Christina (Chris) Tobin Kahrstrom

Nature is creating a new editorial position for someone with expertise in AI and its biomedical applications - check it out 👇 Application closes September 2nd. springernature.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/SpringerNatu...

Come and work with me! The Nature Micro team is expanding and we're looking for someone to champion microbial ecology, plant micro & related areas for the journal Knowledge of microbial ecology/plant micro is desirable but we're open to applications from all microbiologists Link below 👇

Our paper out today in @nature.com shows the important role Bifidobacteria in the infant gut microbiota play in mediating optimal responses to vaccination.

Everyone is (justifiably) freaking out about Trump's tariffs - and scientific labs are no exception. Costs of basics like glassware have already gone up, as @celestebiever.bsky.social reports in @nature.com: www.nature.com/articles/d41...

www.findaphd.com/phds/project... A funded PhD studentship is available for a joint project between my lab and @andreashaag.bsky.social @uniofstandrews.bsky.social

Reality bites: www.nature.com/articles/d41...

The latest discovery from the lab and great colleagues at McMaster and U Illinois, Chicago. Lariocidin, a new lasso peptide antibiotic that inhibits the ribosome. rdcu.be/efdha

In 2024 NIH grant awards supported 407,782 jobs and $94.58 billion in new economic activity nationwide, the largest figure in the history of the report. www.forbes.com/sites/michae...

Thanks to @roxannek.bsky.social for this story in the Atlantic about AIR-BORNE--and air as a public good. www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...

“The most fundamental resource for progress in science is not the technologies or the buildings. It’s all the good people who do it,“ says former NIH director Francis Collins. “They are all of you who are here today to declare your support for this noble human enterprise.”

🚨I promised I'd say more on the Royal Society and Elon Musk, so here it is. 🚨 I've resigned my position as Associate Editor at Royal Society's journal Open Science in protest at their lack of action over Elon Musk. My op-ed in @theguardian.com www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

When your kids ask you what you did to save US science in the crisis of ‘25, you will say that you showed up! Please spread the word and join us!! @standupforscience.bsky.social

This is what ardent NYT _conservative_ Bret Stephens is saying. Anyone with any sense knows that today was an absolute disaster and disgrace for the United States.

I think this is the closest many of us have ever got to seeing the real Trump. The only consistent thread in his entire unhinged rant was the love & praise for Vladimir Putin. Zelensky has more courage & dignity in his little finger than every member of Trump's regime & fan club combined.

From the editors of @asm.org journals, a call to action! Below we discuss the U.S. scientific research enterprise and provide evidence and arguments we hope the ASM community can use to advocate for science. journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

Trump and Vance’s meeting with Zelensky in the Oval Office today “gave the lie to any claim that this administration’s policy is driven by any strategic effort to advance the interests of the United States, however misguided,” @davidfrum.bsky.social writes. Read more: theatln.tc/SowY3Uin

Why do kids need risky play, and how can they get more of it? There's now an audio version of my @nature.com feature up at @naturepodcast.bsky.social here, or wherever you get your podcasts

Nature research paper: Macrophages recycle phagocytosed bacteria to fuel immunometabolic responses https://go.nature.com/3XmyOPD

An important and shocking account of the carnage at NIH: www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...

It is obvious but worth repeating that regimes built on lies survive only as long as they can suppress truth. The promotion of complicit media (alternative facts) & denigration of objective media (facts) is not just desirable but essential. This process is being turbo-charged in the USA right now.

"Of five domestic targets set in 2019, only one – reducing antibiotic use in food-producing animals – was met. Drug-resistant infections in humans have increased by 13% since 2018, despite a target to reduce them by 10%" www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

Staff and observers worry that the agency may not be prepared for emerging threats including bird flu and insect-borne diseases.

Given increasing awareness of the oppportunities and threats posed by the myriad fungal species that share our ecosystems, this Review published in @nature.com synthesizes the state of knowledge from a One Health perspective. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

"Disruption and uncertainty are the enemy of science. And when disruption and uncertainty strike, “the people who lose their jobs are students and postdocs”. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

STAT story is up about study section restart. www.statnews.com/2025/02/24/s...

Already bruised by the Trump administration’s first round of firings of federal workers, employees at NIH faced more bad news. NIH’s 27 institute directors were told this week that the agency must cut staffing back to 2019 levels, or at least 10% below its 2024 tally. scim.ag/3EP8gjy

I'm in beautiful Banff for the Keystone Microbiome meetings - looking forward to hearing all about the excellent science in the field.

Out now in @nature.com www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Out now in @nature.com www.nature.com/articles/s41...

This is what we did in 2017. Is it time for another March for Science? www.nytimes.com/2017/04/22/s...

There's a lot of organizations declaring "we're doing this based on legal advice about EOs" going around. As an administrator I always knew that advice is not a mandate. It takes a leader's directive to convert advice to action. Leaders need to be prepared to own that directive AND its consequences.

"To see ‘women’ and ‘woman’ and ‘people of colour’ showing up on a spreadsheet over and over and over and over — that was a gut punch" www.nature.com/articles/d41...

I am appalled by the ASM's decision to remove DEI content from their website. Here is my email to the American Society for Microbiology, @ASM.org asking them to put everything back as it was. If you are an ASM member, please consider writing them.

"The One Health approach brought together EU experts from human and veterinary medicine, agriculture and environmental sciences to review existing evidence, identify factors that promote azole resistance, and propose measures to prevent and control it." www.ema.europa.eu/en/news/one-...

The calamity continues... I cannot imagine how stressful this must be, with funds previously promised now hanging in the balance. "NSF staff are now at risk of having to ignore both statute and long-standing NSF policies on how the agency makes awards"

Out now in @nature.com: Elegant work demonstrating CARD-dependent activation of bacterial gasdermins. 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Out now in @nature.com: Gut microbiome diversity across African populations - a valuable resource for further research and foundational for global health equity. 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

I did this course as a budding microbiologist in 2006 - it was a huge learning experience and great fun too. Can't recommend it highly enough 🧪🔬🦠

Federal funds made me. I was in the free school lunch program. Went to public K-12 schools. I was a Pell grant recipient at a state university. I was a Fulbright Scholar. I received an EPA STAR Graduate Fellowship for my PhD. My lab is currently funded by an NIH R01 grant: gibbons.isbscience.org

If you have been affected by the fires in LA, or are concerned about your ability to keep precious Drosophila strains going during the latest funding crisis, we will host your strains as a backup. Please email me. Please amplify. If you are also able to host fly strains, add your name as well.

#GastroEdPick A decade of advances in human gut microbiome-derived biotherapeutics @naturemicrobiol.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41... 🦠

Out now: Exploiting the fitness cost of metallo-β-lactamase expression can overcome antibiotic resistance in bacterial pathogens by Eric Brown, Jon Stokes & co #microsky www.nature.com/articles/s41...

ICYMI: Everyone has a role to play in promoting and protecting human health. The latest issue of Microcosm, ASM's flagship member magazine, explores efforts to advance global public health and the power of partnership and cooperation. Read now: asm.social/2dE

Keep your eyes peeled, folks 👇 www.nature.com/articles/d41...

"The problems that lie ahead in dealing with AMR are not insurmountable, but they must be addressed with an increased sense of urgency." www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

Ben Mueller on the worrying new mutations in bird flu viruses from a patient in Louisiana. Influenza keeps tapping at the window.. .[Gift link] www.nytimes.com/2024/12/27/h...

An important read for all microbiome researchers #microbiomania www.theguardian.com/science/2024...