Vaughn Smider, MD, PhD
@vvsmider.bsky.social
Biomedical researcher, antibody investigator (especially cow antibodies 🐮, which are the best), drug discoverer, entrepreneur 🇺🇸 🇺🇦
Founder and President at Applied Biomedical Science Institute:
https://absinstitute.org
Founder and President at Applied Biomedical Science Institute:
https://absinstitute.org
Pinned
DOGE ends America’s golden age of biomedical research
Biomedical research impacts all of us. I became curious about how drugs work after my mom was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis when I was a small boy. She received “gold shots” as treatment, which ...
www.vindy.com
I’m a biomedical researcher who lost his wife to cancer. Finding cures is personal to me. What’s happening at the NIH is devastating. Here’s my editorial in my hometown newspaper.
www.vindy.com/opinion/edit...
www.vindy.com/opinion/edit...
Reposted by Vaughn Smider, MD, PhD
One day I shall learn to put thoughts to paper better... but for now. elizabethginexi.substack.com/p/what-nih-s...
What NIH Staff Can’t Tell You—And Why That Matters
The people who understand most clearly what is being lost at the NIH are also the people least able to say so.
elizabethginexi.substack.com
February 16, 2026 at 6:00 PM
One day I shall learn to put thoughts to paper better... but for now. elizabethginexi.substack.com/p/what-nih-s...
Reposted by Vaughn Smider, MD, PhD
Our A.I. times :-)
February 16, 2026 at 4:37 PM
Our A.I. times :-)
Reposted by Vaughn Smider, MD, PhD
A brief Bluetorial about analyzing federal grant funding.
Both NIH and NSF make data available about funded grants, but each has its quirks and the data structures are VERY different.
1/11
Both NIH and NSF make data available about funded grants, but each has its quirks and the data structures are VERY different.
1/11
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 16, 2026 at 2:32 PM
A brief Bluetorial about analyzing federal grant funding.
Both NIH and NSF make data available about funded grants, but each has its quirks and the data structures are VERY different.
1/11
Both NIH and NSF make data available about funded grants, but each has its quirks and the data structures are VERY different.
1/11
Reposted by Vaughn Smider, MD, PhD
@aaas.org @science.org @holdenthorp.bsky.social
It would be great if you would release to your members how much "excess revenue" is being generated by your gold open access journal Science Advances.
The article processing charges have increased 21% to $5450 per article since I left in 2019.
It would be great if you would release to your members how much "excess revenue" is being generated by your gold open access journal Science Advances.
The article processing charges have increased 21% to $5450 per article since I left in 2019.
February 15, 2026 at 5:22 PM
@aaas.org @science.org @holdenthorp.bsky.social
It would be great if you would release to your members how much "excess revenue" is being generated by your gold open access journal Science Advances.
The article processing charges have increased 21% to $5450 per article since I left in 2019.
It would be great if you would release to your members how much "excess revenue" is being generated by your gold open access journal Science Advances.
The article processing charges have increased 21% to $5450 per article since I left in 2019.
#Cancer is hard enough.
A child dying of cancer spent her final days fighting to free her wrongfully detained father from ICE custody.
This comes just weeks after a mother from Maryland was denied the right to be at her son’s side as he died from cancer.
Not one dime for this cruelty.
www.cbsnews.com/amp/chicago/...
This comes just weeks after a mother from Maryland was denied the right to be at her son’s side as he died from cancer.
Not one dime for this cruelty.
www.cbsnews.com/amp/chicago/...
Ofelia Torres, teen who fought to have her father released from ICE custody, dies from rare cancer
Ofelia Torres, 16, died on Friday from Stage 4 alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare and aggressive form of cancer, her father's lawyer confirmed.
www.cbsnews.com
February 16, 2026 at 12:31 AM
#Cancer is hard enough.
Reposted by Vaughn Smider, MD, PhD
This is a really impactful blog from Gregory Moore on his adult son with a very rare genetic condition, the impact of the diagnostic odyssey and the diagnosis itself, and the power of #genomics and Dr Seuss.
www.linkedin.com/pulse/we-hav...
www.linkedin.com/pulse/we-hav...
WE HAVE A DIAGNOSIS FOR PETER
Many year-end reflections from executives include metrics, milestones, lessons learned, and gratitude for teams. This one is different.
www.linkedin.com
February 15, 2026 at 8:58 AM
This is a really impactful blog from Gregory Moore on his adult son with a very rare genetic condition, the impact of the diagnostic odyssey and the diagnosis itself, and the power of #genomics and Dr Seuss.
www.linkedin.com/pulse/we-hav...
www.linkedin.com/pulse/we-hav...
Reposted by Vaughn Smider, MD, PhD
A genuinely moving piece…
This is a really impactful blog from Gregory Moore on his adult son with a very rare genetic condition, the impact of the diagnostic odyssey and the diagnosis itself, and the power of #genomics and Dr Seuss.
www.linkedin.com/pulse/we-hav...
www.linkedin.com/pulse/we-hav...
WE HAVE A DIAGNOSIS FOR PETER
Many year-end reflections from executives include metrics, milestones, lessons learned, and gratitude for teams. This one is different.
www.linkedin.com
February 15, 2026 at 10:48 AM
A genuinely moving piece…
Reposted by Vaughn Smider, MD, PhD
February 15, 2026 at 2:11 PM
Reposted by Vaughn Smider, MD, PhD
Chikungunya vaccine trial in children shows full-dose VLA1553 is safe and boosts antibody levels, paving way for future development.
by Weisová P, Scheiblauer S (...) Jaramillo JC et 15 al. in Nat Med #MedSky
👉 get more here
📖 read the article:
by Weisová P, Scheiblauer S (...) Jaramillo JC et 15 al. in Nat Med #MedSky
👉 get more here
📖 read the article:
Live-attenuated chikungunya vaccine in children: a randomized phase 2 trial - Nature Medicine
In a phase 2 randomized, controlled, dose–response trial, the live-attenuated chikungunya vaccine (VLA1553) was given in full and half doses to children under the age of 12 in Honduras and the Dominican Republic and was found to be safe and immunogenic, with the results supporting selection of the full-dose VLA1553 in future clinical trials in this population.
www.nature.com
February 15, 2026 at 2:46 PM
Reposted by Vaughn Smider, MD, PhD
I find this to be a very interesting paper but have a few questions and I wonder what T cell experts think: www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
Stochasticity in cancer immunotherapy stems from rare but functionally critical Spark T cells
Analysis of variations in the response of cancer immunotherapies in well-controlled
ex vivo replicate cultures identifies a rare CD8+ T cell subset, Spark T cells, that
drives stochastic responses. Sp...
www.cell.com
February 15, 2026 at 3:13 PM
I find this to be a very interesting paper but have a few questions and I wonder what T cell experts think: www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
Reposted by Vaughn Smider, MD, PhD
High energy pulsed electromagnetic devices may indeed injure, given a Norwegian test. Advice from scientific panel chaired by David Relman also ignored. Gift 🔗
wapo.st/4kwZhEg
wapo.st/4kwZhEg
Researcher skeptical of ‘Havana syndrome’ tested secret weapon on himself
The CIA investigated a Norwegian government experiment with a pulsed-energy machine in which a researcher built and tested a “Havana syndrome” device on himself.
wapo.st
February 14, 2026 at 6:32 PM
High energy pulsed electromagnetic devices may indeed injure, given a Norwegian test. Advice from scientific panel chaired by David Relman also ignored. Gift 🔗
wapo.st/4kwZhEg
wapo.st/4kwZhEg
Reposted by Vaughn Smider, MD, PhD
The University of Pittsburgh signed an agreement with Anthropic.
www.pittwire.pitt.edu/features-art...
I learned about this the same day I received materials about the Anthropic lawsuit settlement regarding using my textbook and other copyrighted materials without permission.
www.pittwire.pitt.edu/features-art...
I learned about this the same day I received materials about the Anthropic lawsuit settlement regarding using my textbook and other copyrighted materials without permission.
February 14, 2026 at 5:03 PM
The University of Pittsburgh signed an agreement with Anthropic.
www.pittwire.pitt.edu/features-art...
I learned about this the same day I received materials about the Anthropic lawsuit settlement regarding using my textbook and other copyrighted materials without permission.
www.pittwire.pitt.edu/features-art...
I learned about this the same day I received materials about the Anthropic lawsuit settlement regarding using my textbook and other copyrighted materials without permission.
Reposted by Vaughn Smider, MD, PhD
Moderna has 2 trials for EBV vaccines in Phase 1/2 and Phase 2. EBV is now widely believed to be a causative agent for Multiple Sclerosis. Just under 3 million people in the world, about 1 million in the US have MS.
trials.modernatx.com/study/?id=mR...
trials.modernatx.com/study/?id=mR...
trials.modernatx.com/study/?id=mR...
trials.modernatx.com/study/?id=mR...
February 13, 2026 at 1:41 AM
Moderna has 2 trials for EBV vaccines in Phase 1/2 and Phase 2. EBV is now widely believed to be a causative agent for Multiple Sclerosis. Just under 3 million people in the world, about 1 million in the US have MS.
trials.modernatx.com/study/?id=mR...
trials.modernatx.com/study/?id=mR...
trials.modernatx.com/study/?id=mR...
trials.modernatx.com/study/?id=mR...
Reposted by Vaughn Smider, MD, PhD
We're hiring! NBCC is seeking a Development Database Manager to ensure our donor data is accurate, secure, and leveraged thoughtfully to support fundraising, stewardship, and donor engagement. #DevelopmentJobs https://www.stopbreastcancer.org/who-we-are/work-at-nbcc/
February 12, 2026 at 8:43 PM
We're hiring! NBCC is seeking a Development Database Manager to ensure our donor data is accurate, secure, and leveraged thoughtfully to support fundraising, stewardship, and donor engagement. #DevelopmentJobs https://www.stopbreastcancer.org/who-we-are/work-at-nbcc/
Reposted by Vaughn Smider, MD, PhD
My quote of the day
Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge: it is those who know little, and not those who know much, who so positively assert that this or that problem will never be solved by science.
Charles Darwin
Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge: it is those who know little, and not those who know much, who so positively assert that this or that problem will never be solved by science.
Charles Darwin
February 12, 2026 at 11:33 AM
My quote of the day
Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge: it is those who know little, and not those who know much, who so positively assert that this or that problem will never be solved by science.
Charles Darwin
Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge: it is those who know little, and not those who know much, who so positively assert that this or that problem will never be solved by science.
Charles Darwin
Reposted by Vaughn Smider, MD, PhD
NEW: Another NIH institute director hasn't been renewed — the director of NIAMS (arthritis, musculoskeletal and skin diseases institute).
That leaves a whopping 15 of 27 institutes and centers without a permanent director.
That leaves a whopping 15 of 27 institutes and centers without a permanent director.
February 12, 2026 at 5:16 PM
NEW: Another NIH institute director hasn't been renewed — the director of NIAMS (arthritis, musculoskeletal and skin diseases institute).
That leaves a whopping 15 of 27 institutes and centers without a permanent director.
That leaves a whopping 15 of 27 institutes and centers without a permanent director.
Reposted by Vaughn Smider, MD, PhD
Cross reactive antibodies produced by people with rare genetic variants explain the very rare clotting disorders in people receiving adenovirus-based COVID vaccines Gift🔗 www.theatlantic.com/science/2026...
Scientists Figured Out the Problem With Johnson & Johnson’s COVID Vaccine
Rare but dangerous blood clotting associated with that vaccine as well as AstraZeneca’s had a genetic cause, according to a new paper.
www.theatlantic.com
February 12, 2026 at 3:26 PM
Cross reactive antibodies produced by people with rare genetic variants explain the very rare clotting disorders in people receiving adenovirus-based COVID vaccines Gift🔗 www.theatlantic.com/science/2026...
Reposted by Vaughn Smider, MD, PhD
Hi Hello.
Your friendly science activist here to say that activism is not free.
Please consider donating today to help us yell across the nation about science and democracy!
If all of our followers gave $10 we would be very very golden. www.standupforscience.net/donate
Your friendly science activist here to say that activism is not free.
Please consider donating today to help us yell across the nation about science and democracy!
If all of our followers gave $10 we would be very very golden. www.standupforscience.net/donate
We won't let this administration's anti-science camping succeed, but this fight isn't free. We need your support to help fuel the fight for science! If you would like to donate, please visit standupforscience.net/donate
Thank you for your support!
Thank you for your support!
February 10, 2026 at 6:13 PM
Hi Hello.
Your friendly science activist here to say that activism is not free.
Please consider donating today to help us yell across the nation about science and democracy!
If all of our followers gave $10 we would be very very golden. www.standupforscience.net/donate
Your friendly science activist here to say that activism is not free.
Please consider donating today to help us yell across the nation about science and democracy!
If all of our followers gave $10 we would be very very golden. www.standupforscience.net/donate
Reposted by Vaughn Smider, MD, PhD
Please share this with your network: Postdoctoral position available in my group.
www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/43...
www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/43...
Albert Einstein College of Medicine hiring Postdoctoral position studying functional non-coding variants in neurodevelopmental disorders, Bronx, New York City, USA c in New York City Metropolitan Area...
Posted 9:40:20 PM. A postdoctoral fellow position is open with 2 years of funding from the Simons Foundation Autism…See this and similar jobs on LinkedIn.
www.linkedin.com
February 6, 2026 at 12:54 AM
Reposted by Vaughn Smider, MD, PhD
As we start the think about F&27 appropriations, unpacking the FY26 budget may help set us up for next year.
We need scientists to engage in the process now - to fight for appropriation law that doesn't just fund NIH but fights to protect science and democracy.
open.substack.com/pub/sciencea...
We need scientists to engage in the process now - to fight for appropriation law that doesn't just fund NIH but fights to protect science and democracy.
open.substack.com/pub/sciencea...
We will never get more than what we celebrate
Why allowing the Trump administration to reset our expectations will harm US science
open.substack.com
February 5, 2026 at 7:30 PM
As we start the think about F&27 appropriations, unpacking the FY26 budget may help set us up for next year.
We need scientists to engage in the process now - to fight for appropriation law that doesn't just fund NIH but fights to protect science and democracy.
open.substack.com/pub/sciencea...
We need scientists to engage in the process now - to fight for appropriation law that doesn't just fund NIH but fights to protect science and democracy.
open.substack.com/pub/sciencea...
Reposted by Vaughn Smider, MD, PhD
More on NSF funding data
A deeper dive into the numbers of awards by Directorate.
1/9
A deeper dive into the numbers of awards by Directorate.
1/9
a picture of a person in the water with the words call of the deep below it
ALT: a picture of a person in the water with the words call of the deep below it
media.tenor.com
February 5, 2026 at 6:05 PM
More on NSF funding data
A deeper dive into the numbers of awards by Directorate.
1/9
A deeper dive into the numbers of awards by Directorate.
1/9
Reposted by Vaughn Smider, MD, PhD
Welcome, piles of slop filling up the journals with clouds of useless wordy garbage. Case in point:
What the Literature is Filling Up With
www.science.org
February 4, 2026 at 8:47 PM
Welcome, piles of slop filling up the journals with clouds of useless wordy garbage. Case in point:
Reposted by Vaughn Smider, MD, PhD
Both chambers of Congress have now passed the FY26 minibus with NIH provisions. The President will sign.
(1) $48.7 billion for NIH
(2) Full IDC recovery
(3) No more multi-year funding
(4) No NIH reorganization, maintaining the current IC structure.
(1) $48.7 billion for NIH
(2) Full IDC recovery
(3) No more multi-year funding
(4) No NIH reorganization, maintaining the current IC structure.
February 3, 2026 at 7:48 PM
Both chambers of Congress have now passed the FY26 minibus with NIH provisions. The President will sign.
(1) $48.7 billion for NIH
(2) Full IDC recovery
(3) No more multi-year funding
(4) No NIH reorganization, maintaining the current IC structure.
(1) $48.7 billion for NIH
(2) Full IDC recovery
(3) No more multi-year funding
(4) No NIH reorganization, maintaining the current IC structure.
Reposted by Vaughn Smider, MD, PhD
The bureaucracy of science has grown so much, the system is collapsing upon itself:
Scientists have become administrators of grants rather than spending time on science.
Paid administrators are demanding even more administrative work from scientists.
Administrators are eating the science budget.
Scientists have become administrators of grants rather than spending time on science.
Paid administrators are demanding even more administrative work from scientists.
Administrators are eating the science budget.
February 3, 2026 at 6:52 PM
The bureaucracy of science has grown so much, the system is collapsing upon itself:
Scientists have become administrators of grants rather than spending time on science.
Paid administrators are demanding even more administrative work from scientists.
Administrators are eating the science budget.
Scientists have become administrators of grants rather than spending time on science.
Paid administrators are demanding even more administrative work from scientists.
Administrators are eating the science budget.
Reposted by Vaughn Smider, MD, PhD
🎓⚕️🧪🔬📰
The way we do science today is very vulnerable to clickbait and sensationalist headlines
Remember the microplastics in your brain, in male testes and in your bloodstream?
It didn't make sense with what we knew, but it made great entertainment. #BadScience
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
The way we do science today is very vulnerable to clickbait and sensationalist headlines
Remember the microplastics in your brain, in male testes and in your bloodstream?
It didn't make sense with what we knew, but it made great entertainment. #BadScience
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
‘A bombshell’: doubt cast on discovery of microplastics throughout human body
Exclusive: Some scientists say many detections are most likely error, with one high-profile study called a ‘joke’
www.theguardian.com
January 31, 2026 at 10:24 PM
🎓⚕️🧪🔬📰
The way we do science today is very vulnerable to clickbait and sensationalist headlines
Remember the microplastics in your brain, in male testes and in your bloodstream?
It didn't make sense with what we knew, but it made great entertainment. #BadScience
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
The way we do science today is very vulnerable to clickbait and sensationalist headlines
Remember the microplastics in your brain, in male testes and in your bloodstream?
It didn't make sense with what we knew, but it made great entertainment. #BadScience
www.theguardian.com/environment/...