Sebnem Nur Tuncdemir
sebtuncdemir.bsky.social
Sebnem Nur Tuncdemir
@sebtuncdemir.bsky.social
Feminist Atheist Neuroscientist PI @uconnhealth memoryandcognitionlab.org
1/5 in CT 👏https://hayes.house.gov/2025/9/hayes-issues-statement-on-resolution-honoring-charlie-kirk
September 22, 2025 at 12:06 AM
Reposted by Sebnem Nur Tuncdemir
37) We want to thank the NIH for providing federal funding for this work. And we note here that this grant was illegally terminated by the federal administration causing future studies on the manner in which these changes influence human disease risk and birth process to be ended.
August 27, 2025 at 3:13 PM
Reposted by Sebnem Nur Tuncdemir
2020-2024: Jay Bhattacharya says mRNA vaccines are inferior to “natural immunity,” encourages everyone to get Covid, and cashes in by implying vaccines are dangerous & don’t work

2025: Jay Bhattacharya says the public doesn’t trust mRNA vaccines because of all the lies he told them
This op-ed from NIH director Jay Bhattacharya is *infuriating*. He says we have to stop funding mRNA vaccine research because it hasn't "earned public trust." Motherfucker, WHO DID THAT.
Opinion | Jay Bhattacharya: Why the NIH is pivoting away from mRNA vaccines
As a vaccine for broad public use, mRNA technology has failed to earn the public’s trust.
www.washingtonpost.com
August 13, 2025 at 2:52 AM
Reposted by Sebnem Nur Tuncdemir
In preparation of today's mark-up of the NIH appropriations bill in the Senate and other activities, I sent this note to Senator Susan Collins' office.

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July 31, 2025 at 12:58 PM
Reposted by Sebnem Nur Tuncdemir
How is it that the destruction of the National Cancer Institute is nowhere in the news today. People care about cancer research. Why is this not a top story?
July 24, 2025 at 7:04 PM
Rare ray of sunshine coming from NYC🙏
On Friday night, we walked the length of Manhattan, from Inwood Hill to Battery Park.

New Yorkers deserve a Mayor they can see, hear, even yell at. The city is in the streets.
June 23, 2025 at 11:18 PM
Reposted by Sebnem Nur Tuncdemir
Reminder: Nobel-prize winning PCR (1983), used in basically all genetic tech today, was only possible because of extremophile bacterium discovered in 1964 in Yellowstone funded by a small ~$80k NSF grant with no obvious application at the time. #science 🧪
www.richmondscientific.com/how-a-discov...
How a discovery in Yellowstone National Park led to the development of PCR - Richmond Scientific
A discovery in Yellowstone National Park led to the development of PCR, the gold-standard COVID-19 tests used to fight the global pandemic.
www.richmondscientific.com
June 8, 2025 at 9:09 PM
Reposted by Sebnem Nur Tuncdemir
Also: stop having arguments about different %IDC at different places - understand who you are helping by giving them an inch
Scientists,

I am asking us to do something that goes against our nature:

Step away from fine-grained, nuanced arguments. Zoom WAY out. Share the big picture. Don’t soften the seriousness of this moment with “xxx may be ok in xxx circumstances” talk.

It’s uncomfortable AND necessary.
May 25, 2025 at 5:31 PM
Reposted by Sebnem Nur Tuncdemir
Scientists,

I am asking us to do something that goes against our nature:

Step away from fine-grained, nuanced arguments. Zoom WAY out. Share the big picture. Don’t soften the seriousness of this moment with “xxx may be ok in xxx circumstances” talk.

It’s uncomfortable AND necessary.
May 25, 2025 at 3:49 PM
9 Federally Funded Scientific Breakthroughs That Changed Everything www.nytimes.com/2025/05/16/s...
9 Federally Funded Scientific Breakthroughs That Changed Everything
www.nytimes.com
May 18, 2025 at 12:37 AM
Reposted by Sebnem Nur Tuncdemir
Gut wrenching essay about trainees by Daphna Shohamy (Director of Columbia's Zuckerman Neuroscience Institute).

"let’s be clear: It isn’t institutions that are being punished. It’s the researchers who are the future of science in this country ..." 💔

www.statnews.com/2025/05/07/u...
What am I supposed to say to this generation of young scientists?
Undermining the future of American science is not a path to accountability — it’s a path to decline.
www.statnews.com
May 7, 2025 at 4:20 PM
Reposted by Sebnem Nur Tuncdemir
The updated table 6a doesn’t require GPA info for training grants anymore. So you can stop with the whole rejecting students b/c you don’t want to hurt your T32 chances BS now….
April 28, 2025 at 9:44 PM
Reposted by Sebnem Nur Tuncdemir
Watch out, Turkey!

Pikachu made an appearance at the Hands Off! protest in Washington, D.C.

🤣
April 5, 2025 at 7:46 PM
Reposted by Sebnem Nur Tuncdemir
Am completing my R01 progress report and for this question…I really want to answer “the dissolving of the NIH as we know it will be a significant hurdle and impede my research”. Resolution? Stop firing everyone!
April 2, 2025 at 9:12 PM
He is following the playbook of countless other authoritarians. Gotta keep an eye on this👀
President Trump did not rule out the possibility of seeking a third term in the White House, which is prohibited by the Constitution under the 22nd Amendment, saying in an exclusive interview with NBC News that there were methods for doing so and clarifying that he was “not joking.”
Trump won’t rule out seeking a third term in the White House, tells NBC News ‘there are methods’ for doing so
President Donald Trump said in a Sunday-morning phone call that he was “not joking” about a third term, adding that “it is far too early to think about it.”
nbcnews.to
March 30, 2025 at 11:00 PM
Reposted by Sebnem Nur Tuncdemir
Trump has cut the NIH budget by more than half in defiance of Congressionally mandated appropriations for the agency. No comparison historically, not even the Great Recession. This is clearly not legal and Congress needs to address it.
March 30, 2025 at 5:12 PM
Reposted by Sebnem Nur Tuncdemir
A dynamic gene regulatory code drives synaptic development of hippocampal granule cells https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.03.27.645686v1
March 29, 2025 at 10:15 AM
Reposted by Sebnem Nur Tuncdemir
These days Plan B packs are very cost effective. Just a few dollars and the last for something like 4 years - something that should be in most medicine cabinets, to use or share.
Maybe get some and share with friends?
Emergency Contraceptive Pill for Women (6 Pack) - 1.5 mg Levonorgestrel Tablet - Reduces Chance of Pregnancy After Unprotected Sex - Compare to Plan B One-Step - Take Next Morning
🌸Emergency Contraceptive - Reduces chance of pregnancy after unprotected sex 🌸 The sooner you take it, the more effective it will be (within 72 hours after unprotected sex) 🌸 Will not harm an existing pregnancy 🌸 1.5 mg Levonorgestrel Tablet - Take as early as morning after unprotected sex 🌸 Compare to active ingredients of Plan B One-Step
www.amazon.com
March 17, 2025 at 6:01 PM
Reposted by Sebnem Nur Tuncdemir
Science is under assault because Trumpists are illegally purging labs, deleting data, and censoring research. This is actual fascism. It’s not “cuts”.

Don’t normalize what they are doing.
March 8, 2025 at 1:38 AM
Reposted by Sebnem Nur Tuncdemir
SO MANY STAND UP FOR SCIENCE EVENTS TO CHOOSE FROM—153 and COUNTING!

To get more information on our local events and to register your own, head to www.standupforscience2025.org/local-event-information/ ☀️⬇️🌎
March 6, 2025 at 7:14 PM
So proud of @gordfishell.bsky.social for standing up to this nonsense! Dr. Soohyun Lee is truly one of the best neuroscientists🧪
Compelling pushback from @jmgrohneuro.bsky.social and the Board of Scientific Counselors at the National Institute on Mental Health (NIMH) regarding termination of tenure-track investigators driven by DOGE.

1/2
March 6, 2025 at 1:51 PM
Reposted by Sebnem Nur Tuncdemir
Mouse models of gender affirming hormone therapy can improve outcomes for trans people and for any cis person with hormones or receiving hormone therapies.

What helps is standing in solidarity with us, speaking on the importance of and fighting for the research, not jokes about "transgenic mice" 🧪
March 5, 2025 at 12:28 PM
Reposted by Sebnem Nur Tuncdemir
I created a brief spreadsheet of reductions I've heard of so far. Any additions you know of (especially if you have the links/receipts) would be great: docs.google.com/spreadsheets...
Graduate Reductions Across Biomedical Sciences (2025)
docs.google.com
February 22, 2025 at 1:23 PM
Reposted by Sebnem Nur Tuncdemir
Bluetorial: The path to a new pain medication with little potential for addiction

Perhaps a good story to share with folks who want to learn about how biomedical research works and where advances come from.
a cartoon says hey everybody an old man 's talking while bart simpson looks on
ALT: a cartoon says hey everybody an old man 's talking while bart simpson looks on
media.tenor.com
February 22, 2025 at 10:20 AM