Category: News

  • Not With a Cherry on Top!

    —

    by

    Those cherries on top of Grandma’s holiday treat may have been poisoned. Yes, those syrupy, gooey bursts of flavor are, in fact, toxic. The culprit is… red food dye. On January 15, 2025, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released a statement prohibiting the use of Red No. 3 in food and ingested drugs.…

  • The Role of Pedagogy in STEM Education

    The Role of Pedagogy in STEM Education

    —

    by

    Pedagogy, the science of teaching and learning, explores the principles, practices, and methods that shape how knowledge is transmitted and retained. Over time, pedagogy underwent a fundamental shift from a traditional, teacher-centered methodology based on rote memorization to a more collaborative, student-centered approach that encourages exploration and questions. The ongoing evolution of pedagogy continues to…

  • NIH Training Grant and Funding Updates: Implications for Tri-I Scientists

    NIH Training Grant and Funding Updates: Implications for Tri-I Scientists

    —

    by

    Featured Image: The NIH’s drastic cuts to indirect research funding will strain the ability of the Tri-I to cover critical expenses like facilities, utilities, and financial administration. Overview of NIH funding changes In February 2025, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced a significant policy change, capping indirect cost reimbursements at 15% for all new…

  • Foundation Models in Medicine: Revolution or Hype?

    —

    by

    The allure of foundation models in medicine is undeniable. Foundation models are large-scale machine learning models trained on broad data at scale and designed to be adaptable to a wide range of downstream tasks. In natural language processing and computer vision, they’ve demonstrated remarkable capabilities. GPT-4, for instance, can generate human-like text responses, and models…

  • Rockefeller Postdocs Vote to Unionize

    —

    by

    Just before 7 p.m. on September 19, a small crowd of postdocs began gathering outside Founder’s Hall. A few sported stickers proclaiming “I Voted Union Yes!” The air was warm and the nervous excitement palpable as the group began to move toward the building, where the vote count for Rockefeller’s postdoc union election was about…

  • Trust your Instincts: Gut-Brain Research at Tri-I

    —

    by

        Have you ever experienced “butterflies in your stomach?” Maybe a “gut feeling” that just cannot be explained? Nerve cells can be found in even more places than the brain or the central nervous system: enter the enteric nervous system (ENS). The ENS, a unit of the peripheral nervous system, is a group of…

  • AI-generated images for use in scientific communication

    —

    by

    ,

    How does text-to-image AI work? Artificial Intelligence (AI) has seen tremendous growth in the last two decades such that it is now starting to permeate most workplaces, especially with the recent open-source models like DALL-E and chatGPT. Science is no different.  AI uses machine learning algorithms that refer to the ability of a computer to…

  • New Weill Cornell postdoc union begins collective bargaining

    —

    by

    On November 15th, 2023, postdoctoral fellows at Weill Cornell Medicine voted to unionize by a 99% majority of 328 to 4. Forming the union gives postdocs the legal right to engage in collective bargaining with the institution. Postdocs aim to use this right to improve workplace conditions through increased salary minimums, improved housing and childcare…

  • Briefing on EZH2 Research in the Tri-I

    —

    by

    Across a wide variety of cancer types, the overexpression of EZH2 is a well-documented phenomenon. A type of histone methyltransferase, the EZH2 enzyme adds methyl groups onto  specific residues on histones, the core proteins of chromatin coils. By methylating a specific type of histone, EZH2 inhibits the transcription of tumor suppressor genes, ultimately causing cancer…