Chris Petersen
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christianpetersen.bsky.social
Chris Petersen
@christianpetersen.bsky.social
950 followers 1.8K following 1 posts
Regeneration biology of planarians and acoels, developmental biology, evolution of development
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Reposted by Chris Petersen
lorennacleary.bsky.social
Happening now: clergy protest ICE detention center in Chicago.

“Why are you still here? Greg Bovino already left.”

“It’s an internment camp…no medicine…toilets don’t work”
November 14, 2025 at 3:55 PM
Reposted by Chris Petersen
bencollins.bsky.social
“I want you to understand what it is like to live in Chicago during this time.”

aphyr.com/posts/397-i-...
I want you to understand what it is like to live in Chicago during this time. Every day my phone buzzes. It is a neighborhood group: four people were kidnapped at the corner drugstore. A friend a mile away sends a Slack message: she was at the scene when masked men assaulted and abducted two people on the street. A plumber working on my pipes is distraught, and I find out that two of his employees were kidnapped that morning. A week later it happens again. An email arrives. Agents with guns have chased a teacher into the school where she works. They did not have a warrant. They dragged her away, ignoring her and her colleagues’ pleas to show proof of her documentation. That evening I stand a few feet from the parents of Rayito de Sol and listen to them describe, with anguish, how good Ms. Diana was to their children. What it is like to have strangers with guns traumatize your kids. For a teacher to hide a three-year-old child for fear they might be killed. How their relatives will no longer leave the house. I hear the pain and fury in their voices, and I wonder who will be next. Understand what it is to pray in Chicago.
November 9, 2025 at 5:26 PM
Reposted by Chris Petersen
laurie-merrell.bsky.social
I'm struck by how many Chicagoans have seemingly felt compelled to write and share reflections on "this is what it feels like in Chicago right now". We know we're going through something awful together and we want the world to understand it.

Threading several of these pieces below.
November 9, 2025 at 1:15 AM
Reposted by Chris Petersen
labonnelab.bsky.social
Dear all, A scientist from UNC Chapel Hill, Paul Maddox, is running for congress in NC for a seat currently held by a republican. If you care about science (and democracy) please consider donating to his campaign #Standupforscience secure.actblue.com/donate/paul-...
Donate to Paul Maddox for Congress in NC 11
Paul is running for Congress because there’s a sickness in Washington, and no one is working to cure it.
secure.actblue.com
October 20, 2025 at 5:51 PM
Reposted by Chris Petersen
mschenk.bsky.social
Update: the White House account on Bluesky @whitehouse-47.bsky.social now has 6.8K followers vs. 550K+ accounts that have blocked it directly or via a blocklist according to ClearSky.
October 18, 2025 at 6:41 PM
Reposted by Chris Petersen
johncusack.bsky.social
Chicago - no kings
October 18, 2025 at 5:33 PM
Reposted by Chris Petersen
michalis-averof.bsky.social
Here it is! Postdoctoral position to identify the progenitors sensory organs in the regenerating legs of Parhyale

apply here: www.averof-lab.org/pages/tracman

1/3
michalis-averof.bsky.social Michalis Averof @michalis-averof.bsky.social · Jul 13
We've just been awarded a grant to study the cellular basis of regeneration – to track the progenitors of sensory organs in the context of leg regeneration, in our favourite crustacean tinyurl.com/parhyale, based on live imaging and cell tracking. The project involves some cool collaborations... 1/3
October 3, 2025 at 10:47 AM
Reposted by Chris Petersen
joshcurrie.bsky.social
💥OUR LAB IS HIRING!!💥

We are hiring a research assistant/lab manager to assist with managing our axolotl colony and enabling some kick-ass science! Looking for high levels of organization, collaboration, problem solving and curiosity.

Application link: tinyurl.com/3tpvphpm
#SciJob #JobAlert
One of your future coworkers in the Currie Lab, an adorable axolotl.
September 18, 2025 at 7:30 PM
Reposted by Chris Petersen
wallaceucsf.bsky.social
Cells can form patterns within themselves just like embryos do. How? Connie Yan's new preprint shows how the anterior-posterior cytoskeleton pattern in Stentor is dictated by regionalized scaffolding proteins

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
August 19, 2025 at 8:42 AM
Reposted by Chris Petersen
donmoyn.bsky.social
New, from an anonymous NIH insider: Trump is being pushed to spend more NIH money. The White House is ordering NIH to do multi-year budgets for awards. This budget trick means fewer awards, fewer labs funded, and lower paylines for researchers. 🧵
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/alert-the-...
Alert: The Trump administration is quietly slashing new NIH grant awards, and it's not via the budget
NIH’s sudden move to multiyear grant funding is forcing shocking cuts in the number of grants funded. This is an effective budget cut. It's bad, folks.
donmoynihan.substack.com
July 28, 2025 at 2:21 PM
Reposted by Chris Petersen
gregggonsalves.bsky.social
Given his performance on @cnn.com, it’s time to tell this story again. Vought’s daughter is alive because of NIH. He’s destroying an institution that saved his daughter’s life. @mrjoncryer.bsky.social @jamellebouie.net @atrupar.com www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Project 2025 is gutting medical funding that helped Russell Vought's own kid
Its architect's daughter has cystic fibrosis—and benefits from a "miracle drug" backed by an agency he's attacking.
www.motherjones.com
July 27, 2025 at 3:53 PM
Reposted by Chris Petersen
jbwallingford.bsky.social
The NIH is asking scientists and the public to comment on plans to drastically limit animal model research. If you think animal models remain important tools for basic and clinical research tell them! Click the link below and scroll down to send your comments!

www.fda.gov/news-events/...
FDA-NIH Workshop: Reducing Animal Testing
The FDA is hosting a workshop on reducing animal testing. The workshop is open to current FDA and NIH employees.
www.fda.gov
July 11, 2025 at 5:17 PM
Reposted by Chris Petersen
shelbyflies.bsky.social
Happy to announce a new preprint from my lab looking in to the establishment of polycomb domains in early fly development and contributions from pioneer factors Zelda and GAGA-factor.
biorxiv-devbio.bsky.social bioRxiv Developmental Biology @biorxiv-devbio.bsky.social · Jul 3
Nucleation-dependent propagation of Polycomb modifications emerges during the Drosophila maternal to zygotic transition https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.07.02.662854v1
July 3, 2025 at 9:44 PM
Reposted by Chris Petersen
labonnelab.bsky.social
Universities are not passive beneficiaries of government largesse. It is the federal government that depends on universities to conduct the research that keeps our nation healthy, safe and economically competitive.I discuss in the Washington Post.
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
Opinion | Universities and the government: Which needs the other more?
From public health to high-tech innovation, universities are the workhorses of national progress.
www.washingtonpost.com
June 3, 2025 at 12:01 PM
Reposted by Chris Petersen
awormwelcome.bsky.social
A bit of happy news. I'm very excited to share the newest from the R-G lab, a preprint focusing on regenerative neurogenesis in our favorite worms! Grad students @kendallbclay.bsky.social and @taylormlanier.bsky.social co-authored this awesome manuscript. 1/5
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Combinatorial mechanisms specify cellular location and neurotransmitter identity during regeneration of planarian neurons
During regenerative neurogenesis, neurons must be created in the right types and locations. Though regenerative neurogenesis is limited in humans, other animals use regenerative neurogenesis to faithf...
www.biorxiv.org
May 28, 2025 at 12:59 AM
Reposted by Chris Petersen
lizneeley.bsky.social
Possible "shadow termination" of non-competitive grants:

Thanks to Grants-Watch (@anthonybarente.bsky.social + @noamross.net + @scott-delaney.bsky.social), we know of another 1,800+ NIH grants that are more than 30 days overdue for what should be routine renewals...

grant-watch.us/posts/tracki...
Tracking Overdue Funding – Grant Watch
grant-watch.us
May 28, 2025 at 12:42 AM
Reposted by Chris Petersen
carolynbertozzi.bskyverified.social
David Liu @harvard.edu beautifully articulates the criticality of basic science funding for developing revolutionary therapeutics like life-saving base editors 👏

youtu.be/8YhJM6zxYDw?...
Breakthrough Prize-Winning Biochemist on the Deadly Cost of Funding Cuts | Amanpour and Company
YouTube video by Amanpour and Company
youtu.be
May 24, 2025 at 1:13 AM
Reposted by Chris Petersen
gcrox.bsky.social
All of NIH funding to Northwestern University is frozen. This pause includes noncompeting approved funding, new and competing grants with fundable scores. No reimbursements for money already spent have been received since March. This situation is rarely reported so please Please get the word out!
May 23, 2025 at 5:56 PM
Reposted by Chris Petersen
leootsuki.bsky.social
Delighted that our work on positional memory is now published. We asked how axolotl cells 'know' which part of the limb to regenerate after injury.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
A joy to work with super team Sarah Plattner, Yuka Sugiura, Francisco Falcon and Elly Tanaka.
🧵1/14
May 21, 2025 at 3:05 PM
Reposted by Chris Petersen
lbeutler.bsky.social
More than the freezing of individual grants at Northwestern, I hope it breaks through that all NIH money to Northwestern is stopped even for grants that have not been frozen or terminated. The university has received $0 from NIH since March.
joshtpm.bsky.social Josh Marshall @joshtpm.bsky.social · May 20
Here's the opening, folks. Good work for Durbin cracking it open. No ALS research cuts, you say? Oh dear.
atrupar.com Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · May 20
DURBIN: How can we give hope to people across the country who are suffering from so many diseases when our government is cutting back on that research?

RFK Jr: I do not know about any cuts to ALS research

D: I just read them to you!

R: I didn't know about them until you told me about them
May 20, 2025 at 9:54 PM
Reposted by Chris Petersen
catgaohow.bsky.social
Northwestern has not received any NIH funds since March. No written communication about why or what can be done. Thank you Ben Singer for raising awareness at #ATS2025
May 18, 2025 at 10:44 PM
Reposted by Chris Petersen
labonnelab.bsky.social
It is beyond disturbing when the NIH and HHS Directors do not understand that animal models are essential in research

www.statnews.com/2025/05/19/a...
There is no replacement (yet) for animal models in medical research
The NIH is “reducing animal use in research.” But there is no replacement for animal models.
www.statnews.com
May 19, 2025 at 12:24 PM
Reposted by Chris Petersen
davidimiller.bsky.social
“These reinstatements show us that legal action still has the power to hold the federal government accountable to its obligations.”

🎤
These NIH Grants Were Terminated. Now They’re Back.
A handful of scientists whose funding was canceled by the Trump administration are now seeing those decisions reversed — and it’s not always clear why.
www.chronicle.com
April 30, 2025 at 9:31 AM
Reposted by Chris Petersen
wttw.bsky.social
Professors and researchers at Chicago-area universities said federal funding cuts are leaving research projects unfinished.

Julius Lucks, a chemical engineering professor at Northwestern, speaks on if another sector could fund university research.

to.wttw.com/3Ygl3T8
April 25, 2025 at 7:30 PM
Reposted by Chris Petersen
donmoyn.bsky.social
New at Can We Still Govern: An anonymous NIH employee maps out the GOP budget gameplan to permanently gut our most important science agency.
Impoundment, delay and red tape will create artificial "savings" that become the new benchmark for NIH budgets.
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/the-nih-bu...
The NIH budget is on a fast track to disaster
An NIH insider explains what Republicans are likely to do next, and what we can do
donmoynihan.substack.com
April 28, 2025 at 12:50 PM