Hey, hey! It’s the soft launch of a weekly Substack Live we’re calling “Doctors Lounge.” (More to come on that.)
Background (skip if you saw yesterday’s post): In yesterday’s Inside Medicine, I discussed President Trump’s claim that NIH-funded research is creating “transgender mice.” That’s incorrect. But some people also thought he’d confused “transgender” for “transgenic” mice—the latter of which refers to a genetic technique that is extremely important in studying countless diseases and biological questions.
Confession: A few weeks ago, I also initially thought that a Republican member of Congress had made the transgender/transgenic mixup. But once I dug into it, I realized that, basically, she had not. Representative Mace was referring to a series of studies that change the biochemical profiles of mice and other animals by administering hormones or hormone blockers. Of course, that does not make the animals transgender—because that is impossible—but these studies can and do mimic the hormonal circumstances of transgender people.
Update: Yesterday, the White House issued a press release listing the NIH-funded studies that President Trump was specifically highlighting. The reality is that the mentioned research projects do, in fact, use animals as a model to better understand transgender care (and risks) in humans, although as you’ll hear in the video, these studies frequently have important implications for many populations, not only the transgender community, although we of course support them! Now, having read the grant proposals, it’s possible that the researchers downplayed the applicability that some of this research might have for others in the general population. In hindsight, that may have been a strategic error, but that doesn’t change the fact that the work is important, and will yield many important insights.
New stuff: I thought you’d be interested in exactly what the six studies the Trump administration mentioned in its press release are actually about. In this inaugural episode of Doctors Lounge, I was joined by Dr. Liz Marnik, a PhD in genetics and immunology and the author of Science Classroom by Science Whiz Liz right here on Substack. Dr. Marnik and I had remarkably parallel journeys on this topic, so I thought she’d be a perfect first guest for our new show. We had a great (and remarkably efficient) conversation.
In just eighteen minutes, we covered the whole kerfuffle and why the research matters. We went through each of the studies to describe what they are and what we can learn from them, from creating HIV vaccines to the reproductive system to cancer to asthma, and much more!
Above all, both Liz and I firmly believe that the best way to win the fight for science is to demystify what research is really about and why it all matters.
Please check it out and then share this post!
And if you want to read more from Dr. Liz Marnik, here’s the link to her Substack, which I’ve just been digging into for the first time myself and really enjoying!
(Closed captions (㏄) and a transcript option (📄) can be found beneath the video playback control bar.)
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