Cassandra Hayne
@cassandrahayne.bsky.social
2.4K followers 950 following 94 posts
RNA Biochemist, leads the Hayne Lab at UChicago. https://haynelab.com/ R00 NIH/NIGMS MOSAIC scholar Views are my own (she/her)
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Reposted by Cassandra Hayne
erinrgreen.bsky.social
Job alert ‼️ UChicago Micro is hiring! Open to tenured/tenure track faculty at all levels in any area of microbiology. Come join our amazing and growing department. apply.interfolio.com/174404
Reposted by Cassandra Hayne
mollyschumer.bsky.social
What are people using for calling m6A from pacbio revio data? This is for analysis of fiberseq library. Any suggestions appreciated, we are newbies with m6A analysis!
cassandrahayne.bsky.social
I feel this way about cloning too. If you take the time to do the experiment correctly, you will usually succeed.
Reposted by Cassandra Hayne
magnoliabouton.bsky.social
Listed are some of the many NIH research training programs that were terminated! Together, these programs supported thousands of trainees, whose careers are now in limbo. Such a great loss for discovery and innovation. We must protect our next generation of scientists!
#HandsOffNIH #ProtectScience
27unihted.bsky.social
We LOVE our trainees ! From @nihvigils.bsky.social today ❤️❤️
Reposted by Cassandra Hayne
harmitmalik.bsky.social
It bears repeating that nearly the entire US enterprise in science and technology has been irreversibly gutted. This is shocking.

All this loss has occurred without any real benefit to the average US citizen. Except we now have the biggest, best funded secret police force perhaps ever.

Yay for us!
cassandrahayne.bsky.social
Yes. There are a few gems that seem fairly consistent, like conicals, but most is much more.
I calculated that about 14% of our purchases are “luxury” consumables that we could acquire cheaper. Precast gels, commercial cloning (probably cheaper than in-house), premade buffers.
cassandrahayne.bsky.social
I’ve had a lab for less than 3yrs. In that time the costs of many science reagents have grown faster than inflation. I ordered an antibody today that I paid $383 for in 2023- today with a good promotion, I paid $467. Tariffs on top of that.
Other easy examples:
Grids are up about 30%
Gloves up 25%
Reposted by Cassandra Hayne
altnih4science.bsky.social
Hearing that all 27 NIH institutes have been instructed to stop using "paylines" in funding decisions starting Oct 1. Order issued in the last 48 hours.

Using paylines means scientific peer reviewers control funding decisions.
Removing them allows more political interference. 🧪
1/
Jay Bhattacharya in a hot dog suit. We are all looking for the people who did this
Reposted by Cassandra Hayne
27unihted.bsky.social
A joint statement with @savehealthresearch.bsky.social on the supreme courts decision today that will pave the way for hundreds of millions of dollars in NIH grant terminations. We are heartbroken and stand with the extramural community during this devastating time.
Reposted by Cassandra Hayne
jcellsci.bsky.social
Why would anyone want to be a scientist?

Check out our new Essay from Martin Schwartz: journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/...
Screenshot of Essay from Martin Schwartz on 'Why would anyone want to be a scientist'. An anniversary article from The Company of Biologists published in Journal of Cell Science.

The first few lines are: It is difficult to fathom why anyone intelligent enough to be a scientist would actually choose to be one. Doing good science requires the utmost exertion of body, mind and spirit, yet is consistently filled with failure and rejection. But, strange even to myself, I not only don't question the unfavorable risk-to-reward ratio but consider myself astonishingly lucky to be a scientist. There are three fundamental pleasures that have sustained me through 50 years of this madness.
cassandrahayne.bsky.social
Annnnd… hoping people actually read them.
Reposted by Cassandra Hayne
tanentzapflab.bsky.social
I think a good rule of thumb is to spend at least as much time thinking about your data as you did obtaining it. It's common for people to spend a lot less time thinking than doing which gives rise to all kinds of problems.
Reposted by Cassandra Hayne
ryanmarino.bsky.social
There’s a nonzero chance you will die from a cancer that could have been curable because people who couldn’t pass 7th grade biology and are scared of things like “mRNA” and “riboflavin” and “walkable cities” decided to make their ignorance everybody else’s problem
standupforscience.bsky.social
Over 120 mRNA cancer trials are now at risk as the Trump admin cuts funding & tells researchers to scrub “mRNA” from grant proposals.

What started as COVID fearmongering is now derailing life-saving cancer research.

Hope remains - but scientists say time is running out.

zurl.co/YBGNy
‘Tremendous uncertainty’ for cancer research as US officials target mRNA vaccines
Amid Trump cuts and state-level backlash, experts worry that progress in messenger RNA vaccines could stall
zurl.co
Reposted by Cassandra Hayne
deniswirtz.bsky.social
Grant terminations have grabbed the headlines and have seen legal action, but even more damaging to the US research enterprise has been the massive decrease in number of research grants issued by federal agencies

NIH has seen a decrease of 57% in the number of awards & 63% in value compared to FY24
Reposted by Cassandra Hayne
peiferlabunc.bsky.social
A big thanks to NC Sen. Thom Tillis for being the first signature on this bipartisan letter urging the Senate to maintain a strong commitment to funding for NIH in the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education FY 2026 Appropriations bill. Is your Senator here?
www.aamc.org/research/adh...
text in the link
Reposted by Cassandra Hayne
Reposted by Cassandra Hayne
donmoyn.bsky.social
*International students represent about 15% of all higher ed students.
*They subsidize US students, so expect domestic student costs to increase
*Trump complains about tariffs but he is destroying an industry where the US is a huge net exporter
www.nytimes.com/2025/05/23/u...
Higher education is, effectively, a major American export — and one where the foreign students consuming it do so in American communities, also spending money on housing, groceries and books there. More than 1.1 million international students contributed about $43 billion to the U.S. economy during the 2023-24 academic year, most of it on tuition and housing, according to an analysis by NAFSA, a nonprofit association of international educators.
cassandrahayne.bsky.social
Excited to be headed to San Diego for my first *in person* RNA Society meeting. ☀️
Looking forward to great science and time with great scientists.
See you there #RNASociety #RNASky
Reposted by Cassandra Hayne
maxkozlov.bsky.social
Who's calling the shots at NIH?

Sworn testimonies and internal e-mails reveal for the first time the breadth of DOGE's control over the world's largest public biomedical funder.

DOGE has provided lists of hundreds of grants to cut, and DOGE is now reviewing ALL NIH awards before they're released
NIH killed grants on orders from Elon Musk’s DOGE
Court documents and internal correspondence show the cost-cutting force has broad control over the world’s largest public biomedical funder.
www.nature.com
cassandrahayne.bsky.social
Congrats Max, Stephanie et al!
prelights.bsky.social
ISR alone won’t cut it: stalled ribosomes block stress granule formation despite ISR activation.

Mohammed Jalloh highlights a #preprint from the Moon lab.

#preLight ⬇️👀
prelights.biologists.com/highlights/t...

#translation #MolecularBiology #biochemistry
tRNA synthetase activity is required for stress granule and P-body assembly - preLights
ISR alone won’t cut it: stalled ribosomes block stress granule formation despite ISR activation.
prelights.biologists.com