Heather Caslin
@heathercaslin.bsky.social
Assistant Prof in Exercise Science. Immunometabolism researcher and toddler mom! Views my own.
Pinned
Heather Caslin
@heathercaslin.bsky.social
· Mar 21
Weight loss-induced adipose macrophage memory corresponds... : Shock
immune memory in adipose macrophages that correlates with worsened diabetes risk after weight regain. Here, we investigated the effect of weight gain and loss on adipose macrophage memory and infectio...
journals.lww.com
First Caslin Lab publication is out this week!! We explore the impacts of innate immune memory to weight loss on infection outcomes. Thanks to Julie Bohannon and Ed Sherwood at Vanderbilt for the help with infection studies.
journals.lww.com/shockjournal...
journals.lww.com/shockjournal...
Reposted by Heather Caslin
Clinical trials are so vital!!!
cuts to NIH grants disrupted more than 380 clinical trials, affecting over 74,000 participants!!
cuts to NIH grants disrupted more than 380 clinical trials, affecting over 74,000 participants!!
A new study found the Trump administration’s cuts to NIH grants disrupted more than 380 clinical trials, affecting over 74,000 participants.
The cuts disproportionately impacted trials on infectious diseases and minority communities.
The cuts disproportionately impacted trials on infectious diseases and minority communities.
Federal cuts upended clinical trials. A new study reveals the toll.
Grants for 383 clinical trials were terminated and the funding disruptions affected more than 74,000 trial participants, according to new research.
www.washingtonpost.com
November 18, 2025 at 12:31 AM
Clinical trials are so vital!!!
cuts to NIH grants disrupted more than 380 clinical trials, affecting over 74,000 participants!!
cuts to NIH grants disrupted more than 380 clinical trials, affecting over 74,000 participants!!
Reposted by Heather Caslin
Per CNN, Elizabeth Warren is calling on Harvard to cut ties with Larry Summers after Jeffrey Epstein's emails released last week by House Dems featured Summers making sexist comments + asking for Epstein’s romantic advice.
November 17, 2025 at 5:55 PM
Per CNN, Elizabeth Warren is calling on Harvard to cut ties with Larry Summers after Jeffrey Epstein's emails released last week by House Dems featured Summers making sexist comments + asking for Epstein’s romantic advice.
New review with @lab-williams.bsky.social out today! One of the most enjoyable things about being a new PI has been making new collaborations and seeing projects advance through the pipeline.
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Mechanisms of Innate Immune Modulation by High-Fat Diet: Implications for Obesity and Asthma - Current Allergy and Asthma Reports
Purpose of the Review The innate immune system plays a critical role in mediating many of the physiological consequences of high-fat diet consumption. Dietary lipids, and specifically saturated fatty ...
link.springer.com
November 10, 2025 at 12:40 PM
New review with @lab-williams.bsky.social out today! One of the most enjoyable things about being a new PI has been making new collaborations and seeing projects advance through the pipeline.
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Reposted by Heather Caslin
The man who ended USAID is the world's first trillionaire
November 7, 2025 at 2:14 AM
The man who ended USAID is the world's first trillionaire
😭 there’s no way this is a good thing
8 high level positions at NIH posted including 6 institute director positions (NIMH, NIGMS, NICHD, NIDCR, NHGRI, NLM).
Only open for 2 weeks (applications due November 21).
Application materials include a) CV b) vision statement c) a photocopy of doctoral degree.
hr.nih.gov/careers/open...
Only open for 2 weeks (applications due November 21).
Application materials include a) CV b) vision statement c) a photocopy of doctoral degree.
hr.nih.gov/careers/open...
hr.nih.gov
November 8, 2025 at 1:17 AM
😭 there’s no way this is a good thing
Reposted by Heather Caslin
harvard medical school got bombed yesterday and it barely made news
A device exploded inside the Goldenson Building in Harvard’s Longwood medical campus early Saturday morning, according to a message from the Harvard University Police Department to University affiliates.
Matan H. Josephy and Laurel M. Shugart report.
www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...
Matan H. Josephy and Laurel M. Shugart report.
www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...
Authorities Investigating Explosion on Harvard’s Medical Campus, Believed To Be Intentional | News | The Harvard Crimson
A device exploded inside the Goldenson Building in Harvard’s Longwood medical campus early Saturday morning, according to a message from the Harvard University Police Department to University…
www.thecrimson.com
November 2, 2025 at 7:14 PM
harvard medical school got bombed yesterday and it barely made news
Reposted by Heather Caslin
Socioeconomic roots of academic faculty
Tenure-track faculty are up to 25 times more likely to have a parent with a Ph.D. Moreover, this rate nearly doubles at prestigious universities and is stable across the past 50 years.
#AcademicSky
Tenure-track faculty are up to 25 times more likely to have a parent with a Ph.D. Moreover, this rate nearly doubles at prestigious universities and is stable across the past 50 years.
#AcademicSky
Socioeconomic roots of academic faculty - Nature Human Behaviour
Studying socioeconomic backgrounds and intergenerational transmission in the US academia, Morgan et al. find that faculty have a parent with a Ph.D. degree a striking 25 times more often than the gene...
www.nature.com
November 1, 2025 at 3:53 PM
Socioeconomic roots of academic faculty
Tenure-track faculty are up to 25 times more likely to have a parent with a Ph.D. Moreover, this rate nearly doubles at prestigious universities and is stable across the past 50 years.
#AcademicSky
Tenure-track faculty are up to 25 times more likely to have a parent with a Ph.D. Moreover, this rate nearly doubles at prestigious universities and is stable across the past 50 years.
#AcademicSky
Is being a PI just updating mouse protocols every month?
October 22, 2025 at 8:09 PM
Is being a PI just updating mouse protocols every month?
Reposted by Heather Caslin
On this trajectory, science has no future.
Wow. Harvard nuking its PhD programs
- Science PhD admissions reduced by more than 75%
- Arts & Humanities reduced by about 60%
- Social Sciences by 50–70%
- History by 60%
- Biology by 75%
- The German department will lose all PhD seats
- Sociology from six PhD students to zero
- Science PhD admissions reduced by more than 75%
- Arts & Humanities reduced by about 60%
- Social Sciences by 50–70%
- History by 60%
- Biology by 75%
- The German department will lose all PhD seats
- Sociology from six PhD students to zero
Harvard FAS Cuts Ph.D. Seats By More Than Half Across Next Two Admissions Cycles | News | The Harvard Crimson
The Faculty of Arts and Sciences slashed the number of Ph.D. student admissions slots for the Science division by more than 75 percent and for the Arts & Humanities division by about 60 percent for th...
www.thecrimson.com
October 22, 2025 at 2:46 AM
On this trajectory, science has no future.
Reposted by Heather Caslin
🤠Come on, @utaustin.bsky.social
Just say NO to Trump’s compact! 👏👏Don’t mess with Texas #HigherEd! #SaveUT
Just say NO to Trump’s compact! 👏👏Don’t mess with Texas #HigherEd! #SaveUT
M.I.T.
Brown.
Penn.
USC.
Now UVA — “the fifth school to rebuff a White House proposal to give universities preferential treatment if they uphold a set of White House demands.”
@nytimes.com
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/17/u...
Brown.
Penn.
USC.
Now UVA — “the fifth school to rebuff a White House proposal to give universities preferential treatment if they uphold a set of White House demands.”
@nytimes.com
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/17/u...
October 18, 2025 at 1:12 PM
🤠Come on, @utaustin.bsky.social
Just say NO to Trump’s compact! 👏👏Don’t mess with Texas #HigherEd! #SaveUT
Just say NO to Trump’s compact! 👏👏Don’t mess with Texas #HigherEd! #SaveUT
Reposted by Heather Caslin
Facts don’t care about the GOP’s feelings — there’s nothing more American than rejecting a mad king. Please join us tomorrow: www.nokings.org?SQF_SOURCE=i... #NoKings
October 17, 2025 at 8:38 PM
Facts don’t care about the GOP’s feelings — there’s nothing more American than rejecting a mad king. Please join us tomorrow: www.nokings.org?SQF_SOURCE=i... #NoKings
Reposted by Heather Caslin
In which John Oliver methodically unpacks how thin it is to claim you’re all about “the truth” when you’re only running essays don’t get properly fact-checked — and don’t hold up to even basic reporting scrutiny www.youtube.com/watch?v=gieT...
Bari Weiss: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
YouTube video by LastWeekTonight
www.youtube.com
October 13, 2025 at 2:01 PM
In which John Oliver methodically unpacks how thin it is to claim you’re all about “the truth” when you’re only running essays don’t get properly fact-checked — and don’t hold up to even basic reporting scrutiny www.youtube.com/watch?v=gieT...
Reposted by Heather Caslin
No way to run a government. Fired. Not fired. Fired again. Not fired. Pants on fire.
BREAKING: Some of the layoffs at CDC are being REVERSED.
Here is my updated story.
www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...
Here is my updated story.
www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...
More than 1,000 CDC staff receive layoff notices during government shutdown
Another round of mass layoffs has struck CDC. The agency had already been cut during a reorganization this year, and more employees are now being shed amid the government shutdown.
www.washingtonpost.com
October 11, 2025 at 10:31 PM
No way to run a government. Fired. Not fired. Fired again. Not fired. Pants on fire.
Reposted by Heather Caslin
🚨🚨🚨Chicago - NOW!🚨🚨🚨
1/2
1/2
October 9, 2025 at 12:21 AM
🚨🚨🚨Chicago - NOW!🚨🚨🚨
1/2
1/2
Reposted by Heather Caslin
A small primer on the #NobelPrize awarded to Mary E. Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell and Shimon Sakaguchi today. This prize was for combining two separate fields of immunology research - genetic research on IPEX and immunology research of regulatory T cells (#Tregs), with enormous impact on biology/medicine
October 6, 2025 at 11:21 AM
A small primer on the #NobelPrize awarded to Mary E. Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell and Shimon Sakaguchi today. This prize was for combining two separate fields of immunology research - genetic research on IPEX and immunology research of regulatory T cells (#Tregs), with enormous impact on biology/medicine
Reposted by Heather Caslin
NSF GRFP is out, but they’ve unexpectedly made 2nd year students ineligible.
It does seem like they have barred 2nd year graduate students from applying. This is devastating, I've been preparing my applications materials for MONTHS and now they all have to get binned...
September 26, 2025 at 4:41 PM
NSF GRFP is out, but they’ve unexpectedly made 2nd year students ineligible.
Reposted by Heather Caslin
“I’m emotionally shellshocked right now,” said one professor in the Texas Tech system. “What does it say about academic freedom? It says we don’t have it.” The professor spoke by phone from the inside of a car to avoid being overheard by colleagues.
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/26/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/26/u...
Texas Tech Moves to Limit Academic Discussion to 2 Genders
www.nytimes.com
September 26, 2025 at 11:49 PM
“I’m emotionally shellshocked right now,” said one professor in the Texas Tech system. “What does it say about academic freedom? It says we don’t have it.” The professor spoke by phone from the inside of a car to avoid being overheard by colleagues.
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/26/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/26/u...
Reposted by Heather Caslin
Literally the authoritarian playbook:
1. Call your opponents terrorists.
2. Deploy state power against them.
There's nothing subtle or confusing or complex about what's happening. The *outcome* is uncertain but the authoritarianism is right out in the open.
1. Call your opponents terrorists.
2. Deploy state power against them.
There's nothing subtle or confusing or complex about what's happening. The *outcome* is uncertain but the authoritarianism is right out in the open.
September 26, 2025 at 2:09 AM
Literally the authoritarian playbook:
1. Call your opponents terrorists.
2. Deploy state power against them.
There's nothing subtle or confusing or complex about what's happening. The *outcome* is uncertain but the authoritarianism is right out in the open.
1. Call your opponents terrorists.
2. Deploy state power against them.
There's nothing subtle or confusing or complex about what's happening. The *outcome* is uncertain but the authoritarianism is right out in the open.
Reposted by Heather Caslin
For our #flowcytometry peeps, would you like to have a single fix/perm protocol that is optimised for everything? One that preserves fluorophores while allowing simultaneous TF and cytokine staining? How about 100-fold cheaper?
You got it:
currentprotocols.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
You got it:
currentprotocols.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
currentprotocols.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
September 19, 2025 at 2:39 PM
For our #flowcytometry peeps, would you like to have a single fix/perm protocol that is optimised for everything? One that preserves fluorophores while allowing simultaneous TF and cytokine staining? How about 100-fold cheaper?
You got it:
currentprotocols.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
You got it:
currentprotocols.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
Reposted by Heather Caslin
You know things are rough when the AAUP's advice on how to use social media is just "set all your accounts to private."
The @aaup.org just shared guidance for academic workers on how to protect themselves online www.aaup.org/news/advisor...
Advisory to Academic Workers
In a moment when it is becoming increasingly difficult to predict the consequences of our online speech and choices, the AAUP and Faculty First Responders are issuing guidance to AAUP members and othe...
www.aaup.org
September 17, 2025 at 11:46 PM
You know things are rough when the AAUP's advice on how to use social media is just "set all your accounts to private."
Reposted by Heather Caslin
It really cements Charlie Kirk’s reputation as a hero of free speech when his followers threaten, doxx, and get people fired for not “mourning properly.”
(Actually, it underlines what a scam that “free speech” routine was in the first place.)
(Actually, it underlines what a scam that “free speech” routine was in the first place.)
Charlie Kirk's allies warn Americans: Mourn him properly or else
After the fatal shooting of right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk, U.S. Republicans have a warning for Americans: Mourn him respectfully or suffer the consequences.
www.reuters.com
September 13, 2025 at 11:05 PM
It really cements Charlie Kirk’s reputation as a hero of free speech when his followers threaten, doxx, and get people fired for not “mourning properly.”
(Actually, it underlines what a scam that “free speech” routine was in the first place.)
(Actually, it underlines what a scam that “free speech” routine was in the first place.)
Reposted by Heather Caslin
At least seven historically Black colleges and universities across the South received threats Thursday that caused lockdowns and closures. via @wwno.org
Southern University, other HBCUs close due to ‘potential threat’
Southern University and A&M College in Baton Rouge will be closed through the weekend after officials called a lockdown Thursday morning due to a “potential threat.”
www.wwno.org
September 11, 2025 at 8:11 PM
At least seven historically Black colleges and universities across the South received threats Thursday that caused lockdowns and closures. via @wwno.org
Reposted by Heather Caslin
I know Charlie Kirk valued debate and free speech because he blocked me for fact-checking his lies on Twitter and then put me on his organization's Professor Watchlist for writing a book he didn't like.
September 11, 2025 at 5:38 PM
I know Charlie Kirk valued debate and free speech because he blocked me for fact-checking his lies on Twitter and then put me on his organization's Professor Watchlist for writing a book he didn't like.
Reposted by Heather Caslin
It should not be up to John Oliver to be publicly making the argument that university presidents should be making loudly & collectively on the news & in front of the US Capitol every day.
John Oliver: "While get the appeal of thinking just one more concession, one more payoff might safeguard your independence or let you live to fight another day, it's worth asking at what point have you compromised so much that
the thing you're supposed to be defending is gone."
the thing you're supposed to be defending is gone."
Trump vs. Higher Education: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
YouTube video by LastWeekTonight
www.youtube.com
September 9, 2025 at 1:17 AM
It should not be up to John Oliver to be publicly making the argument that university presidents should be making loudly & collectively on the news & in front of the US Capitol every day.
Reposted by Heather Caslin
September 8, 2025 at 3:06 AM