Anita Devineni
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anitadevineni.bsky.social
Anita Devineni
@anitadevineni.bsky.social
1K followers 350 following 190 posts
Assistant Professor at Emory studying neural circuits and behavior in flies (she/her). Views are my own. https://devinenilab.org/
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anitadevineni.bsky.social
Everything is terrible but we're 2 days away from the most fun event on earth, the CSHL Fly Neuro Meeting!!! @cshlmeetings.bsky.social

My last blog post about it was 8 years ago (www.brains-explained.com/fly-neurobio...) but I think it still holds up, especially the abstract book roller coaster
Graph showing level of excitement about the abstract book as a roller coaster based on different events
October 5, 2025 at 3:00 PM
anitadevineni.bsky.social
RFK Jr. needs to resign. On top of endangering millions of lives through his demonization and rollback of vaccines, the hatred he has spread for federal workers in his own agency led to the CDC shooting on Friday and the death of a police officer.

Here's the letter I wrote to my senators:
Content of letter: Subject: RFK Jr is endangering lives and must resign Dear Senator, I am a faculty member who leads a biomedical research lab at Emory University. On Friday evening I was working in the lab with 4 of my students when we received notification about an active shooter at Emory Point. We sheltered in place for two hours, about a block away from the shooting, watching the news and discussing where we would hide if the shooter came to our building. While this was traumatic for us, it does not compare to the trauma that CDC workers just across the street experienced as bullets were shot at their buildings. We now know that the gunman targeted the CDC due to misinformation about the Covid-19 vaccine. This information has been most heavily promoted by the man who oversees the CDC, the HHS secretary RFK Jr. It is unacceptable that government leaders are putting federal workers within their own agencies at risk for their lives. The fact that he has cancelled contracts for developing mRNA vaccines and changed the guidelines for Covid-19 vaccinations also puts millions of Americans at risk. I am asking you to call for the resignation of RFK Jr. because of his dangerous actions that have already killed one person – the police officer who responded to the CDC shooting – and will certainly kill many more. Sincerely, Anita Devineni Assistant Professor, Emory University
August 11, 2025 at 3:11 PM
anitadevineni.bsky.social
Lol… as if up until now he’s been stable and reasonable??

The news is not that he’s volatile, it’s that he’s endangering national security and firing people for stating facts

I just can’t with these headlines
NYT headline saying “Trump displays his volatile side”
August 2, 2025 at 12:59 PM
anitadevineni.bsky.social
My reply to NYT's survey on racial categories
NYT survey question says "Are you Frustrated by Census and Racial Categories?" My reply says: "They are arbitrary, vague, and non-inclusive. For example when someone becomes the subject of a NYT hit piece and ensuing week-long "scandal" because they are an American born and raised in Africa who chose "African-American""
July 7, 2025 at 4:54 PM
anitadevineni.bsky.social
The government is setting a precedent to illegally withhold hundreds of millions of dollars of approved funding from any university for any reason, starting with Columbia, and Columbia's response is to call it "legitimate"???
president.columbia.edu/news/respond...
Screenshot of text that reads: Today, we were notified of federal action from Department of Justice (DOJ), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Department of Education (ED), and the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) cancelling $400 million in federal funding to the University. The federal agencies cite “the school’s continued inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students.” There is no question that the cancellation of these funds will immediately impact research and other critical functions of the University, impacting students, faculty, staff, research, and patient care. But let me be very clear: Columbia is taking the government’s action very seriously. I want to assure the entire Columbia community that we are committed to working with the federal government to address their legitimate concerns. To that end, Columbia can, and will, continue to take serious action toward combatting antisemitism on our campus. This is our number one priority.
March 8, 2025 at 2:39 PM
anitadevineni.bsky.social
I already reached my limit of 3 free Science articles so I guess my concerns will not be eased
January 28, 2025 at 2:12 AM
anitadevineni.bsky.social
We all know we should be writing our congresspeople, but composing a letter can be a barrier. I'm sharing examples to lower this barrier - feel free to copy.

The longer one is the letter I wrote to my Democratic senators. The other is a family member's letter to their Republican senator.
January 25, 2025 at 3:03 PM