Jon Boyle

Jon Boyle

@boylelab.bsky.social

Professor of Biology at University of Pittsburgh. Toxoplasma evolution placenta interactions virulence development. tragically a pirates fan can’t help it

996 followers1.2K following119 posts

Some quality placenta drawings for you. So many different structures out there and so many different ways they are drawn. All are my favorite. #placenta #drawing

Hope this data is useful for extending in vitro cultivation of Toxoplasma to more life stages and as a benchmark for determining how similar different life stages are to merozoites and male and female gametes. Thanks again to Hisham for being willing to take on this bold project for his PhD.

Hisham used single cell rnaseq on pre sexual and sexual stages to examine their developmental trajectories. He identified multiple stage specific genes and identified at least one that is required for oocyst production, AP2X6.

AP2X6 knockout parasites cannot make oocysts and we think this is because AP2X6 helps to repress expression of merozoite genes to promote female gamete development.

Jon Boyle reposted

“I’m a transgender service member and today was my last day in uniform. After 11 years, eight months and 1 day I’m taking the uniform off for good. I will always be yours bc this rank, these skills, this name will always be me.” ~Technical Sargent Altesse Aurum #TransInMilitary 🫡 🏳️‍⚧️ @altessaurum

Jon Boyle reposted

Today, we received notice that our team’s last remaining NSF grant was terminated. For the first time since 2009, when I received an NSF Fellowship for Graduate Research, I have no active NSF grants.

Jon Boyle reposted

Heartbreaking effects of NSF, Americorps cuts to Pittsburgh’s after school programs that support and enrich our city’s kids. The need and benefits of these programs is obvious. Isn’t this what we pay taxes for? Doubt philanthropy can take over. www.publicsource.org/federal-fund...

publicsource.orgPittsburgh after-school programs left scrambling as federal funding cuts hit the regionPittsburgh-area programs reel with recent federal grant terminations from the National Science Foundation.

This, more than anything else they are doing with funding levels etc, will ruin US Science and innovation.

Carl T. Bergstrom@carlbergstrom.com

tl;dr — this EO co-opts the language of open science to implement a system of political control wherein presidential appointees are given broad latitude to designate any number of reasonable scientific activities and inferences as scientific misconduct, and to penalize those involved accordingly.

Jon Boyle reposted

Just called Gillibrand and Schumer to demand they not only vote against the murderous Republican budget bill, but that they deny unanimous consent at every opportunity and do everything else they can to gum up the works. This is intolerable. Find your senators here and make your own calls: reps.fyi

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Amazing super cool and IMPOSSIBLE without a) NIH funding and b) ANIMAL RESEARCH

Eric Topol@erictopol.bsky.social

Today "a milestone in the evolution of personalized therapies for rare & ultra-rare inborn errors of metabolism" —the 1st human to undergo custom genome editing —from decades of NIH funded research www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.... @nejm.org www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.... www.nytimes.com/2025/05/15/h...

Ok so I agree re: HIM but sadly what he’s saying here is “do your own research and be skeptical of experts”.

Tal Kopan@talkopan.bsky.social

Kennedy adds: “I don’t think people should be taking advice, medical advice, from me.”

Jon Boyle reposted

Replying to @needhibhalla.bsky.social

The canceled grants aren't a perfect 1:1 with DEI-related projects, but what a reminder of who is and isn't doing the work to make science more equitable.

Jon Boyle reposted

Jon Boyle reposted

I had an NSF grant on AI education canceled yesterday. I wasn’t given any kind of reason but I have a theory and it’s just as stupid as you might think. (I will probably have more to say on this once I have more details but for right now just: 😡 )

Jon Boyle reposted

Replying to @noamross.net

Just one example: In the past 2 weeks, NIH has terminated dozens of programs to support students pursuing scientific careers. These MARC or U-RISE (T34) grants provide rising undergraduates with opportunities and stipends to participate in science. Where are these programs? Not in the Ivy league:

Jon Boyle reposted

Banning diversity, equity, and inclusion - say it out loud - is catastrophic for US science. It attacks the core of the inclusive strengths of 🇺🇸 science - red or blue, rich or poor - despite the long road ahead. Thank you @stacyfarina.bsky.social for leading! www.insidehighered.com/opinion/view...

insidehighered.comBanning DEI Is Catastrophic for U.S. Science (opinion)An attack on DEI is an attack on science itself, Joseph L. Graves Jr., Stacy C. Farina, Parvin Shahrestani, Vaughn S. Cooper and Gilda A. Barabino write.

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What people in every part of higher education need to understand is that Republicans now want to do to universities what they’ve tried to do to labor unions: erase them from the institutional landscape. The question is how much you want to collaborate in your own destruction.

Jon Boyle reposted

My OpEd in @elife.bsky.social “It feels as if we are trying to fight a series of attacks on science with one arm tied behind our back and our lips half sewn shut.” “Yet we are not beaten, and some of us are downright energized.” elifesciences.org/articles/106...

elifesciences.orgScience Under Threat in the United States: Feeling abandoned but energizedMany individual researchers are frustrated by the response - or the lack of a response - from universities to a growing crisis.

Pay us to do it.

Furqan Shah@shahfa.bsky.social

🧪 The peer review system is truly broken! 😵‍💫 An editor's perspective: –Ever increasing number of manuscripts submitted for publication –Authors want quick editorial decisions + fast peer review –Reviewers are "too busy" to review –Everyone wants to submit papers but no one wants to review 1/2

Jon Boyle reposted

Jon Boyle reposted

Defend the liberty of a stranger as you would defend your own, or that of a loved one, because that is what's actually on the table—whether we are a society that will sit still as our neighbors are snatched in the night, and disappeared into darkness, or a society that will fight for each other.