Revathi Balasubramanian
Assistant Professor of Ophthalmic Sciences
@Columbia University, Developmental ocular biology, Mom-scientist, Chai lover, All things women-in-science, Immigrant.
- Reposted by Revathi BalasubramanianHappy to announce that our latest paper is now out! Have you ever wondered how neural tissues control their size? In this paper, we show that cell division orientation is critical in both the cortex and retina. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
- Reposted by Revathi BalasubramanianA couple of papers are finally out too. First, Meis factors are (unfortunately) not sufficient to respecify temporal identity in retinal progenitor cells. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- This Diwali I am hoping that the good truly does triumph over all evil, and soon. Happy Diwali to those celebrating!
- Reposted by Revathi BalasubramanianMy department at Emory is a hiring a tenure-track neuroscientist! Anyone who's talked to me in the last 4 years knows I cannot say enough good things about my dept and the neuroscience community here. My colleagues are so wonderfully supportive. Postdocs, please apply! apply.interfolio.com/174371
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- Excited to share this study! We created a developmental atlas of the anterior segment of the eye and provide crucial molecular information that guides the development of Schlemm’s canal and trabecular meshwork cell subtypes. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
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- Reposted by Revathi BalasubramanianThe NIH was healthiest when pay lines were in the 20th percentile range. We are headed into an environment where pay lines are in the 5% range. In my entire career, I’ve only had 3 grants that scored better than 5%. And my lab is considered a successful one. This is going to destroy science.
- Paper alert! With co-first authors Nick Tolman and @taiboli.bsky.social , we profile trabecular meshwork cells using single-cell RNA + ATAC seq, identify mitochondrial dysfunction in an early-onset glaucoma model, and use Vitamin B3 to protect against nerve damage. elifesciences.org/reviewed-pre...
- Reposted by Revathi BalasubramanianHi all, we got a grant for a cool project that will follow up of our paper published a few months ago (see below). We will explore how light acts as a morphogen to instruct PCP. If you are looking for a postdoc position and interested in this topic, please reach out!
- ICYMI our latest paper is now out officially in print (is there still such thing?). And since Dev Cell @cellpress.bsky.social did not select our submission for cover, I post it here. A really cool illustration from my son Zack. www.cell.com/developmenta...
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- In more good new for the lab.. Just heard that we got a grant from The Glaucoma Foundation for our work on early onset glaucomas! Thank you TGF.
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- Just got word that I got the RPB career development award. It feels weird to be happy when science funding is under attack. But one small win, one more day of science (or 4 more years). Thank you, Research to Prevent Blindness foundation.
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- Reposted by Revathi BalasubramanianWe have updated our database of funding opportunities for Early-Career Researchers (private foundations, federal, international) We have 456 entries, for which we provide $ amount, deadline, eligibility criteria, etc. Download this massive database here for free: research.jhu.edu/rdt/funding-...
- These are my people! 🫶
- Reposted by Revathi BalasubramanianOur latest manuscript (7 years in the works) tackles the question of how diurnal ground squirrels evolved a cone-dominant retina, in contrast to the ancestral rod-dominant retina retained by virtually all other mammals./1 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
- Reposted by Revathi BalasubramanianDeaths from heart disease down 75%, that’s NIH. Deaths from stroke down 75%, that’s NIH. HIV/AIDS no longer a death sentence, that’s NIH. 99% of FDA approved drugs in the last decade, that’s NIH. Please show this video to anyone who doesn’t understand why the NIH is so important.
- Will be at #ARVO next week and would love to catch up, vision science folk! I am also presenting a talk on May 6th on trascriptomics in aging and glaucoma.
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- Reposted by Revathi BalasubramanianExclusive: Weeks after President Donald Trump’s administration ordered NIH to pull $250 million in biomedical research grants to Columbia University, the agency is freezing all remaining grant money owed to the university until further notice. scim.ag/4if5Rg1
- Reposted by Revathi BalasubramanianSee, if you just cooperate with the administration and comply, it all turns out OK... www.science.org/content/arti...
- Spotted Valerie Wallace in this. Need to bring her here to bluesky. Or maybe we move to Canada? @blockintheback.bsky.social @michelcayouette.bsky.social @flyeyelab.bsky.social
- Today UHN launches the Canada Leads 100 Challenge! 🇨🇦💯 We’re making an ambitious investment to recruit 100 world-leading scientists. Together, we'll drive the future of health research and position Canada as a leader in global innovation! Learn more: www.uhn.ca/corporate/Ab...
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- Just found out NEI science communications Director was among the ones purged by the recent NIH RIF. I personally benefitted from his work - he highlighted our NEI funded Neuron publication when I was on the job market. Every week I enjoyed his NEI research update. Thank you for everything you did.
- Reposted by Revathi BalasubramanianDirector of the Nat'l Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) was summarily dismissed yesterday. So here's your reminder that birth defects kill twice as many American kids as cancer. But there is no St. Jude's for birth defects. Only the NICHD. www.nature.com/articles/d41...
- Reposted by Revathi BalasubramanianPowerful new Washington Post story up... wapo.st/426d9fT (Gift link) 1/n
- My lab studies mechanisms of pediatric glaucoma and the development of tissues affected (Schlemm's canal and trabecular meshwork). I am getting creative with fundraising because, well... So if you know someone who might be interested in funding our work: joinus.cuimc.columbia.edu/index.cfm?fu...
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- @schalleklab.bsky.social : look who I met today and went down the Rochester memory lane!
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- I needed this laughter today.
- As an ESI, I am quite confused by what happens between getting a score and actually getting an NOA. It always seems to be a blackbox for me. Does the PO make recs? Council makes decisions? How does a grant get picked to be funded? @jeremymberg.bsky.social , bluetorial on this please?
- Reposted by Revathi BalasubramanianNothing will kill more children than the ongoing decimation of CDC, NIH, and USAID work to lift vaccine uptake in the US and world. Child survival rose 75% in the last 50 years. Vaccines account for 40% of that. Measles vax alone was 60% of the benefit. www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
- Reposted by Revathi BalasubramanianWow. "NIH" canceled my co-mentored (with Dave Sulzer) PhD student's F31 funding. His work is on understanding the genetics and neuroscience of language learning disorders. F31 provides no indirect $ to Columbia, just pays his salary. Not that it should matter, but he's an American citizen. W.T.F.
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- Reposted by Revathi BalasubramanianLast year, I was overjoyed to receive an NIH NRSA fellowship to study toddler brains and caregiving effects on memory at Columbia. Last night, my grant was terminated.
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- As I prepare to submit a grant to the NIH.. my efforts seem so futile.. This is heartbreaking and infuriating on so many levels.
- Reposted by Revathi BalasubramanianBluetorial: Women, courage, and leadership What follows will include some generalizations based on population averages of what I have experienced over the course of my career. There are, of course, exceptions in every group who are substantially more to one extreme or the other.
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- Reposted by Revathi BalasubramanianTransgenic means that genes from 1 organism have been put into another. We make transgenic mice to understand how genes influence biological processes. We make transgenic plants to make them more nutrient rich. We make transgenic bacteria so they make medicine for us. It's wide-ranging & v. useful.
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- Reposted by Revathi BalasubramanianHello there! My lab studies the sympathetic nervous system and its interactions with body organs and tissues. I post about my science, academia, food, cats, travel, my experience as an immigrant scientist and politics (occasionally). Check out our lab website www.kuruvillalab.com
- There is one in Washington Square Park, NYC! Come stand up for science!
- Welcome to the Bluesky account for Stand Up for Science 2025! Keep an eye on this space for updates, event information, and ways to get involved. We can't wait to see everyone #standupforscience2025 on March 7th, both in DC and locations nationwide! #scienceforall #sciencenotsilence
- Reposted by Revathi BalasubramanianWelcome to the Bluesky account for Stand Up for Science 2025! Keep an eye on this space for updates, event information, and ways to get involved. We can't wait to see everyone #standupforscience2025 on March 7th, both in DC and locations nationwide! #scienceforall #sciencenotsilence
- Reposted by Revathi BalasubramanianTom Maniatis coming in hot in @CellCellPress to spell out in no uncertain terms what cutting indirect cost rates to 15% will cost science. And a call to action: "A united front...is essential to preventing this devastating policy from taking effect." 💯 www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
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- Reposted by Revathi Balasubramanian@arvoinfo.bsky.social is joining @standupforscience.bsky.social on March 7 in Washington, D.C., for its National Day of Action, advocating for science as a public good and a pillar of social/political/economic progress. RSVP to attend the DC rally or one in your local area. bit.ly/3EWYJqC
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- Reposted by Revathi BalasubramanianNIH indirects case update: Hearing ongoing now, and I'll try to live tweet some notable exchanges. Prior to more detailed arguments, Judge Kelley starts off with a few point questions to both sides: (I'm paraphrasing here)
- Reposted by Revathi BalasubramanianA two-and-a-half-year-old girl shows no signs of a rare genetic disorder, after becoming the first person to be treated for the motor-neuron condition while in the womb. go.nature.com/41a7Zzj
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- Reposted by Revathi BalasubramanianWe’re hiring a new research fellow. Come join us in London to study glial cells in the ageing retina using killifish as a model. www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...
- Reposted by Revathi BalasubramanianAn excellent (that is to say, accurate) post about some of the shit that is happening. I’m leaving the fucking curse words in. Worth a read and a good reminder at the end.
- A long post about what’s happening to the science funding agencies in the US and why. As mentioned, this one just kept getting longer even as I kept stripping curse words from it. www.science.org/content/blog...
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