Science Labs Offer Help to Texas Researchers

Sparked by a tweet from a Philadelphia scientist, the March for Science–Houston has launched a database of facilities offering to host reagents and researchers.

Written byJef Akst

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ARMY NATIONAL GUARD, PHOTO BY LT. ZACHARY WESTUpdate (September 8): Tim Mosca and others have extended the offer to those affected by approaching storms Irma and Jose, once again turning to Twitter to spread the word. The database now includes 296 labs that have signed on to help those in need.

Yesterday afternoon (August 28), Thomas Jefferson University neuroscientist Tim Mosca tweeted out an offer to help any researchers in Texas who’d been displaced by Tropical Storm Harvey, and encouraged other willing labs to retweet his offer. Dozens picked up on it, and within a day, the March for Science–Houston launched a database with contact information for those labs, along with a description of the type of research they do, indicating what accommodations might be available.

“It was born out of a conversation yesterday. A number of scientists on Twitter from Penn State, Princeton, and Utah and us at Jefferson were kind of brainstorming about how to help all of our displaced colleagues at various institutions in Texas,” Mosca tells The Scientist. “The NIH has mechanisms ...

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Meet the Author

Jef Akst
Jef (an unusual nickname for Jennifer) got her master’s degree from Indiana University in April 2009 studying the mating behavior of seahorses. After four years of diving off the Gulf Coast of Tampa and performing behavioral experiments at the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga, she left research to pursue a career in science writing. As The Scientist's managing editor, Jef edited features and oversaw the production of the TS Digest and quarterly print magazine. In 2022, her feature on uterus transplantation earned first place in the trade category of the Awards for Excellence in Health Care Journalism. She is a member of the National Association of Science Writers.
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