Matthew Pescosolido
@mfpesco.bsky.social
Neuroscientist | Neurological diseases | Background: Psychology → Neurogenetics/Rare disease → Neurobiology |
PhD: Brown University
PhD: Brown University
Reposted by Matthew Pescosolido
If you're the parent of a disabled kid, I just want to tell you I know it's hard and I know you feel like you're failing constantly, but you're doing it and you're doing the best you can and your kid absolutely loves you for it.
November 18, 2025 at 12:51 PM
If you're the parent of a disabled kid, I just want to tell you I know it's hard and I know you feel like you're failing constantly, but you're doing it and you're doing the best you can and your kid absolutely loves you for it.
Reposted by Matthew Pescosolido
Raise a glass for Rosalind Franklin tonight and honor her memory and scientific contributions
NYT obituary of Jim Watson.
A long and fairly balanced view of a complicated man who participated in one of the greatest discoveries in biology.
[Gift Link]
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/07/s...
A long and fairly balanced view of a complicated man who participated in one of the greatest discoveries in biology.
[Gift Link]
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/07/s...
James Watson, Co-Discoverer of the Structure of DNA, Is Dead at 97
www.nytimes.com
November 7, 2025 at 9:12 PM
Raise a glass for Rosalind Franklin tonight and honor her memory and scientific contributions
Reposted by Matthew Pescosolido
I’ve seen enough.
Impeach Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
Impeach Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
September 4, 2025 at 4:28 PM
I’ve seen enough.
Impeach Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
Impeach Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
Reposted by Matthew Pescosolido
Abbe Lowell and I represent CDC Director #SusanMonarez. Contrary to govt statements, Dr. Monarez has neither resigned nor yet been fired. She will not resign. We have issued the following statement:
August 27, 2025 at 11:15 PM
Abbe Lowell and I represent CDC Director #SusanMonarez. Contrary to govt statements, Dr. Monarez has neither resigned nor yet been fired. She will not resign. We have issued the following statement:
Reposted by Matthew Pescosolido
Please don't tell trainees not to study rare diseases, because it lacks prestige or funding. First, it isn't true, and I and many others have built successful careers studying rare diseases. Second, it's incredibly rewarding, and if they are passionate about it, that is going to propel them (cont)
August 15, 2025 at 2:06 PM
Please don't tell trainees not to study rare diseases, because it lacks prestige or funding. First, it isn't true, and I and many others have built successful careers studying rare diseases. Second, it's incredibly rewarding, and if they are passionate about it, that is going to propel them (cont)
Reposted by Matthew Pescosolido
Completely endorsed! I linked to this editorial in my own post today about our health “leadership”.
“In RFK Jr.’s America, it will never be safe to practice public health or medicine”
The CDC shooting was public health’s Jan. 6
“In RFK Jr.’s America, it will never be safe to practice public health or medicine," write an epidemiologist and a former CDC staffer.
www.statnews.com
August 18, 2025 at 4:31 PM
Completely endorsed! I linked to this editorial in my own post today about our health “leadership”.
Reposted by Matthew Pescosolido
How many more people will be killed by our federal public health officials?
Kakistocracy
www.science.org
August 18, 2025 at 3:52 PM
How many more people will be killed by our federal public health officials?
Reposted by Matthew Pescosolido
@katherinejwu.com got me on the record. My terminated colleagues are scientists and were committed service members. The #NIH lost so much talent.
How Many Times Can Science Funding Be Canceled?
Whether or not Congress cuts NIH’s budget, the Trump administration has devastated its ability to operate.
www.theatlantic.com
August 6, 2025 at 8:28 PM
@katherinejwu.com got me on the record. My terminated colleagues are scientists and were committed service members. The #NIH lost so much talent.
Reposted by Matthew Pescosolido
This is the thing about student course evaluations—they were never originally intended as measures of teaching quality. That purpose was stapled onto them later.
Evaluation is important and we have good ways of evaluating instructors (observations, audits, mentoring). But the evidence is clear that asking students to Yelp review their instructors the week before exams yields no valuable information on teaching or learning--just customer satisfaction.
July 31, 2025 at 4:05 PM
This is the thing about student course evaluations—they were never originally intended as measures of teaching quality. That purpose was stapled onto them later.
Reposted by Matthew Pescosolido
#NIH PIs, start emailing Dr. Jayanta Bhattacharya and tell them what you are experiencing. CC Dr. Jon Lorsch and your ICO Director of Extramural Activities. Get them to talk with each other. #defendresearch
NIH director Bhattacharya denies banned word list in meeting with staffers
Bethesda Declaration signers insist that a list exists and further criticize new policies
cen.acs.org
July 31, 2025 at 8:29 PM
#NIH PIs, start emailing Dr. Jayanta Bhattacharya and tell them what you are experiencing. CC Dr. Jon Lorsch and your ICO Director of Extramural Activities. Get them to talk with each other. #defendresearch
Reposted by Matthew Pescosolido
This is a catastrophe. There is nothing else to be said.
Trump Administration Puts New Chokehold on Billions in Health-Research Funding
The National Institutes of Health can’t award grants to outside researchers under a new White House restriction.
www.wsj.com
July 30, 2025 at 12:54 AM
This is a catastrophe. There is nothing else to be said.
Reposted by Matthew Pescosolido
Even with flat funding for the NIH, under the current FY26 plan, there will be 60% less cancer research and much less research funded overall. We need to make sure Congress understands these tricks and protects against them in their budget plan.
Odds of winning NIH grants plummet as new funding policy and spending delays bite
Funding multiyear grants up front will sharply cut number of investigators receiving awards
www.science.org
July 29, 2025 at 11:30 AM
Even with flat funding for the NIH, under the current FY26 plan, there will be 60% less cancer research and much less research funded overall. We need to make sure Congress understands these tricks and protects against them in their budget plan.
Reposted by Matthew Pescosolido
I think we were successful in showing them that we are organized, committed, hard working and passionate. That even if you exclude some of our lead organizers, there are plenty more of us ready to step in. That we are going to keep fighting to save #NIH.
July 22, 2025 at 3:20 AM
I think we were successful in showing them that we are organized, committed, hard working and passionate. That even if you exclude some of our lead organizers, there are plenty more of us ready to step in. That we are going to keep fighting to save #NIH.
Reposted by Matthew Pescosolido
And on another note, i just learned that the project Courtney is working on, despite the RO1 receiving a 9th percentile, may be at risk, since #NINDS funding is now below that level. #Neuroskyence
Thanks to these families for speaking out and sharing their stories. I know Courtney - she's a talented grad student and dedicated and fierce advocate for her daughter June. Gift link. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/21/w...
Disabled Americans Fear What Medicaid Cuts Could Do to Them
www.nytimes.com
July 21, 2025 at 3:34 PM
And on another note, i just learned that the project Courtney is working on, despite the RO1 receiving a 9th percentile, may be at risk, since #NINDS funding is now below that level. #Neuroskyence
Reposted by Matthew Pescosolido
The NIH ‘s new forward funding approach is an accounting trick designed to artificially reduce the budget by committing next year’s funds to this year’s budget without making the funds available. It’s an excuse to fund fewer grants. Bureaucratic authoritarianism to nullify congressional intent.
July 18, 2025 at 1:50 AM
The NIH ‘s new forward funding approach is an accounting trick designed to artificially reduce the budget by committing next year’s funds to this year’s budget without making the funds available. It’s an excuse to fund fewer grants. Bureaucratic authoritarianism to nullify congressional intent.
Reposted by Matthew Pescosolido
you can jail people but not words and ideas, most of all those you put people in jail for
Rümeysa Öztürk describes the library in the prison where she was held for 45 days for co-authoring an op-ed
July 17, 2025 at 4:05 PM
you can jail people but not words and ideas, most of all those you put people in jail for
Reposted by Matthew Pescosolido
🧠 What if Alzheimer’s risk starts at the synapse?
In our new study led by Mariana Barata, we show that BIN1, a key AD risk gene, regulates inhibitory synapses—loss of BIN1 → hyperexcitability before Aβ.
www.cell.com/cell-reports...
In our new study led by Mariana Barata, we show that BIN1, a key AD risk gene, regulates inhibitory synapses—loss of BIN1 → hyperexcitability before Aβ.
www.cell.com/cell-reports...
Alzheimer’s genetic risk factor Bin1 controls synapse vesicle exo-endocytosis in inhibitory synapses
Barata et al. show that the Alzheimer’s risk gene BIN1 is critical for the stability
of inhibitory synapses. BIN1 deficiency accelerates the synaptic vesicle endocytic
cycle, leading to synapse loss a...
www.cell.com
July 17, 2025 at 8:24 PM
🧠 What if Alzheimer’s risk starts at the synapse?
In our new study led by Mariana Barata, we show that BIN1, a key AD risk gene, regulates inhibitory synapses—loss of BIN1 → hyperexcitability before Aβ.
www.cell.com/cell-reports...
In our new study led by Mariana Barata, we show that BIN1, a key AD risk gene, regulates inhibitory synapses—loss of BIN1 → hyperexcitability before Aβ.
www.cell.com/cell-reports...
Reposted by Matthew Pescosolido
The field of neuroscience views the goal of human genetics as "finding genes". This is an outdated view. In whole genome studies of rare variants, finding genes is the easy part. The more interesting and important goal is to map out the causal pathway from genes to brain function to cognitive traits
A cross-disorder analysis of CNVs finds novel loci and dose-dependent relationships of genes to psychiatric traits https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.07.11.25331310v1
July 16, 2025 at 2:47 PM
The field of neuroscience views the goal of human genetics as "finding genes". This is an outdated view. In whole genome studies of rare variants, finding genes is the easy part. The more interesting and important goal is to map out the causal pathway from genes to brain function to cognitive traits
Reposted by Matthew Pescosolido
"Labs like mine, working toward treatments that could transform thousands of lives, are forced to shut down projects, turn away talent, and walk away from cures within reach. It's not abstract. It's not academic. This is real. This is happening now. And it is crushing." tinyurl.com/3vt7wc99
July 9, 2025 at 7:35 PM
"Labs like mine, working toward treatments that could transform thousands of lives, are forced to shut down projects, turn away talent, and walk away from cures within reach. It's not abstract. It's not academic. This is real. This is happening now. And it is crushing." tinyurl.com/3vt7wc99
Reposted by Matthew Pescosolido
When history marks the point where we lost the future to China, this will be it.
July 2, 2025 at 7:11 PM
When history marks the point where we lost the future to China, this will be it.
Reposted by Matthew Pescosolido
RFK Jr. Says AI Will Approve New Drugs at FDA 'Very, Very Quickly'
gizmodo.com
July 1, 2025 at 8:31 PM
Reposted by Matthew Pescosolido
Reposted by Matthew Pescosolido
Duke appears to have lost NIH grants because they used the prefix "trans" in reference to disease transmission, transgenic genetic material, translational studies, or signal transduction www.dukechronicle.com/article/2025...
June 27, 2025 at 2:03 PM
Duke appears to have lost NIH grants because they used the prefix "trans" in reference to disease transmission, transgenic genetic material, translational studies, or signal transduction www.dukechronicle.com/article/2025...
Reposted by Matthew Pescosolido
New TYP lab publication led by PhD student @alexlish.bsky.social out today in @cp-cellreports.bsky.social! We present a reproducible neuron-astrocyte-microglia tri-culture model to better reproduce intercellular interactions in Alzheimer's disease. Read more here: www.cell.com/cell-reports...
Astrocyte induction of disease-associated microglia is suppressed by acute exposure to fAD neurons in human iPSC triple cultures
Lish et al. present a co-culture system of iPSC-derived human microglia, astrocytes,
and neurons to investigate intercellular communication across different environmental
and genetic contexts. Transcr...
www.cell.com
June 5, 2025 at 12:49 AM
New TYP lab publication led by PhD student @alexlish.bsky.social out today in @cp-cellreports.bsky.social! We present a reproducible neuron-astrocyte-microglia tri-culture model to better reproduce intercellular interactions in Alzheimer's disease. Read more here: www.cell.com/cell-reports...
Reposted by Matthew Pescosolido
Since the 1940s, the engine driving U.S. economic and military competitiveness has been federal support of research universities. Now Trump is sabotaging a research and development pipeline that is the envy of the world. wapo.st/3FDsQEg
Opinion | We are witnessing the suicide of a superpower
The president’s assault on science dangerously undermines America’s superpower status.
wapo.st
June 3, 2025 at 2:06 PM
Since the 1940s, the engine driving U.S. economic and military competitiveness has been federal support of research universities. Now Trump is sabotaging a research and development pipeline that is the envy of the world. wapo.st/3FDsQEg