Fran Querdasi
@fquerdasi.bsky.social
Research Scientist and Postdoctoral Fellow at Seattle Children’s Research Institute / University of Washington. Chronic pain, social determinants of health, early life adversity, and digital behavioral interventions. 🌻
Reposted by Fran Querdasi
I am thrilled to share a new manuscript, out in Scientific Reports: Examining associations among maternal stress, social support, and the infant gut microbiota. In collaboration with @fquerdasi.bsky.social, @drbcallaghan.bsky.social, and @nataliebrito.bsky.social: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Client Challenge
www.nature.com
January 12, 2026 at 3:39 PM
I am thrilled to share a new manuscript, out in Scientific Reports: Examining associations among maternal stress, social support, and the infant gut microbiota. In collaboration with @fquerdasi.bsky.social, @drbcallaghan.bsky.social, and @nataliebrito.bsky.social: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Just out! ✨ Using a novel machine learning approach, we identify a developmental pathway by which the early life gut microbiome may shape mental health at school age via effects on functional brain development. This work can help identify microbial biomarkers of later health issues. 👉 rdcu.be/eNsUK
Childhood gut microbiome is linked to internalizing symptoms at school age via the functional connectome
Nature Communications - Here, the authors find that relative abundances of stress-sensitive gastrointestinal microbes at age 2 years predicts internalizing symptoms in middle childhood through...
rdcu.be
October 31, 2025 at 7:03 PM
Just out! ✨ Using a novel machine learning approach, we identify a developmental pathway by which the early life gut microbiome may shape mental health at school age via effects on functional brain development. This work can help identify microbial biomarkers of later health issues. 👉 rdcu.be/eNsUK
Congratulations, Meriah! I can't wait to dig in to this paper 🤩
October 30, 2025 at 6:25 PM
Congratulations, Meriah! I can't wait to dig in to this paper 🤩
Reposted by Fran Querdasi
🙏 We need your help 🙏
The government continues to cancel grants at both NIH and NSF to censor science it doesn't like.
We're tracking terminations to organize and advocate. Please report your terminated grants:
NIH:
forms.gle/J2znQ7y7YpeP...
NSF: airtable.com/appGKlSVeXni...
w/ @noamross.net
The government continues to cancel grants at both NIH and NSF to censor science it doesn't like.
We're tracking terminations to organize and advocate. Please report your terminated grants:
NIH:
forms.gle/J2znQ7y7YpeP...
NSF: airtable.com/appGKlSVeXni...
w/ @noamross.net
April 19, 2025 at 1:25 AM
🙏 We need your help 🙏
The government continues to cancel grants at both NIH and NSF to censor science it doesn't like.
We're tracking terminations to organize and advocate. Please report your terminated grants:
NIH:
forms.gle/J2znQ7y7YpeP...
NSF: airtable.com/appGKlSVeXni...
w/ @noamross.net
The government continues to cancel grants at both NIH and NSF to censor science it doesn't like.
We're tracking terminations to organize and advocate. Please report your terminated grants:
NIH:
forms.gle/J2znQ7y7YpeP...
NSF: airtable.com/appGKlSVeXni...
w/ @noamross.net
❤️❤️❤️ thank you for doing this important work!
April 6, 2025 at 5:02 PM
❤️❤️❤️ thank you for doing this important work!
Congratulations, Associate Professor Extrordinaire!!! 🥳🤩
March 21, 2025 at 9:48 PM
Congratulations, Associate Professor Extrordinaire!!! 🥳🤩
Reposted by Fran Querdasi
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration works on two of the most urgent U.S. health problems and has generally received bipartisan support. By the end of this week, the staff of the agency could be cut by 50%, according to senior staff members.
Federal Agency Dedicated to Mental Illness and Addiction Faces Huge Cuts
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration has already closed offices and could see staff numbers reduced by 50 percent.
www.nytimes.com
March 12, 2025 at 9:12 PM
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration works on two of the most urgent U.S. health problems and has generally received bipartisan support. By the end of this week, the staff of the agency could be cut by 50%, according to senior staff members.
Reposted by Fran Querdasi
The Trump administration terminates funding for polio, HIV, malaria and nutrition programs around the world.
“People will die,” said Dr. Catherine Kyobutungi of the African Population and Health Research Center, “but we will never know, because even the programs to count the dead are cut.”
“People will die,” said Dr. Catherine Kyobutungi of the African Population and Health Research Center, “but we will never know, because even the programs to count the dead are cut.”
U.S. Terminates Funding for Polio, H.I.V., Malaria and Nutrition Programs Around the World
Here are some of the 5,800 contracts the Trump administration formally canceled this week in a wave of terse emails.
www.nytimes.com
February 28, 2025 at 3:30 AM
The Trump administration terminates funding for polio, HIV, malaria and nutrition programs around the world.
“People will die,” said Dr. Catherine Kyobutungi of the African Population and Health Research Center, “but we will never know, because even the programs to count the dead are cut.”
“People will die,” said Dr. Catherine Kyobutungi of the African Population and Health Research Center, “but we will never know, because even the programs to count the dead are cut.”
Horrible. We all need to act together to stop this. So many people, present and future, depend on work that NIH funds.
I talked to NIH officials, current and former, about what's been happening inside the agency since the Trump administration shut down their grantmaking pipeline in January. Their stories showed just how willing our new leaders are to break the law: www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...
Inside the Collapse at NIH
Administration officials pressured NIH to avoid clear advice from the agency’s own lawyers to restart grant funding now.
www.theatlantic.com
February 28, 2025 at 6:46 AM
Horrible. We all need to act together to stop this. So many people, present and future, depend on work that NIH funds.
Reposted by Fran Querdasi
I’ll be there too!
February 28, 2025 at 1:31 AM
I’ll be there too!
Reposted by Fran Querdasi
ATTENTION
If you are someone who had an F31-Diversity (or similar) application submitted this cycle, please DM me here, contact me on signal (jeremymberg.78), or email me at [email protected].
I will keep all information confidential.
2/n
If you are someone who had an F31-Diversity (or similar) application submitted this cycle, please DM me here, contact me on signal (jeremymberg.78), or email me at [email protected].
I will keep all information confidential.
2/n
February 7, 2025 at 4:06 PM
ATTENTION
If you are someone who had an F31-Diversity (or similar) application submitted this cycle, please DM me here, contact me on signal (jeremymberg.78), or email me at [email protected].
I will keep all information confidential.
2/n
If you are someone who had an F31-Diversity (or similar) application submitted this cycle, please DM me here, contact me on signal (jeremymberg.78), or email me at [email protected].
I will keep all information confidential.
2/n
Reposted by Fran Querdasi
I’ve now posted the National YRBS data, 2015-2023, here. I’ll add the state and district data soon.
www.datalumos.org/datalumos/pr...
www.datalumos.org/datalumos/pr...
January 31, 2025 at 7:08 PM
I’ve now posted the National YRBS data, 2015-2023, here. I’ll add the state and district data soon.
www.datalumos.org/datalumos/pr...
www.datalumos.org/datalumos/pr...
Reposted by Fran Querdasi
Our newest paper, in JAMA Open - randomized high stress employees at UCSF to Headspace or control and Headspace worked to reduce stress! Useful: the effect seems to happen as long as you hit 5 mins per day. Great leadership from @aricprather.bsky.social jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
Digital Meditation to Target Employee Stress
This randomized clinical trial investigates whether a digital mindfulness meditation application reduces perceptions of global and job-related stress among adults employed at a large academic medical ...
jamanetwork.com
January 14, 2025 at 11:44 PM
Our newest paper, in JAMA Open - randomized high stress employees at UCSF to Headspace or control and Headspace worked to reduce stress! Useful: the effect seems to happen as long as you hit 5 mins per day. Great leadership from @aricprather.bsky.social jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
Reposted by Fran Querdasi
"A study of federally funded research projects in the United States estimated that principal investigators spend on average about 45% of their time on administrative activities related to applying for and managing projects rather than conducting active research"
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
January 4, 2025 at 1:26 PM
"A study of federally funded research projects in the United States estimated that principal investigators spend on average about 45% of their time on administrative activities related to applying for and managing projects rather than conducting active research"
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Reposted by Fran Querdasi
For Thanksgiving I want to spend the week highlighting some work that I’m really proud of from 2024. In doing so I’m going to highlight the wonderful research of students I am so thankful and lucky to work with! 🦃
Interoception in pregnancy: Implications for peripartum depression
www.sciencedirect.com
November 27, 2024 at 3:01 AM
For Thanksgiving I want to spend the week highlighting some work that I’m really proud of from 2024. In doing so I’m going to highlight the wonderful research of students I am so thankful and lucky to work with! 🦃
Reposted by Fran Querdasi
Installment 2 of Thank you to my lab for being so great and making these memories! BABLab hits of the year will next feature the inimitable @ngancz.bsky.social publishing this paper on oral #microbiome changes in maltreated youth. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39280088/
Characteristics of the oral microbiome in youth exposed to caregiving adversity - PubMed
Caregiving adversity (CA) exposure is robustly linked to increased risk for poor oral, physical, and mental health outcomes. Increasingly, the gut microbiome has garnered interest as a contributor to ...
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
November 28, 2024 at 12:13 AM
Installment 2 of Thank you to my lab for being so great and making these memories! BABLab hits of the year will next feature the inimitable @ngancz.bsky.social publishing this paper on oral #microbiome changes in maltreated youth. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39280088/
Reposted by Fran Querdasi
Continuing our theme of giving thanks to the graduate students who make the research happen, next up for Black Friday we have a Shiba Shoutout @shibaesfand.bsky.social. Shiba joined the lab last year and has been a delight to have on our team.
November 29, 2024 at 9:35 PM
Continuing our theme of giving thanks to the graduate students who make the research happen, next up for Black Friday we have a Shiba Shoutout @shibaesfand.bsky.social. Shiba joined the lab last year and has been a delight to have on our team.
Post thanksgiving - day 4 of appreciating my BABLab peeps. Today is a highlight of our newest lab member @genesisflores.bsky.social who has more than hit the ground running, starting with an NSF GRFP, and working on a protocol paper for our new NIMH funded Teen Bugs study.
flores.bsky.social
Flores.bsky.social
December 1, 2024 at 6:41 AM
Aww thanks so much, Bridget! ☺️ I love working with you too! Very thankful to have such a stellar mentor. You are a fantastic cheerleader, brilliant thought partner, and teacher who brings out the best. I have learned so much from you 🫶
November 29, 2024 at 4:22 AM
Aww thanks so much, Bridget! ☺️ I love working with you too! Very thankful to have such a stellar mentor. You are a fantastic cheerleader, brilliant thought partner, and teacher who brings out the best. I have learned so much from you 🫶
Very happy to see this change 👏🏼
New fellowship sponsor guidance: "NIH recognizes that the trainee’s research may be funded through a variety of means and that early career faculty may be excellent mentors for trainees. The emphasis. . .is on the individualized nature of the training plan " 👏
grants.nih.gov/policy-and-c...
Sponsor Guidance | Grants & Funding
grants.nih.gov
November 19, 2024 at 10:25 PM
Very happy to see this change 👏🏼
This is exciting because it suggests that the early life gut microbiome might shape functional brain development across early to middle childhood in ways that are relevant for emergence of anxiety and/or depression symptoms which children enter school age. Lots of possibilities for follow-up! 🥳
November 19, 2024 at 8:56 PM
This is exciting because it suggests that the early life gut microbiome might shape functional brain development across early to middle childhood in ways that are relevant for emergence of anxiety and/or depression symptoms which children enter school age. Lots of possibilities for follow-up! 🥳
In sum, this study identifies prospective links between gut microbiome composition, brain functional connectivity networks, and internalizing (depression and anxiety) symptoms across early to middle childhood.
November 19, 2024 at 8:56 PM
In sum, this study identifies prospective links between gut microbiome composition, brain functional connectivity networks, and internalizing (depression and anxiety) symptoms across early to middle childhood.
We found that one microbial profile, that included mostly microbes from the Clostridiales order and Lachnospiraceae family, was indirectly associated with internalizing symptoms through a brain signature characterized by alterations in connectivity within emotion-related networks.
November 19, 2024 at 8:56 PM
We found that one microbial profile, that included mostly microbes from the Clostridiales order and Lachnospiraceae family, was indirectly associated with internalizing symptoms through a brain signature characterized by alterations in connectivity within emotion-related networks.
Finally, we tested whether any microbiome features (microbial profiles or alpha diversity) were indirectly associated with internalizing symptoms via the brain signatures.
November 19, 2024 at 8:56 PM
Finally, we tested whether any microbiome features (microbial profiles or alpha diversity) were indirectly associated with internalizing symptoms via the brain signatures.
In this study, we used sPLS to identify linear combinations of brain networks ("brain signatures") at age 6 that maximally covaried with internalizing symptoms at age 7.5 years, and then identified microbe abundances ("microbial profiles") at age 2 that maximally covaried with the brain signatures.
November 19, 2024 at 8:56 PM
In this study, we used sPLS to identify linear combinations of brain networks ("brain signatures") at age 6 that maximally covaried with internalizing symptoms at age 7.5 years, and then identified microbe abundances ("microbial profiles") at age 2 that maximally covaried with the brain signatures.