Kim Tolias
@kimtolias.bsky.social
Molecular Neuroscientist studying brain development and plasticity in health and disease. Synapse enthusiast. Professor at Baylor College of Medicine. Mom. Views are my own.
Reposted by Kim Tolias
🧪This is a must watch. Please watch tonight's episode @60minutes.bsky.social.
Joan Brugge is an eminent scientist that was one of the first pioneers of 3D culture in breast cancer. She had two of her grants canceled last spring.
We used her protocols to develop our own for our research.
Joan Brugge is an eminent scientist that was one of the first pioneers of 3D culture in breast cancer. She had two of her grants canceled last spring.
We used her protocols to develop our own for our research.
November 10, 2025 at 12:52 AM
🧪This is a must watch. Please watch tonight's episode @60minutes.bsky.social.
Joan Brugge is an eminent scientist that was one of the first pioneers of 3D culture in breast cancer. She had two of her grants canceled last spring.
We used her protocols to develop our own for our research.
Joan Brugge is an eminent scientist that was one of the first pioneers of 3D culture in breast cancer. She had two of her grants canceled last spring.
We used her protocols to develop our own for our research.
Reposted by Kim Tolias
Very well done story on 60 Minutes about the harms of grant terminations and freezes at Harvard with Joan Brugge, Don Engbar, David Liu, and a very compelling young cancer patient, now cured with Liu's technology.
Transcript and video here
www.cbsnews.com/news/researc...
Transcript and video here
www.cbsnews.com/news/researc...
Battle between Trump and universities hurting scientific research in need of federal funding
Federal research funding to universities has fueled breakthroughs for years. The White House is pressuring universities to align with the president's political agenda, or risk losing their funding.
www.cbsnews.com
November 10, 2025 at 1:03 AM
Very well done story on 60 Minutes about the harms of grant terminations and freezes at Harvard with Joan Brugge, Don Engbar, David Liu, and a very compelling young cancer patient, now cured with Liu's technology.
Transcript and video here
www.cbsnews.com/news/researc...
Transcript and video here
www.cbsnews.com/news/researc...
Reposted by Kim Tolias
Scientists point to a long list of findings that emerged out of fundamental research, the type of studies the US government is cutting, and went on to change the world. Nature lists a few of their examples. 🧪
7 basic science discoveries that changed the world
Ozempic, MRI machines and flat screen televisions all emerged out of fundamental research decades earlier — the very types of study being slashed by the US government.
go.nature.com
November 7, 2025 at 2:16 AM
Scientists point to a long list of findings that emerged out of fundamental research, the type of studies the US government is cutting, and went on to change the world. Nature lists a few of their examples. 🧪
Reposted by Kim Tolias
Edward Kravitz, a Harvard biochemist who proved GABA's inhibitory power, passed away last month. He will "be remembered for his humanity, for his social conscience and his desire to help those less fortunate than he,” says Ronald Harris-Warrick.
By @claudia-lopez.bsky.social
bit.ly/479Ggmo
By @claudia-lopez.bsky.social
bit.ly/479Ggmo
Remembering GABA pioneer Edward Kravitz
The biochemist, who died last month at age 92, was part of the first neurobiology department in the world and showed that gamma-aminobutyric acid is inhibitory.
bit.ly
October 24, 2025 at 1:41 PM
Edward Kravitz, a Harvard biochemist who proved GABA's inhibitory power, passed away last month. He will "be remembered for his humanity, for his social conscience and his desire to help those less fortunate than he,” says Ronald Harris-Warrick.
By @claudia-lopez.bsky.social
bit.ly/479Ggmo
By @claudia-lopez.bsky.social
bit.ly/479Ggmo
Reposted by Kim Tolias
Sad news: Jane Goodall has died. She did more than any other human for our understanding and appreciation of our closest relatives, the chimpanzees.
That chimpanzees are Endangered tells you everything about our species and about what made her so exceptional.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/01/o...
That chimpanzees are Endangered tells you everything about our species and about what made her so exceptional.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/01/o...
Jane Goodall, Eminent Primatologist Who Chronicled the Lives of Chimps, Dies at 91
www.nytimes.com
October 1, 2025 at 7:52 PM
Sad news: Jane Goodall has died. She did more than any other human for our understanding and appreciation of our closest relatives, the chimpanzees.
That chimpanzees are Endangered tells you everything about our species and about what made her so exceptional.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/01/o...
That chimpanzees are Endangered tells you everything about our species and about what made her so exceptional.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/01/o...
Reposted by Kim Tolias
Reposted by Kim Tolias
‘Congress has your back’: US senators tell scientists they want to protect NIH budget
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
‘Congress has your back’: US senators tell scientists they want to protect NIH budget
Senate budget bill includes small increase for the health-research agency — but faces a long road before being signed into law.
www.nature.com
August 1, 2025 at 2:51 PM
‘Congress has your back’: US senators tell scientists they want to protect NIH budget
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Reposted by Kim Tolias
A functional perspective on astrocyte heterogeneity
www.cell.com/trends/neuro...
www.cell.com/trends/neuro...
A functional perspective on astrocyte heterogeneity
Astrocytes are glial cells of the central nervous system (CNS) that perform an array
of diverse functions that are essential for brain activity. Studies on the functional
diversity of astrocytes sugge...
www.cell.com
July 22, 2025 at 9:58 AM
A functional perspective on astrocyte heterogeneity
www.cell.com/trends/neuro...
www.cell.com/trends/neuro...
Reposted by Kim Tolias
My quote of the day
A Video Quote
Medical miracles don't happen overnight. You have to invest in them. Our investments are in trouble.
(From Francis Collins on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, July 16, 2025)
A Video Quote
Medical miracles don't happen overnight. You have to invest in them. Our investments are in trouble.
(From Francis Collins on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, July 16, 2025)
July 17, 2025 at 10:44 AM
My quote of the day
A Video Quote
Medical miracles don't happen overnight. You have to invest in them. Our investments are in trouble.
(From Francis Collins on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, July 16, 2025)
A Video Quote
Medical miracles don't happen overnight. You have to invest in them. Our investments are in trouble.
(From Francis Collins on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, July 16, 2025)
Reposted by Kim Tolias
I spoke with Jade Hindmon, host of @kpbssandiego.bsky.social Midday Edition, about the consequences of the current administration’s cuts to science funding. Please share to help spread the word and raise awareness.
www.kpbs.org/podcasts/kpb...
www.kpbs.org/podcasts/kpb...
Nobel laureate on how Trump's cuts are hurting science
Neuroscientist, biologist and 2021 Nobel Prize winner Ardem Patapoutian joined Midday Edition to talk about how the Trump administration's effort to cut back on science spending is impacting researche...
www.kpbs.org
June 19, 2025 at 12:27 AM
I spoke with Jade Hindmon, host of @kpbssandiego.bsky.social Midday Edition, about the consequences of the current administration’s cuts to science funding. Please share to help spread the word and raise awareness.
www.kpbs.org/podcasts/kpb...
www.kpbs.org/podcasts/kpb...
Reposted by Kim Tolias
Yas! Parent F32 (PA-25-423) and F30s (PA-25-426, PA-25-425) are also published.
simpler.grants.gov
simpler.grants.gov
June 13, 2025 at 6:19 PM
Yas! Parent F32 (PA-25-423) and F30s (PA-25-426, PA-25-425) are also published.
simpler.grants.gov
simpler.grants.gov
Reposted by Kim Tolias
These are not just grants. This is thousands of people who devoted their lives and careers - taking pay cuts, working long hours, living with uncertainty - all for the chance to try to make people's lives a bit better for you and your loved ones. This breaks my heart.
Cutting NIH or NSF funding sounds abstract. Seeing what research is actually being cut makes it real. Kudos to @nytimes.com for this piece:
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Here Are the Nearly 2,500 Medical Research Grants Canceled or Delayed by Trump
Some cuts have been starkly visible, but the country’s medical grant-making machinery has also radically transformed outside the public eye.
www.nytimes.com
June 4, 2025 at 8:20 PM
These are not just grants. This is thousands of people who devoted their lives and careers - taking pay cuts, working long hours, living with uncertainty - all for the chance to try to make people's lives a bit better for you and your loved ones. This breaks my heart.
Reposted by Kim Tolias
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Every $1 spent on NIH funding returns nearly $3 to the economy - an almost 200% return on investment💰.
Also 99% of drugs developed 2010-2019 were funded by NIH ‼️🤯
Cutting NIH funding not only hurts the economy but will hurt families and patients 😔💔
Every $1 spent on NIH funding returns nearly $3 to the economy - an almost 200% return on investment💰.
Also 99% of drugs developed 2010-2019 were funded by NIH ‼️🤯
Cutting NIH funding not only hurts the economy but will hurt families and patients 😔💔
NIH indirect cost cuts will affect the economy and employment - Nature Human Behaviour
Nature Human Behaviour - NIH indirect cost cuts will affect the economy and employment
www.nature.com
June 3, 2025 at 12:42 PM
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Every $1 spent on NIH funding returns nearly $3 to the economy - an almost 200% return on investment💰.
Also 99% of drugs developed 2010-2019 were funded by NIH ‼️🤯
Cutting NIH funding not only hurts the economy but will hurt families and patients 😔💔
Every $1 spent on NIH funding returns nearly $3 to the economy - an almost 200% return on investment💰.
Also 99% of drugs developed 2010-2019 were funded by NIH ‼️🤯
Cutting NIH funding not only hurts the economy but will hurt families and patients 😔💔
Reposted by Kim Tolias
Man comes to the US from Lebanon. Starts out delivering pizzas, becomes a Nobel winning neuroscientist. Trump freezes his funding, he gets an email from China offering to move his lab “any city, any university I want" with guaranteed funding for 20 years.
What are we doing?
What are we doing?
June 3, 2025 at 7:49 PM
Man comes to the US from Lebanon. Starts out delivering pizzas, becomes a Nobel winning neuroscientist. Trump freezes his funding, he gets an email from China offering to move his lab “any city, any university I want" with guaranteed funding for 20 years.
What are we doing?
What are we doing?
Reposted by Kim Tolias
Senator Ossoff speaking the truth. We need real action
June 2, 2025 at 11:59 PM
Senator Ossoff speaking the truth. We need real action
Reposted by Kim Tolias
It is hard to conceive of a more anti-American policy choice for US innovation and prosperity in the 21st century.
There are 2 previous historical cases of countries destroying their science and universities, crippling them for decades: Lysenkoism in the USSR and Nazi Germany. The Trump administration will be the 3rd.
It's not just budgets but research, institutions, expertise, and training the next generation.
It's not just budgets but research, institutions, expertise, and training the next generation.
May 31, 2025 at 11:32 AM
It is hard to conceive of a more anti-American policy choice for US innovation and prosperity in the 21st century.
Reposted by Kim Tolias
ASSIGNMENT: COMMENT ON SCHEDULE F
1 week left to comment about Schedule F, potentially making NIH institute and center director essentially political appointees.
www.regulations.gov/commenton/OP...
1/n
1 week left to comment about Schedule F, potentially making NIH institute and center director essentially political appointees.
www.regulations.gov/commenton/OP...
1/n
Regulations.gov
www.regulations.gov
May 31, 2025 at 1:48 PM
ASSIGNMENT: COMMENT ON SCHEDULE F
1 week left to comment about Schedule F, potentially making NIH institute and center director essentially political appointees.
www.regulations.gov/commenton/OP...
1/n
1 week left to comment about Schedule F, potentially making NIH institute and center director essentially political appointees.
www.regulations.gov/commenton/OP...
1/n
Huge congratulations to @franciscoblanco.bsky.social (PhD) and Topher Cronkite (MD/PhD) for earning their degrees! Mentoring such outstanding students has been a true honor! Can't wait to see the amazing things they'll do next! @bcmneurosci.bsky.social @bcm-mstp.bsky.social #BCMGraduation
Special shout-out to my amazing mentor @kimtolias.bsky.social. Incredibly fortunate for the opportunity to train in her lab alongside Topher Cronkite. Thank you both, and all the amazing members of the K. Tolias lab, for constantly encouraging me to pursue the best science possible!
May 29, 2025 at 11:05 PM
Huge congratulations to @franciscoblanco.bsky.social (PhD) and Topher Cronkite (MD/PhD) for earning their degrees! Mentoring such outstanding students has been a true honor! Can't wait to see the amazing things they'll do next! @bcmneurosci.bsky.social @bcm-mstp.bsky.social #BCMGraduation
Reposted by Kim Tolias
David Liu @harvard.edu beautifully articulates the criticality of basic science funding for developing revolutionary therapeutics like life-saving base editors 👏
youtu.be/8YhJM6zxYDw?...
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
David Liu @harvard.edu beautifully articulates the criticality of basic science funding for developing revolutionary therapeutics like life-saving base editors 👏
youtu.be/8YhJM6zxYDw?...
youtu.be/8YhJM6zxYDw?...
Reposted by Kim Tolias
Harvard today, your institution tomorrow.
It's all part of the Project 2025 plan to destroy high education in America.
All leading US universities depend on federal funding and tuition dollars from international students. They severely curtailed the former. Now they're eliminating the latter.
It's all part of the Project 2025 plan to destroy high education in America.
All leading US universities depend on federal funding and tuition dollars from international students. They severely curtailed the former. Now they're eliminating the latter.
May 22, 2025 at 6:38 PM
Harvard today, your institution tomorrow.
It's all part of the Project 2025 plan to destroy high education in America.
All leading US universities depend on federal funding and tuition dollars from international students. They severely curtailed the former. Now they're eliminating the latter.
It's all part of the Project 2025 plan to destroy high education in America.
All leading US universities depend on federal funding and tuition dollars from international students. They severely curtailed the former. Now they're eliminating the latter.
Reposted by Kim Tolias
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
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 6:57 PM
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
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
Reposted by Kim Tolias
say it again:
4 million people work in higher ed, the largest employer in 10 states, second largest employer in 10 more, and in 60 of the 100 biggest cities
ROI for NIH and NSF for local economies is conservatively 4x, often close to 10x
demolishing higher education is economic sabotage
4 million people work in higher ed, the largest employer in 10 states, second largest employer in 10 more, and in 60 of the 100 biggest cities
ROI for NIH and NSF for local economies is conservatively 4x, often close to 10x
demolishing higher education is economic sabotage
There is a false dichotomy drawn between "the ivory tower" and "the real world," and I'm here to report that in a post-industrial society, your real-world economy absolutely hinges on the university.
University towns are factory towns. Universities drive economic activity, not the other way around.
University towns are factory towns. Universities drive economic activity, not the other way around.
A must read
May 18, 2025 at 1:45 PM
say it again:
4 million people work in higher ed, the largest employer in 10 states, second largest employer in 10 more, and in 60 of the 100 biggest cities
ROI for NIH and NSF for local economies is conservatively 4x, often close to 10x
demolishing higher education is economic sabotage
4 million people work in higher ed, the largest employer in 10 states, second largest employer in 10 more, and in 60 of the 100 biggest cities
ROI for NIH and NSF for local economies is conservatively 4x, often close to 10x
demolishing higher education is economic sabotage
Reposted by Kim Tolias
We have updated our database of funding opportunities for Early-Career Researchers (private foundations, federal, international)
We have 456 entries, for which we provide $ amount, deadline, eligibility criteria, etc.
Download this massive database here for free: research.jhu.edu/rdt/funding-...
We have 456 entries, for which we provide $ amount, deadline, eligibility criteria, etc.
Download this massive database here for free: research.jhu.edu/rdt/funding-...
May 7, 2025 at 4:46 PM
We have updated our database of funding opportunities for Early-Career Researchers (private foundations, federal, international)
We have 456 entries, for which we provide $ amount, deadline, eligibility criteria, etc.
Download this massive database here for free: research.jhu.edu/rdt/funding-...
We have 456 entries, for which we provide $ amount, deadline, eligibility criteria, etc.
Download this massive database here for free: research.jhu.edu/rdt/funding-...
Reposted by Kim Tolias
"The biomedical research cuts when they’re polled are like 70-30 or 80-20 against. But it’s only on the edges of the news. You want to push it to the center of the news...Let’s have that vote. Push this issue to the top of the news feed and make Republicans own these cuts."
talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/the-w...
Not nearly enough coverage of this possibility by traditional media.
Not nearly enough coverage of this possibility by traditional media.
The White House’s Next Orchestrated Budget Crisis
This is something I’m still trying to get my head around –...
talkingpointsmemo.com
May 5, 2025 at 5:24 PM
"The biomedical research cuts when they’re polled are like 70-30 or 80-20 against. But it’s only on the edges of the news. You want to push it to the center of the news...Let’s have that vote. Push this issue to the top of the news feed and make Republicans own these cuts."