Needhi Bhalla 💅🏽
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needhibhalla.bsky.social
Needhi Bhalla 💅🏽
@needhibhalla.bsky.social
14K followers 1K following 6.2K posts
Cell biologist and geneticist, Professor, mom and consumer of alcohol. Those might all be related. I grind til I own it.

She/her/hers.

ORCID: 0000-0002-6859-0073

personal account
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needhibhalla.bsky.social
Listening to the expanded edition of Nebraska, sipping a boulevardier and making chicken curry #SundayNight
A boulevardier with diced onions in front
November 3, 2025 at 12:44 AM
needhibhalla.bsky.social
Picture of a Gruyère and potato tart
October 25, 2025 at 1:57 AM
needhibhalla.bsky.social
Listening to the DRtI 2025 playlist, prepping a potato and Gruyère tart, sipping a Negroni and ranting away the annoyance of a work-related email to spouse (boy #2 photobombed my 1st photo attempt) #FridayEvening
Negroni with potatoes Boy #2’s hand blocking my photo
October 25, 2025 at 12:15 AM
needhibhalla.bsky.social
Oh and one last thing: it provides a SKILL based argument for things like the PDEP and contributions to DEI statements, critically illustrating that these were NOT ideological statements but competencies that more diverse training environments required for the benefit of all trainees
To be successful, many scholars and policymakers recognized that broadening participation in science also needed to be effectively coupled to the development of evidence-based management and mentoring skills (reference 14). For example, the same data that demonstrate the value of diversity also show that it can produce challenges, such as undermining group cohesion and decision-making (references 11,13). In response, many of the recently targeted training grants and professional developmental programmes were explicitly designed to link efforts to broaden participation in science with developing or rewarding a demonstrated ability to support scientists and trainees from historically excluded groups. This acknowledgement that current training mechanisms required the active development of additional skill sets and policies beyond traditional mentoring methods was a powerful framework to improve training environments so that they better support all scientists, regardless of racial, ethnic or socioeconomic background.
October 23, 2025 at 5:37 PM
needhibhalla.bsky.social
Negroni #SundayEvening
Negroni in a glass with a sphere of ice
October 20, 2025 at 12:38 AM
needhibhalla.bsky.social
a picture of Lying cat saying lying from the graphic novel Saga
October 15, 2025 at 10:25 PM
needhibhalla.bsky.social
Sipping a Negroni while prepping ma po tofu #FridayEvening
Boulevardier in a tumbler with a sphere ice cube and the makings for ma po tofu in the background
October 11, 2025 at 12:41 AM
needhibhalla.bsky.social
Brewing tea, waiting for blueberry muffins to cool and listening to the new Neko Case album #SundayMorning
A dozen blueberry muffins cooling on a wire rack
September 28, 2025 at 5:54 PM
needhibhalla.bsky.social
Friday, finally #whew 🫠
Boulevardier in a tumbler with ice
September 26, 2025 at 11:58 PM
needhibhalla.bsky.social
made a cherry torte while listening to the new Margo Price album #SaturdayMorning
Pic of a cherry torte in a pan from the top
September 20, 2025 at 6:25 PM
needhibhalla.bsky.social
This is front page of the Sunday Opinions section that accompanied Ezra Klein’s opinion piece about fight back against this regime with everything in their legislative arsenal 👀
Front page of the NYT Sunday Opinion section with the headline Stop Funding Trump’s Takeover and pictures of all the Democratic senators with the it names and the words “what will you do?” below.
September 9, 2025 at 6:01 PM
needhibhalla.bsky.social
the most dramatic shift in recombination we detected in pch-2 mutant males was a significant reduction in recombination at the PC end (where pairing and synapsis initiate), the opposite of the phenotype we observed during oogenesis in pch-2 mutants and thus, exhibiting sexual dimorphism
top: image of the physical and genetic maps of Chromosome I in C. elegans bottom: recombination frequencies in 4 genetic intervals in control worms and pch-2 mutants during oogenesis (left) and spermatogenesis (right)
August 27, 2025 at 9:58 PM
needhibhalla.bsky.social
Dancing around my kitchen to Tyler, The Creator, sipping a tomato water martini and making pizza #Friday
Tomato water martini in a vintage cocktail glass
August 16, 2025 at 12:56 AM
needhibhalla.bsky.social
yeah I made similar comments when the paper originally came out: www.sciencenews.org/blog/scicuri...
“Maybe the silver lining shouldn’t be that when you get the [big grant] you are fine,” Bhalla says. Instead, she suggests, perhaps scientists and institutions should acknowledge that women face an uphill battle — and then say what exactly they’re doing to flatten that hill. The discussion might not seem immediately cheerful, but, she says, “It seems to me a much more hopeful conversation.”
July 26, 2025 at 4:54 AM
needhibhalla.bsky.social
Cheers y’all! #SundayEvening
Negroni in a highball glass outside on bench
July 21, 2025 at 12:38 AM
needhibhalla.bsky.social
Thanks Terry!
Chocolate cake in a mug with whipped cream on a butcher block counter
July 18, 2025 at 3:06 AM
needhibhalla.bsky.social
As I described back in December, the big and small affronts and injustices experienced by women and people of color across an entire career continue to have a cumulative effect — one that drives these folks from the academy at higher rates than other those in other demographics. I’m one of those statistics. And now that so many hard-won reforms and protections are being erased, such attrition will likely increase.
June 30, 2025 at 5:32 PM
needhibhalla.bsky.social
Winning elections is about addition. We need a big tent. That’s why instead of writing off candidates who resonate with voters because we disagree on an issue or two, Democrats should be asking why voters were drawn to them in the first place. I’m not saying Democrats should try to run candidates exactly like Mr. Mamdani everywhere. That’s not going to work for a lot of reasons. But I am begging Democrats to embrace candidates who can authentically speak to the electorate they’re running to represent, whether they’re in red, blue, urban or rural areas. And we should not be so quick to squash exciting candidates just because they seem risky, look different or challenge the status quo. Sometimes we have to try new things. And when we do find candidates who resonate, we should welcome them into our tent — and try to figure out how they do it. With so much on the line in 2026, Democrats can’t get curious soon enough.
June 25, 2025 at 6:53 PM
needhibhalla.bsky.social
😍😍
Lasagne in a 13x9x2 dish with handles
June 9, 2025 at 1:05 AM
needhibhalla.bsky.social
Thank you President Heather Wilson!
subscriber.politicopro.com/article/eene...
"Heather Wilson, president of the University of Texas at El Paso and former secretary of the U.S. Air Force, pointed to the “inconsistency between the president's policy statements about ushering in a golden age of innovation, and the proposal that went to Capitol Hill in the budget,” suggesting that McNutt may have been trying to “navigate carefully” around that issue in her speech. “Now the Congress needs to step up and pursue the policy with a sufficient budget to advance American science,” Wilson added. She also expressed concern about the ways that the White House budget’s proposed cuts to Pell Grants — financial awards for low-income students — might affect the next generation of U.S. scientists. She also said the National Academies should “resist the temptation” to politicize science in an era when scientific decisions are increasingly subject to political whims. “I think it’s particularly important for the National Academies to do as we have done since Lincoln was president,” Wilson said to a round of applause from the audience. “To continue to stand up and pursue the truth through deep analysis of the facts and data.”"
June 4, 2025 at 5:39 PM
needhibhalla.bsky.social
Afternoon cocktails in the backyard with my sweetie #SaturdayAfternoon
A lemondrop in a cocktail glass and a gin and tonic in a pint glass on a bench outside in the sun dappled shade
May 10, 2025 at 11:46 PM
needhibhalla.bsky.social
Super grateful for the staffers, including Kaitlyn Kelly in @schiff.senate.gov’s office, who took the time to meet with me and other members of the @c4lifesciences.bsky.social to discuss the cuts to federal funding of science and biomedical research.
Me standing in front of the American flag, the POW MIA flag and the flag of California state Me standing next to the sign indicating Senator Adam Schiff’s office in Washington DC
April 25, 2025 at 12:34 AM
needhibhalla.bsky.social
👀
A graph showing the disparity between Americans who believe America would be better off if more Americans worked in manufacturing (~80% for all Americans and ~90% for Republican/Republican leaning Americans) and I would be better off if I worked in a factory (a little above 20% for both groups)
April 13, 2025 at 6:14 PM
needhibhalla.bsky.social
For a presentation I am giving, I made a wordcloud of the titles of the NIH grants that were canceled. It is clear about the unscientific goals of this administration
a word cloud of the titles of canceled NIH grants with gender and minority being that largest words
March 29, 2025 at 4:32 PM
needhibhalla.bsky.social
Sipping a boulevardier and working on a grant (lolsob) while spouse goes shopping to make cemitas for dinner #FriYay
Boulevardier cocktail
March 29, 2025 at 12:49 AM