Christina Fitzsimmons
@fitzsimmonscm.bsky.social
Asst. Prof of Biochem. & Mol. Bio. at Michigan State.
Previously at Harvard, NCI, UCSF, and Macalester | aging | cancer | chembio | metabolism | enzymology | RNA modifications | mass spec | STEMEd | runner | boardgamer | LE fellow | my views
Previously at Harvard, NCI, UCSF, and Macalester | aging | cancer | chembio | metabolism | enzymology | RNA modifications | mass spec | STEMEd | runner | boardgamer | LE fellow | my views
Reposted by Christina Fitzsimmons
The Sosa Lab is going to #SfN25 and actively recruiting ✨postdocs✨ with systems neuroscience experience! We study both fundamental memory processes and how memory changes during pregnancy and postpartum.
If you are interested in meeting at SfN, please email me! www.sosaneurolab.com/join/postdoc...
If you are interested in meeting at SfN, please email me! www.sosaneurolab.com/join/postdoc...
Sosa Lab - Postdoctoral Researchers
We are seeking postdocs to start in 2026!
www.sosaneurolab.com
November 7, 2025 at 10:53 PM
The Sosa Lab is going to #SfN25 and actively recruiting ✨postdocs✨ with systems neuroscience experience! We study both fundamental memory processes and how memory changes during pregnancy and postpartum.
If you are interested in meeting at SfN, please email me! www.sosaneurolab.com/join/postdoc...
If you are interested in meeting at SfN, please email me! www.sosaneurolab.com/join/postdoc...
Reposted by Christina Fitzsimmons
The Leading Edge Fellows gathered this week to celebrate Zara Weinberg, a beloved member of our community. Our 7th cohort of Leading Edge Fellows (2026) will be named in her honor.
The Zara Weinberg Leading Edge Cohort application is now open! Due Feb 2.
www.leadingedgesymposium.org/apply/
The Zara Weinberg Leading Edge Cohort application is now open! Due Feb 2.
www.leadingedgesymposium.org/apply/
November 5, 2025 at 5:48 PM
The Leading Edge Fellows gathered this week to celebrate Zara Weinberg, a beloved member of our community. Our 7th cohort of Leading Edge Fellows (2026) will be named in her honor.
The Zara Weinberg Leading Edge Cohort application is now open! Due Feb 2.
www.leadingedgesymposium.org/apply/
The Zara Weinberg Leading Edge Cohort application is now open! Due Feb 2.
www.leadingedgesymposium.org/apply/
All of the cities where I trained (undergrad, grad school, postdoc) were places with excellent public transit and bicycling infrastructure. I knew I could never afford a car as an undergrad or grad student. But non-car transit options made these opportunities possible.
public transportation was one major reason I went to grad school in San Francisco over some other choices. I knew I couldn't afford a car on my stipend. It was also a potent lesson on where accessible public transportation, like BART, is allowed to go (SF and the Easy Bay) and where it isn't (Marin)
When I was a new graduate in the year of our economic catastrophe 2008, I lived in NYC. Which was similarly great because a Metrocard is a damn sight cheaper than a car, gas, and insurance. Public transportation is for class and racial mobility. Which is why Americans are poisoned against it.
November 4, 2025 at 9:49 PM
All of the cities where I trained (undergrad, grad school, postdoc) were places with excellent public transit and bicycling infrastructure. I knew I could never afford a car as an undergrad or grad student. But non-car transit options made these opportunities possible.
Reposted by Christina Fitzsimmons
Zara Weinberg was a brilliant light both in and out of science. She changed the lives of everyone she interacted and loved for the better. Her legacy will live on through all of us and we will fight for a better world on behalf of her memory.
October 30, 2025 at 1:43 AM
Zara Weinberg was a brilliant light both in and out of science. She changed the lives of everyone she interacted and loved for the better. Her legacy will live on through all of us and we will fight for a better world on behalf of her memory.
Reposted by Christina Fitzsimmons
@joann-trejo.bsky.social, @marymunson4.bsky.social and I have a commentary in @natcellbio.nature.com on recent attacks on DEI in biomedical research: "If scientific research, especially biomedical research, is meant to serve everyone, then it requires that everyone has an opportunity to participate"
Scaling back DEI programmes and the loss of scientific talent
Nature Cell Biology - Programmes that support diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in science are under attack in the USA. Data indicate that diversity in the scientific workforce increases...
www.nature.com
October 23, 2025 at 4:36 PM
@joann-trejo.bsky.social, @marymunson4.bsky.social and I have a commentary in @natcellbio.nature.com on recent attacks on DEI in biomedical research: "If scientific research, especially biomedical research, is meant to serve everyone, then it requires that everyone has an opportunity to participate"
Reposted by Christina Fitzsimmons
Looking to start your own lab? 🧬🧪 The Helmholtz Institute Würzburg (HIRI) is offering group leader positions in RNA biology, RNA medicine & RNA technology. Apply by October 31 at www.helmholtz-hiri.de/en/jobs-tale...
E15 Groups
The Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Researchopens a call for
www.helmholtz-hiri.de
October 13, 2025 at 1:30 PM
Looking to start your own lab? 🧬🧪 The Helmholtz Institute Würzburg (HIRI) is offering group leader positions in RNA biology, RNA medicine & RNA technology. Apply by October 31 at www.helmholtz-hiri.de/en/jobs-tale...
Reposted by Christina Fitzsimmons
Venezuela's opposition leader María Corina Machado has won this year's Nobel Peace Prize for her tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela.
Venezuela's opposition leader María Corina Machado wins 2025 Nobel Peace Prize
Venezuela's opposition leader María Corina Machado has won this year's Nobel Peace Prize for her tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela.
n.pr
October 10, 2025 at 11:08 AM
Venezuela's opposition leader María Corina Machado has won this year's Nobel Peace Prize for her tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela.
Reposted by Christina Fitzsimmons
IMO this hasn't gotten enough attention: a recent memo at NIH announces that peer review will be devalued in determining which grants get funded, granting more power to political appointees to make decisions based on the admin's whims over scientific merit
kffhealthnews.org/news/article...
kffhealthnews.org/news/article...
Changes at NIH Give Political Appointees Greater Power To Fund or Block Research - KFF Health News
The National Institutes of Health’s long-held standard of peer review for grantmaking has been subverted by President Donald Trump and NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya, who gave unprecedented power to po...
kffhealthnews.org
October 5, 2025 at 1:33 PM
IMO this hasn't gotten enough attention: a recent memo at NIH announces that peer review will be devalued in determining which grants get funded, granting more power to political appointees to make decisions based on the admin's whims over scientific merit
kffhealthnews.org/news/article...
kffhealthnews.org/news/article...
Reposted by Christina Fitzsimmons
UPenn professors have responded forcefully to the Trump administration's that colleges sign a "compact" in order to secure funding:
"When an invitation is accompanied by consequences for not accepting it, it is in fact a threat, not an invitation." aaup-penn.org/statement-by...
"When an invitation is accompanied by consequences for not accepting it, it is in fact a threat, not an invitation." aaup-penn.org/statement-by...
Statement by the AAUP-Penn Executive Committee on the Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education | AAUP–Penn
October 2, 2025 We have received reports that Penn has been “invited” to sign a so-called “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” by the federal government, and that failing to do so wou...
aaup-penn.org
October 2, 2025 at 5:27 PM
UPenn professors have responded forcefully to the Trump administration's that colleges sign a "compact" in order to secure funding:
"When an invitation is accompanied by consequences for not accepting it, it is in fact a threat, not an invitation." aaup-penn.org/statement-by...
"When an invitation is accompanied by consequences for not accepting it, it is in fact a threat, not an invitation." aaup-penn.org/statement-by...
Reposted by Christina Fitzsimmons
Pritzker: "In any other country, if federal agents fired upon journalists & protesters when unprovoked what would we call it? If officials marched down streets harassing civilians & demanding their papers, what would we say? I don't think we'd have trouble calling it what it is: authoritarianism"
September 29, 2025 at 8:24 PM
Pritzker: "In any other country, if federal agents fired upon journalists & protesters when unprovoked what would we call it? If officials marched down streets harassing civilians & demanding their papers, what would we say? I don't think we'd have trouble calling it what it is: authoritarianism"
Reposted by Christina Fitzsimmons
It has been 7 years and these are still just as relevant!
Wow, it's the 5th anniversary of the #9ReplyGuys thread on Twitter, posted by me & @shrewshrew.bsky.social.
#WomenInSTEM who post about harassment & sexual misconduct get a lot of misogynistic replies.
We (a woman & a man in science) tried to categorize them.
THE NINE TYPES OF REPLY GUYS 🧵
#WomenInSTEM who post about harassment & sexual misconduct get a lot of misogynistic replies.
We (a woman & a man in science) tried to categorize them.
THE NINE TYPES OF REPLY GUYS 🧵
September 23, 2025 at 3:36 PM
It has been 7 years and these are still just as relevant!
Laura is awesome and I can't wait to hear about all the cool work her lab is doing! Prospective students you should definitely reach out!
I'm excited to share that I've started my lab @stanford.edu in the Neurobiology Department! neurobiology.stanford.edu/who-we-are/f...
#stanford #newPI #neuroscience
#stanford #newPI #neuroscience
Faculty
neurobiology.stanford.edu
September 15, 2025 at 5:22 PM
Laura is awesome and I can't wait to hear about all the cool work her lab is doing! Prospective students you should definitely reach out!
Reposted by Christina Fitzsimmons
This is amazing: www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/...
Florida Decided There Were Too Many Children
The state’s elimination of vaccine mandates is a courageous first step toward decluttering itself of any excess kids.
www.theatlantic.com
September 5, 2025 at 4:33 PM
This is amazing: www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/...
Excited to announce the opening of the @fitzsimmonslab.bsky.social at @michiganstateu.bsky.social dept. of biochemistry & molecular biology! (1/3)
August 25, 2025 at 8:35 PM
Excited to announce the opening of the @fitzsimmonslab.bsky.social at @michiganstateu.bsky.social dept. of biochemistry & molecular biology! (1/3)
Reposted by Christina Fitzsimmons
Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2025/08/24/o...
Opinion | America First? Not When It Comes to Your Health.
www.nytimes.com
August 24, 2025 at 5:50 PM
Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2025/08/24/o...
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Two doses of the MMR vaccine are 97% effective at preventing measles.
As the US hits a 33-year high in measles infections, there is now a "race" to find a treatment for the disease.
One pharma company "is banking on a continuing decline in vaccination rates to fuel a need for measles treatments—and in turn, more investor interest"
🎁 link
www.wsj.com/health/healt...
One pharma company "is banking on a continuing decline in vaccination rates to fuel a need for measles treatments—and in turn, more investor interest"
🎁 link
www.wsj.com/health/healt...
The Race to Find a Measles Treatment as Infections Surge
The measles vaccine was so effective the disease was considered eliminated in the U.S., but a resurgence of outbreaks is spurring a need for drugs.
www.wsj.com
August 8, 2025 at 3:46 PM
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Two doses of the MMR vaccine are 97% effective at preventing measles.
Reposted by Christina Fitzsimmons
Wow. A group of top scholars at Harvard just sent a letter to its president, Alan Garber, warning against surrendering to Trump.
Signatories include Steven Levitsky, Dani Rodrik, Ryan Enos, Theda Skocpol, and Steven Walt.
Someone forwarded it to me. Read it here:
Signatories include Steven Levitsky, Dani Rodrik, Ryan Enos, Theda Skocpol, and Steven Walt.
Someone forwarded it to me. Read it here:
July 31, 2025 at 3:35 PM
Wow. A group of top scholars at Harvard just sent a letter to its president, Alan Garber, warning against surrendering to Trump.
Signatories include Steven Levitsky, Dani Rodrik, Ryan Enos, Theda Skocpol, and Steven Walt.
Someone forwarded it to me. Read it here:
Signatories include Steven Levitsky, Dani Rodrik, Ryan Enos, Theda Skocpol, and Steven Walt.
Someone forwarded it to me. Read it here:
The Bio Dept. @macalestercollege.bsky.social is looking for a tenure-track assistant professor in molecular genetics. I got my BA here and can say without a doubt that Mac really launched my scientific journey. Applications due Sept 15th!
academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/30197
academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/30197
Macalester College, Biology
Job #AJO30197, Assistant Professor in Molecular Genetics, Biology, Macalester College, Saint Paul, Minnesota, US
academicjobsonline.org
July 28, 2025 at 3:41 AM
The Bio Dept. @macalestercollege.bsky.social is looking for a tenure-track assistant professor in molecular genetics. I got my BA here and can say without a doubt that Mac really launched my scientific journey. Applications due Sept 15th!
academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/30197
academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/30197
Reposted by Christina Fitzsimmons
Keep talking to your reps and senators!!
The Senate just posted the report language of its FY26 science appropriations bill. This text lays out what they want done and carries the force of law if it is included in the final spending bill.
It's a line-by-line refutation of Trump's proposed budget for NASA and NOAA.
It's a line-by-line refutation of Trump's proposed budget for NASA and NOAA.
www.appropriations.senate.gov
July 18, 2025 at 7:31 PM
Keep talking to your reps and senators!!
I wrote an op-ed for my local paper (The Sentinel in Carlisle, PA) about the impact of science funding cuts.
cumberlink.com/opinion/edit...
Thank you to @cornellasap.bsky.social and @sciencehomecoming.bsky.social to get my writing out there as part of the #McClintockLetters initiative!
cumberlink.com/opinion/edit...
Thank you to @cornellasap.bsky.social and @sciencehomecoming.bsky.social to get my writing out there as part of the #McClintockLetters initiative!
Guest Editorial: Invest in science, invest in the future
“An investment in knowledge pays the best interest,” wrote Pennsylvania’s own Benjamin Franklin — words that have only grown more powerful in today’s world.
cumberlink.com
July 1, 2025 at 3:42 PM
I wrote an op-ed for my local paper (The Sentinel in Carlisle, PA) about the impact of science funding cuts.
cumberlink.com/opinion/edit...
Thank you to @cornellasap.bsky.social and @sciencehomecoming.bsky.social to get my writing out there as part of the #McClintockLetters initiative!
cumberlink.com/opinion/edit...
Thank you to @cornellasap.bsky.social and @sciencehomecoming.bsky.social to get my writing out there as part of the #McClintockLetters initiative!
Reposted by Christina Fitzsimmons
Planning to apply to Biology PhD Programs this year? Let us help you out!! At the Stanford Biology Preview Program, we aim to support students from all backgrounds through the graduate school application process. Apply here: forms.gle/EvTyUWXFMRSL...
June 24, 2025 at 8:38 PM
Planning to apply to Biology PhD Programs this year? Let us help you out!! At the Stanford Biology Preview Program, we aim to support students from all backgrounds through the graduate school application process. Apply here: forms.gle/EvTyUWXFMRSL...
The comment process is quick and easy! The volume of comments also matters, so writing something short and sweet is perfect.
Today is the last day to comment on schedule F, Russ Vought's plan to politicize the civil service, by making many positions political appointments. Please take the time to comment today. donmoynihan.substack.com/p/last-day-t...
Last chance to weigh in on Trump's plan to politicize the civil service
Trump has already shown us how he would use Schedule F powers
donmoynihan.substack.com
June 7, 2025 at 10:29 PM
The comment process is quick and easy! The volume of comments also matters, so writing something short and sweet is perfect.
Congratulations to all the new fellows and welcome to the Leading Edge community!!
We are thrilled to announce the 2025 Leading Edge Fellows! 40 outstanding postdoctoral fellows doing pioneering research in a wide range of biological and biomedical disciplines.
Learn more about these exceptional scientists:
www.leadingedgesymposium.org/fellows
Learn more about these exceptional scientists:
www.leadingedgesymposium.org/fellows
May 27, 2025 at 6:44 PM
Congratulations to all the new fellows and welcome to the Leading Edge community!!
Reposted by Christina Fitzsimmons
Scientists, reach out to your local communities about the importance of funding science! Write an op-ed to your local newspaper as part of the #McClintockLetters.
Please spread the word and sign up! DM me if you're interested and need help getting started. I'm trained as a writer and happy to help.
Please spread the word and sign up! DM me if you're interested and need help getting started. I'm trained as a writer and happy to help.
Yes! Scientists, let's share our work with the public. Write an LTE/op-ed/ or guest column in a LOCAL HOMETOWN PAPER, published June 16! #McClintockLetters #SciComm
Share how we serve the public with fed dollars, & insights into fed funded research. Signup + more info: tinyurl.com/McClintockLetters
Share how we serve the public with fed dollars, & insights into fed funded research. Signup + more info: tinyurl.com/McClintockLetters
May 23, 2025 at 6:37 PM
Scientists, reach out to your local communities about the importance of funding science! Write an op-ed to your local newspaper as part of the #McClintockLetters.
Please spread the word and sign up! DM me if you're interested and need help getting started. I'm trained as a writer and happy to help.
Please spread the word and sign up! DM me if you're interested and need help getting started. I'm trained as a writer and happy to help.