Sarah Stern
sarahstern.bsky.social
Sarah Stern
@sarahstern.bsky.social
Neuroscientist at Max Planck Florida Institute. Mom x3. New Yorker at heart. She/her
Pinned
Had a great first Stern Lab mini lab retreat today! We started by spending the afternoon exploring @alleninstitute.bsky.social tutorials and playing around with their old and new tools. Then dinner and team building at a local Escape Room! Overall a great day with my great lab team!
Second Stern Lab escape room outing. Even when things feel difficult, I’m so grateful to be able to work with these fantastic people every day!
November 6, 2025 at 4:22 AM
Today, after two years, I can finally remove the yellow ribbon from my profile. A huge sense of relief with an almost unbearable sadness for everything in between.
שהחינו וקימנו והגיענו לזמן הזה
October 13, 2025 at 5:26 PM
Episode 3 of Science Amplified is up now! I talk to Dr. Rachel Marsh about her pioneering research on mother-baby outcomes from prenatal covid exposure and the consequences of terminating her funding for that project.

Please share and give us a rating!

open.spotify.com/episode/0rCp...
Science Amplified with Rachel Marsh
Science Amplified · Episode
open.spotify.com
June 5, 2025 at 6:12 PM
Heading into the weekend by sharing the second episode of my podcast Science Amplified, where I interview scientists like @ScienceYael whose funding has been cut, either temporarily or permanently.

open.spotify.com/episode/1YZT...
Science Amplified with Ya'el Courtney
Science Amplified · Episode
open.spotify.com
May 23, 2025 at 8:54 PM
Reposted by Sarah Stern
Please double check the expiration date on any NOFO you are applying do. They are updated on the form, (Expiration date) with a link to the notice, but other aspects aren't edited.
NIH moved up the expiration date for some funding opportunities, effectively *canceling* the next application date without removing it from the standard table. I can't even imagine how many people are still prepping these grants.

👀 List of impacted opportunities:
grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...
May 20, 2025 at 1:55 PM
Reposted by Sarah Stern
The number of people who qualify for this is growing everyday. Have your voice, and your science, heard!
If you’re a scientist whose funding has recently been cut or impacted, I would love to interview you and amplify your work!

Hoping to release our first two podcast episodes next week.

Please share widely!
April 9, 2025 at 12:58 AM
Thrilled to share our latest preprint and first major project from the lab, where we show a mechanism for direct interoceptive input to the insular cortex. Work by the incredible @zhezhao2017 with help from many others including @stefanoberto83.bsky.social
Direct interoceptive input to the insular cortex shapes learned feeding behavior https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.05.13.653896v1
May 19, 2025 at 4:09 PM
As grants started getting cancelled a few months ago, I felt compelled to give a voice to scientists whose work has been targeted & share with the public what they do and why it’s so vital.

Happy to announce the start of my new podcast, Science Amplified

open.spotify.com/episode/6aUZ...
Science Amplified: Intro
Science Amplified · Episode
open.spotify.com
May 18, 2025 at 12:23 PM
Celebrating the first major paper submitted from our lab, with a Herculean effort from our postdoc Zhe, and many colleagues!
Can’t wait to share more once the preprint posts!
May 14, 2025 at 3:47 PM
If you’re a scientist whose funding has recently been cut or impacted, I would love to interview you and amplify your work!

Hoping to release our first two podcast episodes next week.

Please share widely!
April 9, 2025 at 12:55 AM
Highly recommend for stress relief. A little progress every day.
February 24, 2025 at 11:01 PM
I was told that prices were gonna come down, but my eggs are $6, the entire American scientific enterprise is in jeopardy and now we can’t even get on an airplane without worrying? What am I missing.
February 18, 2025 at 4:01 AM
Reposted by Sarah Stern
😳🤯. Dr. Laurer was the coauthor of the memo yesterday acknowledging that the NIH funding freeze was illegal and directing staff to resume issuing grants.
A second longtime NIH leader, Dr. Mike Lauer, NIH deputy director for extramural research, is also retiring from government service tomorrow, we've learned, per memo to colleagues from acting director Dr. Matthew Memoli
Longtime NIH deputy director Dr. Lawrence Tabak abruptly resigned last night, striking fear within the agency that he was forced out and that other leadership will also be shown the door (first reported by Science): www.cnn.com/politics/liv...
February 13, 2025 at 3:42 PM
Is it odd that I’m sort of like “well, if my R01 that’s been reviewed today is not discussed, at least I won’t have to worry about whether or not it will actually be funded” 🤷‍♀️
February 13, 2025 at 3:37 PM
Reposted by Sarah Stern
Trainees who applied for an NIH diversity fellowship whose applications were withdrawn/not being reviewed, there's a NYTimes reporter who wants to talk, especially interested in applicants with disabilities. DM me & I'll put you in touch, will keep all contact confidential. Please amplify
February 10, 2025 at 3:58 AM
Since Oct 7th I have felt in a constant state of bleakness. Keeping my lab going, working on our science and trying to help my trainees fulfill their goals has kept me going and been the distraction that I need every day. Now, every day is another punch in the gut at lab too. Tbh, I am very tired.
February 9, 2025 at 1:37 AM
This is insanity. Why couldn’t they put these applications into the regular pool instead of throwing them out completely??
The CSR comm I'm on just pulled all Diversity F grants from the current review cycle. These apps are reviewed alongside (and by the same criteria) as all other F grants. So, instead of helping these trainees, they will actually be punished by having their grant reviews delayed at least 1 cycle !?!?
February 7, 2025 at 1:16 PM
Reposted by Sarah Stern
🧪🧠 more new red GECIs!🚨

👏🥳 congrats to everyone involved!
A Sensitive Soma-localized Red Fluorescent Calcium Indicator for Multi-Modality Imaging of Neuronal Populations In Vivo. It works well with wide-field imaging, two-photon microscopy, and fiber photometry biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
February 4, 2025 at 4:19 AM
Reposted by Sarah Stern
In fact I have heard that some think the comms freeze at NIH institutes will last through April. There are events in April that have already been canceled.
February 3, 2025 at 3:43 PM
Reposted by Sarah Stern
From inside the National Cancer Institute -- employees have been told that the communications freeze, which was theoretically going to be lifted by Feb 1, is still in place.
February 3, 2025 at 3:26 PM
Reposted by Sarah Stern
Rescinded
January 29, 2025 at 6:09 PM
Helpful reminder to myself as well!
January 29, 2025 at 2:40 AM
Reposted by Sarah Stern
Raise your hand if you’re an assistant professor who has now had to journey through a global pandemic AND a constitutional crisis, all while trying to obtain tenure 🙋🏻‍♀️

I’m tired.
January 28, 2025 at 3:02 PM
Reposted by Sarah Stern
I see some suggestions, in the reporting regarding the OMB impoundment order, that a mere delay in spending appropriated funds is legal. But that's not really true. The delay OMB has ordered specifically contradicts the Impoundment Control Act. A thread.
January 28, 2025 at 12:48 PM