Still processing but so thankful for the opportunity to speak publicly in Denver and share my why. So thankful for the beautiful souls I met in organizing #standupforscience2025 here. This is only the beginning. Catch Tracy, Scott and I on Denver7! denver7.com/news/front-ran…

Catastrophic research funding cuts continue - this time w/ the DoD’s proposed reduction of the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs by $859 million (57%). These programs are critical for rare cancers,TBI, spinal cord injuries & disorders affecting service members.

For my non 🟦🌌 colleagues and friends. The House Continuing Resolution budget “adjustments” for NIH are significant. Including cutting funding to the Cures Act that funds the BRAIN initiative. It's time to make some calls and #standupforscience. Examples below:

See new House Continuing Resolution budget proposals. Let them know, this is not okay!

Vaccines don’t cause autism. Vaccines aren’t even associated with autism. The biggest predictor of autism? GENETICS. We have decades of data and millions of data points that to show this. This lie insults people with autism too — as if it’s an “adverse effect” of medicine.

Published at Nature today.

I found out this morning that my NIH NICHD News F31 fellowship to study the biomechanics of uterine fibroids was CANCELLED.

JUST dropped! Neuron Review on the Evolving Neurobiology of Early-life stress with Matt Birnie . Where is our field? what are our challenges? Where and how are we going? 300 refs. cell.com/neuron/fulltex… UC Irvine UC Irvine School of Medicine

Our university’s NIH CTSA (Clinical and Translational Science Award) was just cancelled for having some keywords that just mean it will serve ALL people in Utah. This funds research that moves discovery science into clinical therapies. This is literally the mandate of the NIH!

congrats to Alex Khang on his super cool paper using quantitative morphometry to classify fibroblast activation!

For full access to the Denver 7 News article featuring Dr. Bale & Dr. Thompson, click the link in our bio!

The only etching we've made that is from collected data. An expansion microscopy dataset provided by Dr. Ed Boyden, one of my heroes. The Z stack was turned into position data in the etching, walking by the etching it is as if you are focusing through the sample. #etching #neuro

🚨 New paper 🚨 For years, there has been concern that psychedelics might pose cardiovascular risks due to their agonist activity at the 5-HT2B receptor — the same target linked to drug-induced heart disease. pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.10…

What an honor! Humbled and grateful. It was a beautiful disaster and a perfect metaphor for my recovery ending with a standing ovation. Thank you so much to the organizers and stay tuned for the link! TEDxBoulder

Agree with this sentiment. Science has become an industry dominated by metrics and dollars. Many/most of do science for the love of discovery and fulfilling our curiosity, but this *love* of what we do is in conflict with hyper-competition and poor incentive structures!

Denver #NOKINGS was in full force today! Thanks to so many who kept us busy at the Colorado Stand Up for Science table by stopping by to support science, sign up for the Colorado Local, and play with ooblek and microscopes! Science and health is for ALL of us!

Hiring a #postdoc to join our new lab at CSU! oconnorlab.colostate.edu