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Katherine Brown @katherine-brown.bsky.social · Sep 8

I understand the regulatory hurdles, and the importance of respecting individual choices, but surely we can do better than this to provide vital material to support research that should - amongst other things - improve the outcome of IVF treatments in the long term.

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Katherine Brown @katherine-brown.bsky.social · Sep 8

As someone who cares deeply about advancing our understanding of human dev, and who's been through IVF myself, I found this stat particularly depressing: "In the UK alone, more than 170,000 embryos were discarded in 2019, yet fewer than 1% – a total of only 675 embryos – were donated to research"

Frozen potential: embryo research at the crossroads of ethics, regulation and scientific opportunity

Katherine Brown @katherine-brown.bsky.social · Sep 8

Just out in @dev-journal.bsky.social - important discussion on the availability of human embryos for research. Thanks @marta-shahbazi.bsky.social and co-authors for contributing this: journals.biologists.com/dev/article/...

ABSTRACT. In an era of expanding reproductive possibilities, the human embryo has come to represent both immense potential and profound constraint. Advances in medically assisted reproduction (MAR) ha...

Harvard University lays off fly database team

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Reposted by Katherine Brown

the Node @the-node.bsky.social · Sep 4

👋Introducing Ingrid - the new Reviews Editor for @dev-journal.bsky.social

thenode.biologists.com/introducing-...

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Katherine Brown @katherine-brown.bsky.social · Aug 27

Congratulations Richard and all - fabulous news!

Katherine Brown @katherine-brown.bsky.social · Aug 14

As a former fly pusher, this news hits hard: FlyBase is such a critical resource for the community. My thoughts are with the dedicated individuals at Harvard whose jobs have been cut, and the broader FlyBase team whose future is in question.

Dr Sian Gramates @drglam.bsky.social · Aug 13

News via The Transmitter www.thetransmitter.org/community/ha...

The layoffs jeopardize this resource, which has served more than 4,000 labs for about three decades.

www.thetransmitter.org

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Katherine Brown @katherine-brown.bsky.social · Aug 12

@danielgorelick.bsky.social is trying an experiment at @biologyopen.bsky.social @biologists.bsky.social at the moment - details on the trial so far here: journals.biologists.com/bio/pages/fa...

Biology Open | The Company of Biologists

Biology Open | The Company of Biologists Fast & Fair peer review A new initiative offering high-quality peer review within 7 working days of submission Biology Open (BiO) has embark...

Improving Oversight of Federal Grantmaking

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Katherine Brown @katherine-brown.bsky.social · Aug 7

Well this feels pretty terrifying.

Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · Aug 7

Well, this is a huge Executive Order power grab...

www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...

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By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, and to improve the process of Federal

www.whitehouse.gov

Community Manager, the Node - the Node

Katherine Brown @katherine-brown.bsky.social · Aug 5

Great opportunity to join the team here at @biologists.bsky.social. Feel free to get in touch with me or @amjeve.bsky.social for more information

the Node @the-node.bsky.social · Aug 5

Would you like to be the Node’s new Community Manager?

If you're interested in #SciComm and passionate about #DevBio, apply to join the @dev-journal.bsky.social & @biologists.bsky.social team.

Find out more about what the role entails: bit.ly/4otQ2GL

#JobOpportunity

The Company of Biologists and its journal Development are seeking to appoint a new Community Manager to run its successful community website ‘the Node’ and the journal’s social media activities. Launc...

thenode.biologists.com

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Katherine Brown @katherine-brown.bsky.social · Jul 30

Yup - these are challenging times for small and society publishers...

Alejandro Montenegro @aemonten.bsky.social · Jul 30

"Without urgent collaborative action, we risk losing the very publishers where society expertise and community connections are most valuable."

And yes, OA mandates have played a major role here...

scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2025/07/30/g...

Guest Post - Society Publishers at a Crossroads: New Evidence of an Accelerating Crisis - The Scholarly Kitchen

A recent survey of 66 learned societies (primarily in the UK) revealed a revenue crisis which threatens the very existence of community-driven publishing, and by extension learned societies themselves...

scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org

Katherine Brown @katherine-brown.bsky.social · Jul 30

Thinking about to some more, they won’t need to resort to legal avenues - they just won’t publish your paper until you’ve paid them the APC.

Katherine Brown @katherine-brown.bsky.social · Jul 29

Which works (from the publisher perspective if not the author one) until NIH introduce the threatened APC cap. Impossible to plan when policies keep changing…!

Katherine Brown @katherine-brown.bsky.social · Jul 29

It’s a good question - it’d be terrible PR for them to pursue this legally - but fortunately not one I have to worry about as we’re offering a free route to compliance! But I also suspect that many authors won’t want to risk their relationship with the publisher so will go down the GoldOA route.

Katherine Brown @katherine-brown.bsky.social · Jul 29

Yes but not all publishers allow this - some are insisting that NIH-funded authors choose their gold OA route (pay an APC or have an institutional R&P agreement) to comply.

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Katherine Brown @katherine-brown.bsky.social · Jul 29

This is a useful summary of how some major publishers are responding to the new NIH policy. We've just updated our policies at @biologists.bsky.social: @dev-journal.bsky.social @jcellsci.bsky.social and @jexpbiol.bsky.social will allow authors to deposit the accepted version with zero embargo.

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Katherine Brown @katherine-brown.bsky.social · Jul 3

Seconded. Ethan is one of @dev-journal.bsky.social's Pathway to Independence fellows this year, and - on top of his great research programme - has been super-active in the @prelights.bsky.social community.

Oded Rechavi @odedrechavi.bsky.social · Jul 2

@ethanewe.bsky.social is on the job market and you want him as your colleague! On top of everything that he already published he also has a few especially amazing papers in the works... (soon!)

Teresa Lee @snickclunk.bsky.social · Jul 1

#worm25 is greatly missing the enthusiasm of @ethanewe.bsky.social at this meeting! He gave a great virtual talk this morning, featuring a hot-off-the-presses story from his postdoc in the Rechavi lab. 🤩
He's also applying for faculty jobs this cycle, so keep an eye out for his application! 🙌

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Katherine Brown @katherine-brown.bsky.social · Jul 2

I got varifocals last year and haven't looked back. Embrace the old!

Katherine Brown @katherine-brown.bsky.social · Jul 1

Yup - and a super-brave move that’s revolutionised the publishing process for the better.

Katherine Brown @katherine-brown.bsky.social · Jul 1

Congratulations Eirini - wonderful news!

Staying ahead of the curve: a decade of preprints in biology

Katherine Brown @katherine-brown.bsky.social · Jul 1

Hard to remember that just 12 years ago there was no @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social and almost no one in the biology community preprinted their work. What a long way we’ve come. @reinierprosee.bsky.social and I wrote a thing about how @biologists.bsky.social embraced the preprint world

When Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory announced the launch of bioRxiv in November 2013, only the braver or more radical amongst us would have predicted that it heralded a lasting change within the scienc...