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Reposted by Jessica Stark

The New York Times @nytimes.com · 24d

“It will take decades to recover from this, if we ever do.” America’s cancer research system, which has helped save millions of lives and is in one of its most productive moments, is under threat by the Trump administration.

Trump Is Shutting Down the War On Cancer

America’s cancer research system, which has helped save millions of lives, is under threat in one of its most productive moments.

nyti.ms

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Reposted by Jessica Stark

Madhu Pai, MD, PhD @madhupai.bsky.social · Sep 7

Wow!

Covid vaccine development and delivery cost $79.4 billion, but the health and economic benefits of vaccination were valued between $4.83 trillion–$37.8 trillion.

A return on investment of $59.8–$475 per dollar invested!!

This is why vaccine equity matters!

www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...

The global return-on-investment of COVID-19 vaccines in the first year of the vaccination programme

COVID-19 vaccines played a critical role in reducing global health burden during the COVID-19 pandemic, but their rapid development required extraordinary effort. This study aims to evaluate their glo...

www.medrxiv.org

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Reposted by Jessica Stark

WHO @who.int · Aug 28

#ThrowbackThursday: In 1980 the 🌍🌎🌏 was declared #smallpox free, thanks to mass vaccination efforts.

Smallpox was an acute contagious disease caused by the variola virus. It was one of the most devastating diseases known to humanity. #VaccinesWork

World Health: The Magazine of the World Health Organization. May 1980. smallpox is dead!

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Jessica Stark @jcstark.bsky.social · Aug 24

"The ideas and technologies that are being destroyed today, ... some of them irreversibly, those are the cures that would have been present 20 years from now."
"It’s people who will get cancer in 10, 20, or 30 years who will really pay the price for these cuts."

www.nytimes.com/2025/08/24/o...

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

www.nytimes.com

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Jessica Stark @jcstark.bsky.social · Jul 8

Congrats @kamphorstlab.bsky.social !! 🍾

Reposted by Jessica Stark

Carolyn Bertozzi @carolynbertozzi.bskyverified.social · Jun 13

Spending a few days with intramural researcher at NIH has me thinking about the old Bell Labs, the storied research institute where major breakthroughs in physics, chemistry and mat sci (and associated @nobelprize.bsky.social awards) were made in the 70s-80s 1/n

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Jessica Stark @jcstark.bsky.social · Jun 13

Fantastic news - congrats, Judith! 🍾

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Reposted by Jessica Stark

Waggoner Lab @labwaggoner.bsky.social · Jun 13

Federal science cuts aren’t just halting medical research or disrupting clinical trials. They are already costing us $8.1 billion and 35,000 jobs. The projected loss is $16 billion and 68,000 jobs every year. This reaches every corner of America.
scienceimpacts.org

SCIMaP - Impacts of Federal Cuts to Science and Medical Research

Developed by an interdisciplinary research team, this website shows how funding cuts reduce economic activity and employment nationwide

scienceimpacts.org

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Jessica Stark @jcstark.bsky.social · Jun 10

Fantastic news - congrats! 🍾

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Reposted by Jessica Stark

Science Magazine @science.org · Jun 9

“As the Trump administration continues to drastically defund and dismantle basic science in America, the United States is presenting other countries with opportunities to take the lead …” writes H. Holden Thorp in a new #ScienceEditorial. scim.ag/43R82B5

"The United States will no longer have the same window into the technologies of the future ... " - H. Holden Thorpe, Editor-in-chief, Science journals

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Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · Jun 9

Sign on in support of the #BethesdaDeclaration

actionnetwork.org/forms/add-na...

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ADD YOUR NAME: Sign the Open Letter in Support of NIH Staff

Join the courageous and committed National Institutes of Health (NIH) public servants by adding your name now.

actionnetwork.org

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Reposted by Jessica Stark

Eric Topol @erictopol.bsky.social · Jun 4

The gutting of US biomedical research with loss of ~2,500 grants affecting research for cancer, Alzheimer’s, infectious disease, global health and much more
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

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Reposted by Jessica Stark

Eric Topol @erictopol.bsky.social · Jun 2

Where was this important 1st randomized trial performed?
China
Where are 8 of the 10 most productive research institutions in the world as of March 2025?
China
nature.com/nature-index...
What country is radically defunding research and will lose its competitiveness?
USA

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Jessica Stark @jcstark.bsky.social · May 30

MIT ACCESS is an opportunity for undergraduates to explore cutting-edge research and graduate education in science and engineering. See for yourself what grad life is like at MIT!

Applications open June 1: access.mit.edu
@mitdeptofbe.bsky.social @mitcheme.bsky.social @mitchemistry.bsky.social

MIT ACCESS – Opening doors and promoting diversity in science and engineering

access.mit.edu

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Reposted by Jessica Stark

Jon Levy @jonlevybu.bsky.social · May 15

On a day when all research grants at Harvard were terminated, and in a context where Congress seems to broadly accept the notion that destroying science and health research in the US is fine, it’s worth noting that this is not what the public wants.

Jacquelyn Gill @jacquelyngill.bsky.social · May 14

The American public is broadly supportive of maintaining federal science and medical research funding, and against punishing universities by taking their funding away, according to a new poll:

Few support punitive funding cuts to colleges and universities - AP-NORC

Most of the public believes that colleges and universities make significant contributions to scientific and technological advancement and think their federal research funding should be maintained.

apnorc.org

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Reposted by Jessica Stark

MIT Koch Institute @mitkochinstitute.bsky.social · May 13

Go beyond the ABCs of ADCs! Join us for the 23rd Annual @kochinstitute Symposium on Antibody Drug Conjugates, June 27th! Our keynote speaker is Nobel-prize winner @carolynbertozzi.bskyverified.social of @stanford.edu & an array of industry and academic leaders. Register: mit-ki.org/4lfoxiz

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Reposted by Jessica Stark

Paul Offit @pauloffit.bsky.social · May 12

youtu.be/aXdoExz_cd4?...
The anti-vaccine movement has been so successful that children are now dying from preventable infections.

Beyond the Noise #64: Anti-vaxxers, the dog that caught the car

YouTube video by MicrobeTV

youtu.be

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Jessica Stark @jcstark.bsky.social · May 5

Yes!! 🍾🥂 Congrats, Bryan!

Jessica Stark @jcstark.bsky.social · Apr 16

Enjoyed discussing the interface of glycobiology and immunology with @mitcheme.bsky.social colleague Brandon Dekosky on The Chain podcast. Looking forward to sharing our work at #PEGSummit next month!
@mitdeptofbe.bsky.social @mitkochinstitute.bsky.social
www.healthtech.com/the-chain/pe...

Episode 71 PEGS Young Scientist Keynote Jessica Stark on the Role of Glycans in Cancer Research

April 15, 2025 | In this episode of The Chain, host Brandon DeKosky, associate professor, speaks with MIT colleague Jessica Stark, Underwood-Prescott career development professor, about glycans and wh...

www.healthtech.com

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Jessica Stark @jcstark.bsky.social · Apr 14

Great summary of last month's senate forum on what cuts to NIH funding mean for Americans: fewer treatments and fewer cures for diseases that collectively affect us all. Worth the ~12 min watch!

Image shows the title slide from video linked in quoted post that summarizes the March 26 senate forum titled “Cures in Crisis: What Gutting NIH Research Means for Americans with Cancer, Alzheimer’s, and Other Diseases"

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Jessica Stark @jcstark.bsky.social · Apr 9

Yesterday we celebrated @mitdeptofbe.bsky.social PhD student Brian Cho, who received an honorable mention in this year's #NSFGRFP competition. Brian's work promises to shed new light on the adaptive immune response to glycans and glycoproteins. Congratulations! 🍾

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Jessica Stark @jcstark.bsky.social · Apr 8

Congrats, Nick!! 🍾

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Reposted by Jessica Stark

Voices for Vaccines @voices4vaccines.bsky.social · Apr 5

"The vaccine provides close to 100% protection against infections and pre-cancers caused by certain types of HPV. That is remarkable."

Effective cancer prevention. www.voicesforvaccines.org/hpv-vaccine-...

HPV Vaccine is Cancer Prevention

A couple of years ago I was waiting in a clinic to see my physician for a normal well check. When a nurse I had never met came in to check my vitals, she started with small talk. “How are you doing…

www.voicesforvaccines.org

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Reposted by Jessica Stark

Edward Nirenberg @enirenberg.bsky.social · Mar 29

Peter Marks’s resignation letter. Everyone should read this.

Peter Marks, MD, PhD
Director, Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research U.S. Food and Drug Administration
10903 New Hampshire Avenue
Silver Spring, MD 20903
March 28, 2025
Sara Brenner, MD, MPH
Acting Commissioner of Food and Drugs
U.S. Food and Drug Administration
10903 New Hampshire Avenue
Silver Spring, MD 20903
Dear Dr. Brenner:
It is with a heavy heart that I have decided to resign from FDA and retire from federal service as Director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research effective April 5, 2025. I leave behind a staff of professionals who are undoubtedly the most devoted to protecting and promoting the public health of any group of people that I have encountered during my four decades working in the public and private sectors. I have always done my best to advocate for their well-being and I would ask that you do the same during this very difficult time during which their critical importance to the safety and security of our nation may be underappreciated.
Over the past years I have been involved in enhancing the safety of our nation's blood supply, in advancing the field of cell and gene therapy, and in responding to public health emergencies. In the last of these, during the COVID-19 pandemic I had the privilege of watching the vision that I conceived for Operation Warp Speed in March 2020 in collaboration with Dr. Robert Kadlec become a reality under the leadership of HHS Secretary Azar and President Trump due to the unwavering commitment of public servants at FDA and elsewhere across the government. At FDA, the tireless efforts of staff across the agency resulted in remarkably expediting the development of vaccines against the virus, meeting the standards for quality, safety, and effectiveness expected by the American public. The vaccines undoubtedly markedly reduced morbidity and mortality from COVID-19 in the United States and elsewhere. Many of these same individuals applied learnings from the pandemic during a flawless response helping…

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Jessica Stark @jcstark.bsky.social · Mar 18

Awesome work, congrats!!

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