Here are the results in terms of the number of projects.

The number of funded projects in FY2025 is 4014 fewer than the number for FY2024.

2/3

Worried a bit that this will add another layer of paperwork for every grant, requiring us to justify all the indirect components directly attributable to the grant as written, requiring even more grant support staff than we currently have or adding further to their burden…

Vito Rebecca is part of "3D Spatial and in vivo Interrogation of the Vital Role of Stroma in Mortality in Acral Lentiginous Melanoma," led by Ashley Kiemen with @joelsunshine.bsky.social. 2/3

Paper is now out in its final form. Here is a share link:
authors.elsevier.com/a/1lKJ25OfC1...

Taken together, the expression levels and spatial distribution of Siglec-engaging sialoglycans may play a role in patient prognosis, potentially representing a biomarker of survival that is independent from conventional metrics of an inflamed tumor microenvironment.

And last but definitely not least, 3) if a tumor had more Siglec-ligand expression at the tumor-stroma interface than in the center of the tumor, patients suffered worse overall survival, despite our finding that overall Siglec-ligand expression levels were unrelated to survival.

2) This connection was strongest at the tumor-immune interface, where high siglec-ligand expression was more tightly associated with reductions in effector T cell infiltration.

We used this to investigate the relationship between these Siglec-engaging sialoglycans and melanoma patient outcomes. We identified several key findings: 1) Siglec-ligand expression negatively correlated with CD8 infiltration, aligned with its immunosuppressive role.

In this study, we developed and optimized an immunohistochemistry staining protocol for novel reagents that detect three types of sialic acid binding immunoglobulin-like lectin (Siglec)-engaging sialoglycans, key signature glycans that have demonstrated immunosuppressive roles.

This is very relevant to cancer biology, as there is significant evidence of the "glycoimmune checkpoint", as specific glyco signatures have been identified to be potently immunosuppressive. www.nature.com/articles/nri...

Glycobiology (the study of sugars in biology) is fascinating and relatively understudied. In particular, we have lacked validated tools to study how sugars, which are key components of the extracellular matrix and the surface of cells, impact biological functions in a spatially resolved manner.

Add to this, the slow pace of new and competitive renewal awards due to study section and advisory council meeting delays and actual grant terminations, the flow of funds has been reduced and has become more unpredictable.

This is no effing way to run the world’s best biomedical research system.

If interested, explore more here at www.residencyexplorer.org

Main takeaways: 1) program signals matter + are more important than geographic preferences for most programs, but 2) importantly, different programs appear to weight gold vs silver signals differently, with some weighting gold signals very heavily and others using them equivalently.