 2026 at 5:57 PM
Reposted by Needhi Bhalla 💅🏽
"faculty violinist Stephanie Arado, who had been invited to perform, chose a solo violin piece and made a customized outfit that featured the phrase “The evil must end now” and “ICE OUT”.…the university police escorted Arado from the building as if she were a danger to campus safety."
February 15, 2026 at 5:39 PM
Reposted by Needhi Bhalla 💅🏽
February 15, 2026 at 1:59 PM
Reposted by Needhi Bhalla 💅🏽
February 15, 2026 at 2:42 PM
Reposted by Needhi Bhalla 💅🏽
Big album cover energy, I’m thinking prog rock
February 15, 2026 at 5:46 PM
Reposted by Needhi Bhalla 💅🏽
“This is the Epstein Administration.”
Massie: "Donald Trump told us that even though he had dinner with these people in NYC and West Palm Beach, that he would be transparent. But he's not. He's still in with the Epstein class. This is the Epstein administration."
February 15, 2026 at 4:21 PM
Reposted by Needhi Bhalla 💅🏽
The pace at which US wealth concentration is rising is simply staggering

The concentration of AI wealth into the hands of a few tech barons + plutocratic capture ==> unchartered territory
February 15, 2026 at 2:47 PM
Reposted by Needhi Bhalla 💅🏽
place near me started serving it and i am *extremely pleased* by this outcome
February 15, 2026 at 5:37 PM
Reposted by Needhi Bhalla 💅🏽
This is how you do it.
This city is home to people of countless faiths. But no matter what you believe, one thing unites us: we are all New Yorkers. We will not allow ICE to terrorize our neighbors.

youtu.be/uoU9Img_B40
Welcome The Stranger
YouTube video by NYC Mayor's Office
youtu.be
February 15, 2026 at 5:26 PM
Reposted by Needhi Bhalla 💅🏽
The John Wick series is so effective because it fully embodies the three major tenets of dumb guy fantasy: 1. being able to kick anyone’s ass, 2. living by a code of honor, and 3. paying for things with gold coins
February 15, 2026 at 1:32 PM