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Val Cortez

@virologistval

Parent-scientist | Chicana |Assistant Professor @UCSC studying astroviruses, mucosal microbiology and immunology

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12.11.2024
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Latest posts by Val Cortez @virologistval

Our institutions should be mounting as strong and as organized a response to the canceling of grants along ideological and partisan lines as they did against the illegal change to F&A costs. And our emails and/or letters to our research administrators and campus counsel should be asking for this.

23.03.2025 19:15 πŸ‘ 22 πŸ” 10 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0

I think this is a point we need to hammer home: These decisions about which grants are not getting reviewed or funded and which grants are being canceled are being done by an explicitly non-transparent process.

21.03.2025 17:26 πŸ‘ 49 πŸ” 21 πŸ’¬ 4 πŸ“Œ 0
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Guest Commentary | Trump is turning off the lights on biomedical research: Why it matters for Santa Cruz β€œThese cuts aren’t just about UCSC; they’re about Santa Cruz,” writes Needhi Bhalla, Susan Carpenter and Carol Greider in a Guest Commentary. β€œThis crucial NIH support fuels our l…

What would federal funding cuts do to a community's local economy, its people, & the next generation? UC Santa Cruz Science Professors Needhi Bhalla, Susan Carpenter, & Carol Greider state it plainly and painfully in yesterday's Santa Cruz Sentinel article. www.santacruzsentinel.com/2025/03/20/g...

21.03.2025 20:26 πŸ‘ 19 πŸ” 11 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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SARS-CoV-2 cellular coinfection is limited by superinfection exclusion | Journal of Virology Since SARS-CoV-2 first emerged in 2019, it has continued to evolve, occasionally generating variants of concern. One of the ways that SARS-CoV-2 can evolve is through recombination, where genetic info...

SARS-CoV-2 cellular coinfection is limited by superinfection exclusion journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

21.03.2025 15:38 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Great opportunities for young virology investigators in Heidelberg. I’m sure there will be lots of adverts like this over the next few months.

To our US colleagues - come to Europe. We will actually value you.

21.03.2025 15:33 πŸ‘ 11 πŸ” 9 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 1
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elmo from sesame street is surrounded by flames and says yasssss Alt: elmo from sesame street is surrounded by flames and says yasssss.

Eveerybodeeeeeeee wish @needhibhalla.bsky.social the happiest of birthdays in this date and day by posting your favorite jam that's absolute fire

20.03.2025 07:39 πŸ‘ 50 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 21 πŸ“Œ 3

This is the clear reveal. It is about eliminating qualified competition from brown people. If it were about a supposed non-meritorious leg up, they would just prevent programmatic selection from using any measures to enhance diversity.

21.03.2025 15:35 πŸ‘ 69 πŸ” 20 πŸ’¬ 3 πŸ“Œ 0

The NIH study section I'm serving on for student/postdoc fellowships has been rescheduled for late April (good). But the diversity fellowship apps have been eliminated from the review list (very bad). Extremely frustrating that they couldn't even be reclassified as standard fellowship apps.

17.03.2025 16:24 πŸ‘ 64 πŸ” 27 πŸ’¬ 7 πŸ“Œ 5
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Guest Commentary | Trump is turning off the lights on biomedical research: Why it matters for Santa Cruz β€œThese cuts aren’t just about UCSC; they’re about Santa Cruz,” writes Needhi Bhalla, Susan Carpenter and Carol Greider in a Guest Commentary. β€œThis crucial NIH support fuels our l…

Opinion piece in the @scsentinel.bsky.social by me, @carpenterlab.bsky.social and Carol Greider: Trump is turning off the lights on biomedical research: Why it matters for Santa Cruz

www.santacruzsentinel.com/2025/03/20/g...

21.03.2025 15:22 πŸ‘ 76 πŸ” 51 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 4
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Save the Date: MIT Menstruation Science Launch Event – April 9, 2025 β€’ The MIT Center for Gynepathology Research

Join us for the hybrid launch event of our new menstruation science initiative! Unlocking the secrets of the hormone-immunity nexus! If you've never heard Hilary Critchley speak you are in for such a mind blowing keynote!
cgr.mit.edu/2025/03/17/s...

18.03.2025 00:14 πŸ‘ 22 πŸ” 7 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

β€˜NIH programs like PREP provided my first introduction to research,’ Steven Mesquiti, a San Antonio, Texas native writes, β€œWithout these programs, countless studentsβ€”regardless of race, gender, or political affiliationβ€”will lose their chance to break into fields that shape our nation’s future.” πŸ§ͺ🏠

17.03.2025 22:10 πŸ‘ 8 πŸ” 5 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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ICYMI by First release - now in print @science.org

Identification of APCs in the gut that promote Treg differentiation and how tolerance to food antigens is influenced by helminth infection.

buff.ly/3DjNQ1e

By @cicacanesso.bsky.social @danmucida.bsky.social @victora.bsky.social et al

14.03.2025 15:25 πŸ‘ 59 πŸ” 17 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 1
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Meet Gracie Himes, age 20.

Her goal: Fight cancer by developing new medicines.

On March 3, her dreams were shattered when Trump admin cuts hit West Virginia University, which rescinded her PhD program offer.

www.wsj.com/us-news/educ...

14.03.2025 13:19 πŸ‘ 4374 πŸ” 1507 πŸ’¬ 178 πŸ“Œ 184

I was in Beijing last summer talking science; imho they are already there. It's good for science and good for humanity. Not good for America. Truly a very bad time to cripple American science.

14.03.2025 02:32 πŸ‘ 53 πŸ” 15 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0

Yay! @needhibhalla.bsky.social is coming to visit us at UCLA soon!!! One good thing to look forward to, so well needed at this time :)

14.03.2025 01:13 πŸ‘ 11 πŸ” 4 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Grants that people spent enormous effort writing and were already submitted are being politically withdrawn because of who they are. This is wrong.

14.03.2025 11:20 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

If your grant is "reassigned" or removed this week before the study section review. This may be due to a new round of review on NIH research priorities under NIH's statutory and regulatory authorities. Hang in there.

13.03.2025 18:56 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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Government must protect health research funding It’s hard to stand out when you’re one of nine β€œnew kids” in a class of 26, and that’s who I was after moving to Hartland during the mid-’90s subdivision

Prof. Lauren Haack writes to her Wisconsin hometown πŸ§€ that science funding β€˜matters for every student with a passion for science, every family with a loved one in a medical trial, and every young professional entering health care.’ πŸ§ͺ🏠
@laurenmhaackphd.bsky.social

www.gmtoday.com/daily_news/c...

13.03.2025 18:06 πŸ‘ 9 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Let's not forget that apart from science advocacy the Rauch lab also does kick-ass science!
Together with the @psmitchej.bsky.social and Tait Wojno labs, we show that #tuftcells can induce specific protective signaling after recognition of intracellular bacterial infection via the #inflammasome!

13.03.2025 16:31 πŸ‘ 64 πŸ” 22 πŸ’¬ 4 πŸ“Œ 0
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First authors Madeline Churchill and Ankit Pandeya @nkeet50.bsky.social from @rauchlab.bsky.social show that tuft cells, known for their role in anti-parasite defenses, can also contribute to anti-bacterial responses in the small intestine. rupress.org/jem/article/...

#InfectiousDisease

13.03.2025 16:18 πŸ‘ 27 πŸ” 12 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 4
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Persistent viral infections impact key biological traits in Drosophila melanogaster Persistent viral infections have been assumed to have minimal fitness costs for insects. Using Drosophila melanogaster , we established persistent mono-infections with four different enteric RNA virus...

More on #Drosophila #Viruses from @salehlabparis.bsky.social !! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

13.03.2025 14:55 πŸ‘ 12 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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NIH Cuts Create a Lost Generation of Scientists Trump administration attacks on the National Institutes of Health mean biomedical research will become less ambitious, less competitive and result in fewer breakthroughs.

πŸ§ͺ The attack on science could have a generational effect. We risk losing a wave of early-career researchers to these cuts. And biomedical science in the US will be less ambitious, less competitive & lead to fewer breakthroughs. So much is at stake. My latest for @opinion.bloomberg.com (🎁 link):

12.03.2025 13:28 πŸ‘ 197 πŸ” 102 πŸ’¬ 6 πŸ“Œ 8

Apologies for the β€œgo-gurt” analogy 🀭

12.03.2025 23:49 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Some bright light during an absolute πŸ’© timeβ€” big thanks to the faculty @ UGA for hosting me this week! #IDSky @ceirrnetwork.bsky.social

12.03.2025 23:49 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
Hot pink poster that reads Science is for Everyone

Hot pink poster that reads Science is for Everyone

Excited to be protesting today with my UMN colleagues because #ScienceIsForEveryone πŸ§ͺ🧬 🧠

I’ll also be giving a brief speech at the MN state capitol about why diverse perspectives are an integral & necessary component for us to do good science ✨

#standupforscience2025 #ScienceNotSilence

07.03.2025 17:01 πŸ‘ 183 πŸ” 36 πŸ’¬ 5 πŸ“Œ 0
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Great crowd in Pittsburgh Standing Up for Science.

Thanks to all of the other great speakers sharing their stories!

07.03.2025 18:28 πŸ‘ 394 πŸ” 33 πŸ’¬ 7 πŸ“Œ 3
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Joining colleagues and concerned citizens across the US and around the world today who are Standing Up For Science. Why?

βœ”οΈresearch creates cures

βœ”οΈscience grows the economy

βœ”οΈfor my colleagues, our trainees, and the future of research and healthcare

βœ”οΈbecause science is for everyone

07.03.2025 18:35 πŸ‘ 10 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Sign for the Stand Up For Science 2025 Rally at UCSC at noon today with a picture of the Statue of Liberty and a banner that reads "Science is for Everyone"

Sign for the Stand Up For Science 2025 Rally at UCSC at noon today with a picture of the Statue of Liberty and a banner that reads "Science is for Everyone"

And I will be participating and speaking at the #StandUpForScience2025 rally @ucsantacruz.bsky.social this afternoon!

07.03.2025 17:14 πŸ‘ 13 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0