Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Steven Marygold

FlyBase @flybase.bsky.social · 5d

There's an update on the state of FlyBase on the FlyBase.org front page. You can contribute to FlyBase at this link wiki.flybase.org/wiki/FlyBase...
We express enormous gratitude to the people, labs, groups, and foundations who have already helped us.
#FlyBase #Drosophila

FlyBase Update – October 2025
The termination of the NIH/NHGRI FlyBase grant has placed the long-term sustainability of FlyBase at risk. However, thanks to the generous support of several key individuals and institutions, we are pleased to announce that FlyBase will remain operational through the coming year. We extend our deepest gratitude to Yukiko Yamashita, Cassandra Extavour, Hugo Bellen, Thom Kaufman, the Genetics Society of America / Drosophila Board, the Bloomington Drosophila Stock Center, an anonymous donor and the Wellcome Trust. We are especially thankful for a generous gift from Seemay Chou, Jed McCaleb, and The Navigation Fund. We also greatly appreciate the continued support from the broader Drosophila community – your donations and service fees have been vital in helping us stay afloat. Special thanks also go to Jessica Manning for her tireless administrative work at Harvard, to Ruth Lehmann, Hugo Bellen, and Paul Sternberg for advice and efforts, and to the Board of the European Drosophila Society for all their efforts. Sadly, we must also share that several long-standing FlyBase team members have recently moved on. We are immensely grateful to Susan Russo-Gelbart, Lynn Crosby, Gil dos Santos, Kris Broll, Victoria Jenkins, and TyAnna Lovato for their many years of dedicated service and contributions to FlyBase. Looking ahead, ensuring FlyBase’s sustainability beyond the next year – and successfully integrating with the Alliance – will require new funding sources. We kindly ask for your continued support:
• European labs: Please consider contributing to the Cambridge, U.K. FlyBase group
• U.S. and other non-European labs: Please consider contributing to the U.S. FlyBase groups
• Both U.K. and U.S. FlyBase are working diligently to establish an invoicing system. We appreciate your continued patience.
For more information on how to support us, please visit: Contribute to FlyBase wiki page https://wiki.flybase.org/wiki/FlyBase:Contribute_to_FlyBase

1 42 42

Reposted by Steven Marygold

Alliance of Genome Resources @alliancegenome.bsky.social · 5d

Nature has published an article on the crisis facing MODs
Model organism databases face budget cuts and closures www.nature.com/articles/d41...
@zfinmod.bsky.social @xenbase.bsky.social @yeastgenome.bsky.social @mousegenome.bsky.social @ratgenome.bsky.social @geneontology.bsky.social @nature.com

Model organism databases face budget cuts and closures

Beyond the crucial data they contain, these digital archives have provided an important space for academic communities to exchange ideas and resources.

www.nature.com

19 11

Reposted by Steven Marygold

FlyBase @flybase.bsky.social · 5d

New metabolic pathway reports too: the GLUCOSYLCERAMIDE BIOSYNTHESIS flybase.org/reports/FBgg..., the GPI-ANCHOR PROTEIN BIOSYNTHESIS flybase.org/reports/FBgg... and the DOLICHYL PHOSPHATE BIOSYNTHESIS flybase.org/reports/FBgg... pathways.
#MetabolicPathways

Pathway: GLUCOSYLCERAMIDE BIOSYNTHESIS

FlyBase: a database for drosophila genetics and molecular biology

flybase.org

1 3

Reposted by Steven Marygold

European Drosophila Society @fly-eds.bsky.social · 12d

Now the #EDB @flybase.bsky.social representative Katja Röper @katjaroeper.bsky.social is presenting #Flybase future plans

6 11

Reposted by Steven Marygold

FlyBase @flybase.bsky.social · 12d

FlyBase will present posters 333 'Modeling the Mitochondrion: Building an Integrated Causal Model for Mitochondrial Processes using the Gene Ontology' and 335 'Building high-quality Genome-Scale Metabolic Models for Drosophila using the Gene Ontology' today at #EDRC2025

4 11

Steven Marygold @steven-flybase.bsky.social · 13d

Just in time for the #EDRC2025: the #Drosophila metabolic network 'FlyCyc' has been updated at biocyc.org/organism-sum... Come and see poster P-335 on Saturday for more metabolic pathway models at #FlyBase.

biocyc.org

1 3

Reposted by Steven Marygold

FlyBase @flybase.bsky.social · 23d

The FlyBase situation has made the national news www.nbcnews.com/science/scie...

Trump's Harvard cuts threaten a giant in biomedical research: A database about the tiny fruit fly

This spring, the Trump administration rescinded a grant that maintained FlyBase, a pillar of global basic research, as part of its broader $2.2 billion funding cuts at Harvard.

www.nbcnews.com

27 28

Reposted by Steven Marygold

Perrimon Lab @perrimonlab.bsky.social · Sep 9

www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...
Harvard Funding Cuts Endanger the Massive Fruit Fly Database That Powers Genetic Research

Harvard Funding Cuts Endanger the Massive Fruit Fly Database That Powers Genetic Research | News | The Harvard Crimson

FlyBase lost a multimillion dollar grant when the Trump administration cut off Harvard’s federal funding in May. Now the repository is laying off staff — and researchers worldwide are worried.

www.thecrimson.com

25 19

Reposted by Steven Marygold

Mark Peifer (He, him) @peiferlabunc.bsky.social · Aug 23

The community of Drosophila researchers is amazing, mutually supportive and collaborative. Right now a key resource for our community, @flybase.bsky.social , is threatened by the cancellation of its NIH grant and is seeking community help in raising short term funds 1/n 🧪 please share

Dear Fly Community,

In May 2025, the NIH terminated all grant funding to Harvard University, including the NHGRI grant that supported FlyBase. This grant also funded FlyBase teams at Indiana University (IU) and the University of Cambridge (UK), and as a result, their subawards were also canceled.

The Cambridge team has secured support for one to two years through generous donations from the European fly community, emergency funding from the Wellcome Trust, and support from the University of Cambridge. At IU, funding has been secured for one year thanks to reserve funds from Thom Kaufman and a supplement from ORIP/NIH to the Bloomington Drosophila Stock Center (BDSC).

Unfortunately, the situation at Harvard is far more critical. Harvard University had supported FlyBase staff since May but recently denied a request for extended bridge funding. As a result, all eight employees (four full-time and four part-time) were abruptly laid off, with termination dates ranging from August to mid-October depending on their positions. In addition, our curator at the University of New Mexico will leave her position at the end of August. This decision came as a shock, and we are urgently pursuing all possible funding options.

To put the need into perspective: although FlyBase is free to use, it is not free to make. It takes large teams of people and millions of dollars a year to create FlyBase to support fly research (the last NHGRI grant supported us with more than 2 million USD per annum).

To help sustain FlyBase operations, we have been reaching out to you to ask for your support. We have set up a donation site in Cambridge, UK, to which European labs have and can continue to contribute, and a new donation site at IU to which labs in the US and the rest of the world can contribute. We urge researchers to work with their grant administrators to contribute to FlyBase via these sites if at all possible, as more of the money will go to FlyBase. However, we appreciate that some fu…

https://wiki.flybase.org/wiki/FlyBase:Contribute_to_FlyBase

Our immediate goals are:

1. To maintain core curation activities and keep the FlyBase website online

2. To complete integration with the Alliance of Genome Resources (The Alliance).

Integration with the Alliance is essential for FlyBase’s long-term sustainability. For nearly a decade, NHGRI/NIH has supported the unification of Model Organism Databases (MODs) into the Alliance, which we aim to achieve by 2028. Therefore, securing bridge funding to sustain FlyBase over the next three years is crucial for successful integration and the long-term access to FlyBase data.

At present, our remaining funds will allow us to keep the FlyBase website online for approximately one more year. Beyond that, its future is uncertain unless new funding is secured. We will, of course, continue pursuing additional grant opportunities as they arise.

Given the uncertainty of future NIH or alternative funding sources, we are relying on the Fly community for support. Your contributions will directly help us retain the staff needed to complete this transition and to secure ongoing fly data curation into the Alliance beyond 2028.

We at FlyBase are incredibly grateful for the outpouring of support from the community during this challenging time. Your encouragement has strengthened our resolve and underscores how vital this resource remains to Drosophila research worldwide.

Sincerely,
The FlyBase Team

1 130 150

Reposted by Steven Marygold

Katja Röper @katjaroeper.bsky.social · Aug 15

If you run a fly lab and have not yet contributed to save FlyBase, please look at our wiki page for the latest information!

FlyBase @flybase.bsky.social · Aug 15

FlyBase needs your help! We ask that European labs continue to contribute to Cambridge, UK FlyBase, whereas US and other non-European labs can contribute to US FlyBase. For more information and how to donate: wiki.flybase.org/wiki/FlyBase...

FlyBase:Contribute to FlyBase - FlyBase Wiki

wiki.flybase.org

9 15

Reposted by Steven Marygold

Cahir O'Kane @cahirokane.bsky.social · Aug 15

UK taxpayers who donate to @flybase.bsky.social privately can use Gift Aid if they donate through the University of Cambridge philanthropy site (link below). This increases the value of your donation at no cost to yourself.

Mark A. Hanson @hansonmark.bsky.social · Aug 14

A reminder you/your lab can support FlyBase at Cambridge through the following link. Every bit helps. Please share if you yourself can't donate.

www.philanthropy.cam.ac.uk/give-to-camb...

6 12

Reposted by Steven Marygold

Brian Calvi @briancalvi.bsky.social · Aug 15

Flybase is free to use but not free to make. It takes large teams of people and millions of dollars a year to create the knowledgebas and tools for fly research. Please donate generously.

FlyBase @flybase.bsky.social · Aug 15

FlyBase needs your help! We ask that European labs continue to contribute to Cambridge, UK FlyBase, whereas US and other non-European labs can contribute to US FlyBase. For more information and how to donate: wiki.flybase.org/wiki/FlyBase...

FlyBase:Contribute to FlyBase - FlyBase Wiki

wiki.flybase.org

22 28

Reposted by Steven Marygold

The Company of Biologists @biologists.bsky.social · Jul 22

Our next extraordinary biologist is Norbert Perrimon, a @dmmjournal.bsky.social Editorial Advisory Board member and author of one of @dev-journal.bsky.social's most cited papers. #100biologists
@perrimonlab.bsky.social

6 18

Reposted by Steven Marygold

FlyBase @flybase.bsky.social · Jul 25

Also a lot of new #MetabolicPathway reports: NUCLEOTIDE-SUGAR BIOSYNTHESIS flybase.org/reports/FBgg..., HEME BIOSYNTHESIS flybase.org/reports/FBgg..., IRON-SULFUR CLUSTER ASSEMBLY flybase.org/reports/FBgg..., Mo-MOLYBDOPTERIN COFACTOR BIOSYNTHESIS flybase.org/reports/FBgg...,

Pathway: NUCLEOTIDE-SUGAR BIOSYNTHESIS

FlyBase: a database for drosophila genetics and molecular biology

flybase.org

1 2 1

Reposted by Steven Marygold

Katy Ong @ongkaty.bsky.social · Jul 10

All proceeds from my #sciart Etsy shop will now be donated to
@flybase.bsky.social . Due to fed cuts, this beloved resource that I use daily has lost it's funding, and I'm helping in my small way. Now's a good time stock up on #STEM & #drosophila gifts & swag!
www.etsy.com/shop/Picosti...

drosophila embroidered patches and enamel pins

IgM antibody enamel pins in purple and cyan

15 24

Reposted by Steven Marygold

FlyBase @flybase.bsky.social · Jun 25

MassLive.com recently interviewed several Harvard FlyBase people and wrote this news article about the importance of FlyBase: tinyurl.com/4chpts9f

Why a database of bug genes could be one of Trump’s most devastating cuts at Harvard

FlyBase, the world's only fruit fly database, is in the crosshairs of Trump's attack on Harvard. Here's why it could matter for your health.

tinyurl.com

38 38

Reposted by Steven Marygold

Royal Society Publishing @royalsocietypublishing.org · Jun 17

Michael Ashburner FRS was an influential figure in the fields of Drosophila genomics and early sequencing database initiatives such as @ebi.embl.org.

Read about their contributions across genetics and bioinformatics in the new biographical memoir: buff.ly/f01zNat

@geneticscam.bsky.social‬

3 19 29

Reposted by Steven Marygold

Max Kozlov @maxkozlov.bsky.social · Jun 17

After ruling the NIH grant cuts were illegal yesterday, Judge Young, a Reagan appointee on the bench since 1985, ended the hearing with a blistering 15-minute speech.

I've cleaned up my notes — here are his remarks in full. 🧵

Judge rules against NIH grant cuts — and calls them discriminatory

The decision means that the US biomedical agency has to restore funding to hundreds of research projects, but the government will likely appeal.

www.nature.com

9 200 410

Steven Marygold @steven-flybase.bsky.social · Jun 11

European-based researchers can help support future #flybase curation by donating at this site: www.philanthropy.cam.ac.uk/give-to-camb...

Drosophila Genetic Database

The Drosophila Genetic Database, FlyBase, is on the brink of collapse due to the sudden termination of the FlyBase NIH grant, which includes salaries for 5 literature curators based at the University ...

www.philanthropy.cam.ac.uk

16 14

Reposted by Steven Marygold

Saccharomyces Genome Database @yeastgenome.bsky.social · Jun 9

FlyBase needs your help!

Because of recent changes to government funding, the NIH grant that supported FlyBase has been "terminated." flybase.org

23 19

Reposted by Steven Marygold

Cahir O'Kane @cahirokane.bsky.social · Jun 5

This vital resource @flybase.bsky.social is in acute peril: its funding blocked by the vindictiveness of Trump. Emergency funds needed *now*, pending longer term solutions. Personal donations from Europe can be made here (UK taxpayers can gift-aid); other routes also possible. US appeal to follow.

Drosophila Genetic Database

The Drosophila Genetic Database, FlyBase, is on the brink of collapse due to the sudden termination of the FlyBase NIH grant, which includes salaries for 5 literature curators based at the University ...

www.philanthropy.cam.ac.uk

1 9 8

Steven Marygold @steven-flybase.bsky.social · Jun 5

If you haven't heard already: www.thetransmitter.org/community/fl...

FlyBase funding squashed amid Harvard grant terminations

The team behind the Drosophila genetics database is now requesting donations from labs to keep the resource afloat.

www.thetransmitter.org

1

Reposted by Steven Marygold

European Drosophila Society @fly-eds.bsky.social · Jun 4

#Drosophila @flybase.bsky.social requires emergency funding:
"As it stands, by the end of July, 2025, there will be no future updates to #FlyBase, and in the worst case scenario access to the website will also be lost". Please help if you can!

FlyBase @flybase.bsky.social · Jun 3

We currently have a call for support that has gone out to European labs, to support FlyBase-UK. We are asking our colleagues from labs in the US and other countries to wait for a similar call to them that will go out in the near future, to support the US sites. We thank you for your patience.

Mark A. Hanson @hansonmark.bsky.social · Jun 3

URGENT: FlyBase has lost practically all its funding overnight; even user fees are tied up in denied grant funding. 🤬🤯

Any lab using @flybase.bsky.social please donate using the link in post below.

This incredible community, on whose backs our #Drosophila labs depend, can't be left out to dry.

21 15