Rachel West

A new preprint from our lab is up on bioRxiv! We used trophoblast stem cell model to compare the innate immune response between LPS and IFNB between cell types and cell lines.

Pasteurization destroys H5N1 bird flu in milk Tests show pasteurized dairy with H5N1 remnants did not cause illness in mice, supporting safety of milk during outbreaks.

Sum: science works.

Pasteurization destroys H5N1 bird flu in milk www.sciencenews.org/article/past...

Everyone in ICUs during COVID has haunting pregnancy stories: tenuous patients, emergency intubations, crash C-sections. Even after 5 years of immunity from vaccines and past infections, COVID harms placentas and pregnancy outcomes. Undermining vaccine confidence only endangers pregnant people.

My contribution to the #McClintockLetters is out today in the Tifton Gazette! My father and I wrote a hometown op-ed outlining how federal funding for land-grants and experiment stations changed farming in southeast Georgia and how its all at risk.

tiftongazette.com/2025/06/11/l...

Maternal Iron Deficiency Can Trigger Sex Reversal in Mouse Embryos Scientists have discovered that a lack of iron in pregnant mice can alter the sex development of embryos, challenging long-held beliefs about how sex is determined.

A paper so 🤯 I had to come back to social media.

www.the-scientist.com/maternal-iro...

Defending male mice and women mice from mouse gender ideology

🌟 Check out the program snapshot for our upcoming annual meeting! We hope to see you there July 30th-August 1st in Portland, Oregon 🌟

USDA says it accidentally fired officials working on bird flu and is trying to rehire them In a statement, an Agriculture Department spokesperson told NBC News that officials are "working to swiftly rectify the situation."

🤦🏽‍♀️ “USDA says it accidentally fired officials working on bird flu and is trying to rehire them” www.nbcnews.com/politics/dog...

a man wearing a top hat and a purple jacket is asking for more . ALT: a man wearing a top hat and a purple jacket is asking for more .

ATTENTION

If you are on a study section that was scheduled to meet, please post or DM me with information regarding:

1. The name of the study section

2. The scheduled date

3. Whether the meeting actually occurred

THANK YOU

Boosting this again because it's a good thing to have in your camera roll or your records for your kids' next doctor's visits...just in case the new Head of Human Services does what all the other nominees are doing and guts all available information necessary to living.

A Valentine’s card from my lab attached to my door this morning. Happy Valentine’s Day!

The craziest thing about this job is that last night I got the notice that the NIH proposal I submitted in October was not discussed. Then this morning, I had to dust myself off and submit another proposal for this cycle's submission deadline. I'm on a hamster wheel of rejection and resubmission.

Amazing that you actually got ahold of someone. I called Britt about the RFK nomination and got a voicemail and no response so I left an email and got a form response indicating that nothing I had said and been read. I called and talked to a Tuberville staffer and she essentially hung up on me.

Somewhere in the U.S., there’s a scientist staring at their NSF/NIH grant application wondering why they bother. This post is for you. Science and society both need you. Hang in there and know there is a whole community supporting you.

Hi, Vox reporter here: If you've had a study section, NIH travel, or other NIH-related meeting cancelled (or not), raise your hand! Reply or DM me, and repost for visibility if you're able.

#academicsky @drugmonkey.bsky.social

As a side note, I really appreciated the emphasis on shifting chromosomal and biological differences away from "wrong" and towards genetic variation and its inherent beauty. This is important to remember as we teach topics like sex determination in courses.

This is by far the best explanation of how scientifically wrong and insidious the "biological sex" executive order is.

Beyond the fact that this is just wrong on every biological definition of sex, can anyone explain why the Trump administration has chosen to define sex as the ability to produce the "large" or "small" reproductive cell??

I participated in a faculty panel a few weeks ago in which senior (ahem) faculty gave advice on careers in academia by pretending luck had very little to do with our success. One piece of advice riled me up, in which it was argued that a reason for their success was their ability to say no. 1/

Congratulations!!

The undergrads in the lab have been asking for lab "merch" so I'm surprising everyone at tomorrow's final lab meeting of 2024!

Scientists who study sex variables ("differences")- now more than ever you need to be extremely specific and careful when you discuss sex in your work and with the public. Our language can be weaponized against sex and gender minorities, and justify policy trying to restrict them from public space.

Our lab took new lab photos yesterday so I thought sharing our new photo would be the perfect start to a new platform. So lucky to get to work with this group!