Arpita Upadhyaya
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arpcomplex.bsky.social
Arpita Upadhyaya
@arpcomplex.bsky.social
Professor of Physics, UMD, College Park
arpitalab.github.io
Biophysicist … discovering physics & biology from molecules to cells and beyond … Immunobiophysics and Mechanobiology / T cells, nucleus, chromatin … microscopist, photographer, hiker, traveler …
Reflecting on an amazing @aps-dbio.bsky.social APS DBIO program at the APS Global Physics Summit two weeks ago. As DBIO program chair, it was gratifying to see an excellent set of ~ 80 sessions in biological physics come to life. I’m honored and excited to serve as the Chair of APS DBIO this year!
April 5, 2025 at 3:57 PM
Reposted by Arpita Upadhyaya
Global Physics Summit is around the corner! Make sure to stop by the DBIO membership table during the meeting for some free swag 🔥

And check out our excellent line up of over 90 DBIO sessions. Find the full program here: summit.aps.org/schedule/
Schedule
Join the physics community in Anaheim, California, and virtually for talks on the latest research, networking events, special talks, and more.
summit.aps.org
March 14, 2025 at 2:42 AM
A lot of people & energy at the #StandUpForScience protest. Inspiring speeches from leaders, students, scientists, raising voices to protest against federal firings, funding freezes, budget cuts, which will have devastating & lasting effects on research, health care, education, careers & society. 🧪
March 10, 2025 at 12:09 AM
Stand up for Science today - March 7, 12-4 pm at the Lincoln Memorial in DC and places nationwide. Join to rally for science & protest against federal firings, funding freezes & budget cuts for science, which will be devastating for scientific research & society. Lend your voice to support science!🧪
TODAY IS THE DAY! 🧪☀️⬇️

Join us at the Lincoln Memorial or your local site to Stand Up for Science!
March 7, 2025 at 1:06 PM
Reposted by Arpita Upadhyaya
"In an unprecedented move, the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) has begun mass terminations of research grants that fund active scientific projects because they no longer meet 'agency priorities'"

www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Exclusive: NIH to terminate hundreds of active research grants
Studies that touch on LGBT+ health, gender identity and DEI in the biomedical workforce could be terminated, according to documents obtained by Nature.
www.nature.com
March 6, 2025 at 3:08 AM
Reposted by Arpita Upadhyaya
The institution of American science is on the front lines in the fight against fascism.

This is more than just indirect cost caps.

On March 7th, we stand for the freedom of thought, the power of knowledge, and, ultimately, democracy.

#standupforscience2025 #scienceforall

Please share widely!
WHERE WILL YOU BE ON MARCH 7TH!?

Head to www.standupforscience2025.org/local-event-information/ or the link in our bio to find your closest event—or add one if you're hosting one!

#standupforscience2025
March 2, 2025 at 12:25 PM
Reposted by Arpita Upadhyaya
New preprint out 🔥🔥 on my postdoc work with @manuelthery.bsky.social and @lblanchoin.bsky.social about how we can create sustained dynamic steady states of actin network inside microscopic wells that contract "forever" without collapsing! A thread 🧵
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
February 26, 2025 at 9:13 AM
Photos from the rally last week to support science, protest firings at NIH, NSF & budget cuts for research. Careers of people who’ve worked hard for science & public service have been lost. There were many young people, including PhD students from my lab, who’re anxious about what the future holds.🧪
February 22, 2025 at 3:32 PM
A great explanation about how science funding works and impacts scientists, and the extremely damaging effects of the current administration’s directives and cuts for scientific research, scientists and all of society. This is helpful for spreading the word among non-scientists in your community.
Mostly preaching to the choir here, but a group of us moderators over on Reddit's AskScience put together kind of an explainer for the implications of some of the attacks on science funding and infrastructure in the US if it's useful for anyone else to share:
From the askscience community on Reddit
Explore this post and more from the askscience community
www.reddit.com
February 19, 2025 at 7:38 PM
Join the protest in support of science today (Feb 19, 12 pm) in DC! Join thousands of scientists as we raise our voice against federal firings, funding freezes and impending budget cuts which will be devastating for scientific research & discovery, shut down labs and is a threat to higher education.
February 19, 2025 at 1:24 PM
Entering the twilight zone? Federal firings continue. Last week NIH, CDC, today NSF. Careers & livelihoods of scientists. Science will slowly grind to a halt … with these & budget cuts, labs will shut, univs are shrinking incoming class numbers … an irreversible loss. 🧪
www.npr.org/2025/02/18/n...
National Science Foundation fires roughly 10% of its workforce
NSF fired 168 employees, leaving the agency less equipped to fund a wide range of scientific research.
www.npr.org
February 19, 2025 at 5:35 AM
Reposted by Arpita Upadhyaya
📢FUND DON’T FREEZE!📢

Join researchers and academics in DC on February 19th at 12 PM to stand up for research, education, and jobs! Federal attacks on science and academia put all of our futures at risk - let’s show them we won’t back down!

RSVP Here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
February 10, 2025 at 6:08 PM
Reposted by Arpita Upadhyaya
🧪 posting to science feed
February 16, 2025 at 7:55 PM
“ … scientists have ensured the integrity of science … science has flourished, turning the government’s investment into technological innovation and economic growth. Every $ invested in research & development has been estimated to return $5 on average - billions annually.” All of that is at stake. 🧪
🧪 "Trump administration has frozen research funds, halted health communications and publications, vanished decades of health and behavior data from its websites, terminated federally funded studies ... "

& fired critical medical professionals and scientists.

www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...
The Erasing of American Science
How far can the Trump administration bend U.S. research before it breaks?
www.theatlantic.com
February 16, 2025 at 8:54 PM
Reposted by Arpita Upadhyaya
Gutting the CDC right as we’re on the cusp of major outbreaks of transmissible diseases is a very bad idea.
February 15, 2025 at 6:02 PM
Reposted by Arpita Upadhyaya
Use this form to tell us how the new US administration is affecting your research, or suggest future coverage

https://go.nature.com/42SyoUu
Are the Trump team’s actions affecting your research? How to contact Nature
Use this form to share information with Nature’s news team, or to make suggestions for future coverage.
go.nature.com
February 13, 2025 at 1:12 PM
Reposted by Arpita Upadhyaya
It’s been buried in all the news today, but every scientist in the US should pay attention to this:

Mike Lauer went out on a limb for us all, sending out a memo saying institutes should start awarding grants. And it looks like Trump/Musk fired him for that. 🧪
NEW: In a further sign of turmoil at the NIH, Mike Lauer, who oversees the agency's $39 billion extramural budget that goes to research outside the NIH, has resigned effective tomorrow.

This comes after top NIH official Larry Tabak abruptly retired yesterday.
February 14, 2025 at 9:40 PM
Devastating for science and biomedical research, careers and livelihoods. Unimaginable. 🧪
February 15, 2025 at 5:00 AM
Reposted by Arpita Upadhyaya
I just learned of this site as a place for the amazing women in STEM to be shared and celebrated. So I am sharing it with all I can. 🧪

#STEM #science
womenrefusingtobeerased.org
Women Refusing to Be Erased
Join us to inspire, educate, and uplift women/womxn.
womenrefusingtobeerased.org
February 15, 2025 at 2:01 AM
Reposted by Arpita Upadhyaya
One thing that I'm increasingly coming to believe is that stories are going to be central to what comes next. Stories of the harm done. Stories of the great things achieved by government in the past. Stories of valor kindness and quotidian simple resistance.
February 14, 2025 at 1:08 AM
Reposted by Arpita Upadhyaya
🛟 That last-ditch chemo trial your family member was hoping to be in
🥙 The investigation of a food-borne illness outbreak in the next town over
🧠The study looking for preventable causes of Alzheimer’s
🧪The assurance that TAXPAYER-PAID-FOR studies & data collection see the light of day
February 15, 2025 at 1:33 AM
Reposted by Arpita Upadhyaya
NIH funding at @UMich supports important medical research, such as extending the life of organs waiting for transplant, advancing treatments for cerebral palsy, and sustaining experimental genetic trials for children with brain cancer.
February 14, 2025 at 8:25 PM
Reposted by Arpita Upadhyaya
Dear federal scientists: If you have been affected by the probationary firings and would be willing to speak with Science, please reach out to me by email (klangin@aaas.org) or on Signal. We can guarantee annonymity.
February 14, 2025 at 8:05 PM
Reposted by Arpita Upadhyaya
The courts alone will not save us.

Musk is attacking the courts, and the Supreme Court is packed with ideologues who support Trump.

Don't sit back and wait for the courts to fix things.
This is a moment where we all need to step up and speak out. 🧪

bsky.app/profile/kyl...
Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney.bsky.social)
JUST IN: Judge Bates (who Musk has been relentlessly attacking on X since he ordered CDC to restore deleted health websites) just sided with DOGE and rejected an emergency effort to bar Musk allies from accessing systems at Labor, HHS and CFPB.
bsky.app
February 15, 2025 at 3:35 AM
Reposted by Arpita Upadhyaya
It's bleak here folks. Real bleak 🧪 youtu.be/Y9e4Pxt_NOM?...
Black Friday – Mass firings begin at the CDC.
YouTube video by Audiommunity
youtu.be
February 15, 2025 at 3:39 AM