Stacey Kigar
@staceykigar.bsky.social
600 followers 1.2K following 41 posts
Research Associate, University of Cambridge | Leading Edge fellow | first-gen academic | molecular biologist studying effects of stress across the lifespan 🧠🩸🧬
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Reposted by Stacey Kigar
immunoah.bsky.social
📣📣We're seeking a postdoc to join us at the @mrclmb.bsky.social to investigate neuroimmune interactomes in tumour & viral immunity.
If you find fascinating & want to learn about #neuroscience & #immunology, tracing neurons, molecular biology & #flowcytometry, apply!
🧠🫁👀🩸🔬
mrc.tal.net/vx/mobile-0/...
staceykigar.bsky.social
Congrats to Varun, Xinhe, and the team on this very important work
vw1234.bsky.social
It is now clear that more people are being diagnosed as autistic in their teens and as adults than in childhood. A prevailing theory is that those diagnosed later have "milder" form of autism, and later diagnosis entirely due to social factors.
staceykigar.bsky.social
Thank you! That is certainly the hope, though there’s much work ahead re: translating these results from rodent to human.
Reposted by Stacey Kigar
npr.org
NPR @npr.org · 7d
JUST IN: Jane Goodall, primatologist who transformed our understanding of the lives of apes, has died, according to an announcement from the Jane Goodall Institute.
Jane Goodall, legendary primatologist, has died at age 91
Jane Goodall, primatologist who transformed our understanding of the lives of apes, has died, according to an announcement from the Jane Goodall Institute.
n.pr
Reposted by Stacey Kigar
medcambridge.bsky.social
Upcoming seminar:

🎓Dr Stacey Kigar @staceykigar.bsky.social @medcambridge.bsky.social

📢"Chronic stress-mediated effects on the immune system: links to mental health"
📅 1-2PM, Thur 2 October
📍JCBC @cambridgebiocampus.bsky.social

buff.ly/ggnAwDO

#CITIID #MedSky #ImmunoSky 🧪
Reposted by Stacey Kigar
olivia.science
There are a lot more people than one might think who refuse this tech but are shamed by users. Once the space for their opinions and voices opens up, the scene will change. These stats, 18k views, are not a coincidence for example on this preprint. People want to not, yup.
zenodo.org/records/1706...
Reposted by Stacey Kigar
arghavansallesmd.medsky.social
If you’ve ever compared unvaccinated kids to vaccinated kids, you’ve seen the former are more likely to die.
Figures showing deaths from smallpox and polio and cases of measles before and after vaccines were introduced for each respective disease. All three figures show declining rates after vaccine introduction
Reposted by Stacey Kigar
ampolter.bsky.social
One of my former students sent me an update letting me know she got into medical school and included a picture of her white coat ceremony. It made my day! Send your professors updates on what you're doing, it's a real highlight in this job.
staceykigar.bsky.social
I am so grateful to everyone involved in bringing this paper to fruition, and am especially grateful to the NIH and @cambridgebrc.bsky.social for supporting me throughout. To read a summary of the project, please check out this summary by Craig Brierley here: www.cam.ac.uk/research/new...
Depression linked to presence of immune cells in the brain’s protective layer
Immune cells released from bone marrow in the skull in response to chronic stress and adversity could play a key role in symptoms of depression and anxiety,
www.cam.ac.uk
staceykigar.bsky.social
It involved lots of hard work from my brilliant co-authors, including co-first author @maryellenlynall.bsky.social and others who as far as I know aren’t on blue sky. Data collection took place during Covid lockdown, and involved coordinating teams transatlantically, requiring lots of grit/tenacity!
staceykigar.bsky.social
Systemic depletion of type I interferon signaling improved depressive behavior in chronically stressed mice, and may hold promise as a future target for depression treatment. This project was a labor of love, stemming from work done many years ago now while I was still a postdoc at the NIH campus…
staceykigar.bsky.social
A unique population of neutrophils that are regulated independently of neutrophils derived from other bone marrow stores, like tibia. Our single cell RNA sequencing analysis of meningeal tissue showed type I interferons as a plausible candidate triggering movement of neutrophils into the meninges…
staceykigar.bsky.social
However, we found neutrophils increased in the meninges—a protective tissue layer surrounding the brain. We were surprised to find that neutrophils did not seem to enter the meninges from the bloodstream, but instead entered from nearby skull bone marrow. The skull bone marrow appears to host..
staceykigar.bsky.social
It is not clear what if any relationship blood neutrophils have with mood disorders like depression. We hypothesized that neutrophils increased by stress could exert an effect on mood from within the brain or its surrounding/supporting tissues. We found no evidence that neutrophils enter the brain..
staceykigar.bsky.social
We used a combination of bioinformatics, immuno-, and behavioral assays to show “first responder” immune cells (neutrophils) accumulate around the brain following prolonged stress exposure. While it is well known that acute exposure to stress causes release of neutrophils into the bloodstream…
Reposted by Stacey Kigar
wcratcliff.bsky.social
Not sure how many scientists here have tried Claude Code or similar command line coding assistants. I had a complicated family property tax problem that was best solved by a brute force Monte Carlo simulation approach, so I spent a few days coding up and analyzing a model with Claude Code.
Reposted by Stacey Kigar
pbs.org
PBS @pbs.org · Aug 7
An update from us here at PBS 💙
staceykigar.bsky.social
this is so beautifully done 👀🧬
Reposted by Stacey Kigar
mdaware.org
one cool thing about Scandinavian countries with comprehensive public health insurance is places like Denmark can do a study on… everybody and conclude that yes COVID vaccines are safe