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Mary Munson

@marymunson4.bsky.social

4.7K followers 6.4K following 150 posts

Multidisciplinary research at UMass Chan focused on membrane trafficking. Striving to make academic science a more diverse, equitable, welcoming and inclusive place. President of the American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB). Opinions are mine (she/her)

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Mary Munson @marymunson4.bsky.social · Nov 25

My lab at UMass Chan Med School uses a variety of approaches to elucidate the molecular mechanisms of membrane traffic. Striving to make academic science a more diverse, equitable, welcoming and inclusive place. Incoming President for the American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB)! Opinions are mine.

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The Company of Biologists @biologists.bsky.social · Aug 27

Our first extraordinary biologist featured this week is Jennifer Lippincott-Schwartz, a @jcellsci.bsky.social Editor, @focalplane.bsky.social Scientific Advisory Board member and plenary speaker at the Biologists @ 100 conference. #biologists100 #100biologists

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The Company of Biologists @biologists.bsky.social · 6d

We are highlighting Cathy Jackson, @biologyopen.bsky.social Deputy Editor and an Editorial Advisory Board member at @jcellsci.bsky.social, as an extraordinary biologist this week. #100biologists @ijmonod.bsky.social

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The Company of Biologists @biologists.bsky.social · 5d

Our next extraordinary biologist is Mark Peifer, recent @biologists.bsky.social Director and a prolific author, having published in @dev-journal.bsky.social, @jcellsci.bsky.social and @biologyopen.bsky.social. #100biologists
@peiferlabunc.bsky.social

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Daryl Jason Verzosa David @djdavid.bsky.social · 9d

Sept 2025 marks 4 years after I joined @natcellbio.nature.com & 7.5+ years since starting editorial at @natcomms.nature.com !
To mark this occasion, I’ll highlight 5 pieces that I’ve had the privilege to help shepherd to publication. (a thread for today/tomorrow)
Bonus Pic of me as a baby editor .

Me standing beside a Springer Nature Berlin Bear. At our Springer Nature Office.

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Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 7d

So what are the bottom lines?

First, a HUGE thank you to NIH staff (particularly grants management specialists but program officers and others as well) for getting this work done in a compressed period with many other stressors.

29/n

a cartoon of a person making a heart with their hands and the words thank you so much

ALT: a cartoon of a person making a heart with their hands and the words thank you so much

media.tenor.com

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Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 7d

The fiscal year is over.

So how was the NIH appropriation committed?

A long thread with institute by institute results about where the money went.

a white cat is sitting on a box with the words where written on it .

ALT: a white cat is sitting on a box with the words where written on it .

media.tenor.com

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Jenna Norton @jenna-m-norton.bsky.social · 5d

That’s a lot of science we left on the table.

Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 7d

Here is NIDDK

61% as many new R01s in FY25 as in FY24.

17/n

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christoph_STCmicrobeblog @christophstc.bsky.social · 5d

luckily, there are alternatives to PubMed, see libguides.exeter.ac.uk/c.php?g=7252...

LibGuides: Alternatives to United States NLM Resources: Databases which use PubMed

libguides.exeter.ac.uk

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Oded Rechavi @odedrechavi.bsky.social · 5d

Friday Papers Club! 🍿In light of Pubmed going down, the collapse of social media, and my recent success at getting recommendations for interesting papers from those still around, I am starting a new tradition! - Recommend a good scientific manuscript! 👇

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Rebecca Solnit @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social · 10d

My dearest wife,

It is week two of the Siege of Portland, and still these barbarians will not yield to our troops. We have severed the cords of their latte machines but they are making cowboy coffee in their camps, where loud ukulele songs of resistance even now drift in on the breeze.

Letter from the Portland War Front (humor about something deadly serious)

My dearest wife, It is week two of the Siege of Portland, and still these barbarians will not yield to our troops. We have severed the cords of their latte machines but they are making cowboy coffee ...

www.meditationsinanemergency.com

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Katie Mack @astrokatie.com · 10d

Just to recap, the actual president found an AI-generated video of a fake news report depicting a fake announcement about an imaginary healthcare system based on a technology that doesn’t exist and posted it on his official social media account

Tim Onion @bencollins.bsky.social · 10d

This was always the funniest conspiracy theory to me — that there are MRI machine-like devices that can cure all known illnesses in seconds, but the government has been hiding them — and Trump just posted an AI generated video of himself announcing they're real. We're cooked!

Alex Kaplan @alkapdc.bsky.social · 10d

Trump tonight appears to have pushed the false "medbed" conspiracy theory, which has spread in the far-right internet over the years. www.yahoo.com/news/qanon-c...

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Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 10d

A new email to Director Bhattacharya this morning.

1/n

Dear Director Bhattacharya:

I listened to more of your conversation with Glenn Beck. You made a number of statements that are false and misleading. You have considerable responsibilities in your current position and need to live up to them.

You dismiss critics of President Trump's comments at the press conference by saying:

"I think the key point here is something called "Trump Derangement Syndrome".

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Kif Liakath-Ali @kifla.bsky.social · 13d

Null & negative results ≠ failure. They’re essential—but still sidelined.

Proud to co-author this @plosbiology.org paper tackling systemic bias & calling for culture change.

ECRs pay the highest price for this biased culture!

Blog by @scurry.bsky.social tinyurl.com/ysc23wrx

#PublicationBias

Ending publication bias: A values-based approach to surface null and negative results

Sharing knowledge is a fundamental principle within the scientific community, yet null and negative results are still being underreported. This Consensus View discusses the problem of such publication...

journals.plos.org

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Jess Calarco @jessicacalarco.com · 13d

For their first project, my Kids and Society students have to create an infographic clarifying a common misconception about "kids these days." I'd prefer that they not use AI to create their projects, so I made my own infographic explaining why : )

Infographic titled "AI Isn't a Ticket To an A," explaining how chatbots work, what the data show about the prevalence of these technologies and how they're used, what we know about the quality of their output, and what we know about the impact that frequent use of these technologies has on their users and on content creators, low-wage workers, and the environment.

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Mary Munson @marymunson4.bsky.social · 14d

Grateful to @stephencurryuk.bsky.social and the other participants in this terrific workshop focused on how to combat our bias against publishing negative data (so important!) 👇

Stephen Curry @scurry.bsky.social · 14d

Let's get negative about scholarly publishing – a new paper (first in a long time for me!) on proposals to tackle the problem of publication bias that emerged from a NINDS workshop held in May last year.
occamstypewriter.org/scurry/2025/... [Direct link to paper: journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

Let’s get negative about scholarly publishing | Reciprocal Space

occamstypewriter.org

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Bethany Brookshire @beebrookshire.bsky.social · 16d

Some people think ChatGPT has a place writing things like news briefs, stuff written to a specific style and tone and, y'know, kinda boring.

So Science did a study.

ChatGPT failed.

Why? It got stuff wrong. "Also, extensive editing for hyperbole was needed." www.science.org/content/blog...

Can ChatGPT help science writers?

www.science.org

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Roxane Gay @roxanegay.bsky.social · 16d

I cannot tell you how grim the AI in higher ed situation is. Many of the students have completely surrendered to letting AI do their homework, badly, I might add. How do you fix this? Truly, what the hell do we do, beyond what grading can address, which isn't a solution?

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Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 16d

Updated funding curve (with two weeks to go in the fiscal year)

(Posted on jeremymberg.github.io/jeremyberg.g... )

A graph showing NIH grant funding for fiscal years 2015-2024 and 2025 showing that fiscal year 2025 was lagging behind the pace from other years, but has been catching up in July and August.

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Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · 16d

Yet again, machine learning — even gussied up via the transformer architecture — encodes and reinforces societal biases.

This study reveals that LLM-based peer review relies heavily on author institution in its decisions.

arxiv.org/abs/2509.15122

Prestige over merit: An adapted audit of LLM bias in peer review

Large language models (LLMs) are playing an increasingly integral, though largely informal, role in scholarly peer review. Yet it remains unclear whether LLMs reproduce the biases observed in human de...

arxiv.org

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American Society for Cell Biology @ascbiology.bsky.social · 19d

From MBoC: Wallace F. Marshall (UCSF) and team profile the giant ciliate Stentor pyriformis—symbiotic algae in microtubule baskets, symbiont-dependent phototaxis, and a standard genetic code. Paper: www.molbiolcell.org/doi/10.1091/... #CellBiology

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Dr. Lucky Tran @luckytran.com · 20d

One of the first actions the Northeast Public Health Collaborative has taken is to issue their own COVID vaccination recommendations, based on professional medical societies.

coronavirus.health.ny.gov/system/files...

NORTHEAST PUBLIC HEALTH COLLABORATIVE
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE 2025-2026 COVID-19 VACCINE ver: 9/15/2025
Vaccination against COVID-19 is recommended for all children 6-23 months
All children ages 6-23 months should be vaccinated.
Recommendations for vaccination against COVID-19 for children 2-18 years
Children and adolescents ages 2-18 years who fall within one of the following subgroups should be vaccinated:
o At high risk for severe COVID-19 (Table 1)
o Living in a long-term care facility or other congregate setting
o Have never been vaccinated against COVID-19
o Whose household members are at high risk for severe COVID-19
Healthy children and adolescents 2 - 18 years, who do not fall into the categories above, may be vaccinated.
Vaccination against COVID-19 is recommended for all adults 19-64 years
All adults 19-64 years are recommended to be vaccinated against COVID-19. This includes the following groups of
adults 19-64 years who should be vaccinated:
• Persons with risk factors for severe COVID-19 disease (e.g., chronic conditions, immunocompromised
status)
• Persons at higher risk of exposure (e.g., healthcare workers, congregate care settings)
• Persons who are who are household contacts of persons at high risk of severe disease
Vaccination against COVID-19 is recommended for all adults 65 years or older
All adults 65 years and older should be vaccinated.
Vaccination against COVID-19 is recommended for all pregnant persons
People who are pregnant, contemplating pregnancy or have recently been pregnant and those who are lactating
should be vaccinated.
o Vaccination may occur in any trimester.
o For lactating individuals, there is no need to stop or delay breastfeeding.
o There is no need to delay pregnancy following a COVID-19 vaccine.
Immunocompromised individuals should have a conversation with their primary care provider about additional
doses needed.

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Dr. Lucky Tran @luckytran.com · 20d

Press release:

Several Northeastern States and America’s Largest City Announce the Northeast Public Health Collaborative - NYC Health

www.nyc.gov

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Dr. Lucky Tran @luckytran.com · 20d

IT'S OFFICIAL: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York State, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and New York City have formed the Northeast Public Health Collaborative.

The collaborative will issue their own vaccine recommendations and coordinate public health efforts.

Map of Regional Public Health Coalitions

Northeast Public Health Collaborative (Blue)

West Coast Health Alliance (Yellow)

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Erin Reed @erininthemorning.com · 24d

1. Trump threatened every hospital that provides gender affirming care to transgender youth.

Many complied and shut down their programs.

Boston Children's Hospital didn't. They fought back and kept providing care.

And now, they just beat Trump in court.

Subscribe to support our journalism.

Boston Children’s Fights Back For Trans Kids: Judge Quashes Trump Subpoena

Around 2,000 BCH employees and untold numbers of patients were targeted by the DOJ. A judge just told them, “No.”

www.erininthemorning.com

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Rachael Sirianni, PhD @docsirianni.bsky.social · 24d

I am not a political pawn. I am a living, breathing human being who has dedicated her life to a scientific problem that I believe matters for human health. The article below tells our story; I hope you will read it and share it www.nytimes.com/2025/09/14/m...

Trump Is Shutting Down the War On Cancer

www.nytimes.com

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