Marc Lipsitch

cisac.fsi.stanford.edu/content/cisa... In my new role at @stanfordcisac.bsky.social, I'm recruiting for a postdoc to define how benefits of risky research should be evaluated. w Tony Mills of @notredame.bsky.social . #philsci #biosecurity #scipolicy

New paper: we argue that a promising approach for studying mpox vaccine effectiveness in Central Africa to incorporate mpox vaccination + testing data into existing cohort studies, especially those for HIV/STIs. www.thelancet.com/journals/ebi...

Check out "Are We Prepared for the Next Pandemic?"- CCDD Director, @mlipsitch.bsky.social's conversation with Sam Harris, host of the Making Sense podcast. www.samharris.org/podcasts/mak...

Republicans, before you vote to close 1 of 4 nursing homes, can you update us on where those people will go? Maybe call a few seniors in your state and go over plans for where they go next? Or call the son whose dad has dementia and tell him how he can be a full-time caregiver?

A new study by Julia Deichmann, @mlipsitch.bsky.social and collaborators at the Sheba Medical Center, Israel uses mathematical modeling to predict antibody kinetics and duration of protection against SARS-CoV-2 following vaccination using sparse serological data. Read it here at bit.ly/43XY9mK

New tool for pangenome analysis! CLARC refines bacterial gene clusters using functional annotation + linkage—not just sequence. New publication by @indragon.bsky.social & collaborators, advised by @mlipsitch.bsky.social & @billhanage.bsky.social. Read more at bit.ly/4ek0Y51

Deeply affecting article by an @hsph.harvard.edu PhD student denied the opportunity to graduate due to blanket exclusion of Sierra Leone citizens by the US Government. A very particular example of pointless cruelty by the US Government. www.theguardian.com/global-devel...

The goal is plainly and literally to cut the number of people involved in basic science in the US by 70%

"The policy’s narrow-mindedness will make America small again.” I am simply at a loss to express how stupid this is. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/30/b...

Great piece by @hsph.harvard.edu colleague Maitreyi Mazumdar about how NIH's evisceration of overseas research collaborations harm the US as well as the partner countries www.bostonglobe.com/2025/05/29/o...

The Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) Program was central in improving the evidence base for health policies and interventions, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa and Central & Southern Asia - figure by @aasli.bsky.social. Our preprint on the termination of the DHS Program: osf.io/preprints/so...

I'm a current Harvard graduate student and I found out today that I had my NSF GRFP terminated without notification. I was awarded this individual research fellowship before even choosing Harvard as my graduate school

Please consider a comment today if you are in the US. See the advice (shared from an email I received) in the follow-up posts below this one. Tomorrow is the deadline. This is an important part of scientific freedom in this country.

This is pure authoritarianism. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/21/u...

🎓 The GOP’s reconciliation bill is a direct hit on higher ed: – $351B in cuts education & workforce programs – eliminating subsidized student loans – Taxes on scholarships & endowments – & more. ACE calls it a “full-out assault” on access to college. Read below ⬇️ www.acenet.edu/News-Room/Pa...

Proposed cut to NIH for fiscal 2026- $18 billion www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/u...

Important public service reporting from @statnews.com on how people are getting their NIH grants reinstated www.statnews.com/2025/05/19/r...

Given that there are 435 voting members of Congress, I would have hoped for more than 25% of House members to support American innovation in science and technology. 112? That’s it? No one else wants answers?!?!

Looking for examples of beautiful, controversial or impactful microbial modelling papers - ideally a mixture of the above! It’s for teaching in the context of microbial eco/evo/epi. The modelling should be relatively easy to understand for a master’s student with a biology background.

Love this initiative!

Breaking: Over 150 college presidents across the country just signed a letter condemning the Trump administration’s threats to dictate their policies. “We speak with one voice against the unprecedented government overreach now endangering American higher education.”

New Brief Report out in @pnas.org with Katherine Budeski: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... Focusing a virus risk ranking tool on prediction -- highlighting the importance of training models for viral emergence only on data available before emergence has happened.