Karen Robbins
karenrobbins.bsky.social
Karen Robbins
@karenrobbins.bsky.social
Allergist/Immunologist, pediatrician, mother, gardener, introvert, tired. Interested in better understanding and characterizing the immune-related consequences of new and marketed therapeutics, drug allergy, and allergy overall. COI:I like pollen-y plants.
Reposted by Karen Robbins
Immunology is back in the spotlight! The 2025 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded to research on TReg lymphocytes.

www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medic...

#NobelPrize
October 6, 2025 at 12:09 PM
Reposted by Karen Robbins
A really nice overview of key Treg discoveries relevant for today's exciting Nobel announcement
www.nobelprize.org/uploads/2025...
www.nobelprize.org
October 6, 2025 at 3:19 PM
Reposted by Karen Robbins
“It actually doesn’t take much to be considered a difficult woman. That’s why there are so many of us.”
― Jane Goodall

💙 RIP to a real one. My childhood hero
October 2, 2025 at 2:56 AM
Reposted by Karen Robbins
Only those victimized by clinical research will understand
September 26, 2025 at 12:28 AM
Reposted by Karen Robbins
"It is critically important that we raise our voices in support of innovative cancer science and medicine." AACR President Patricia M. LoRusso, DO, PhD (hc), FAACR, calls on the #AACR25 delegates to stand together and call on Congress to make cancer research a national priority.
April 27, 2025 at 3:00 PM
🙌
herb alpert thought he was just making another smooth jazz adult contemporary number with this track and wound up creating one of the hardest transitions and sickest bass riffs of all time
April 27, 2025 at 3:33 PM
Reposted by Karen Robbins
you know things are going well when they break out the turnip photos
April 7, 2025 at 4:19 PM
Reposted by Karen Robbins
Federal layoffs have forced the NICHD to end the
Safe to Sleep campaign. Are babies DEI? Is preventing SIDS and suffocation during sleep too woke? MAGA doesn’t care about anything or anyone.
April 5, 2025 at 5:18 PM
Reposted by Karen Robbins
It's more of a comment than a question
April 1, 2025 at 8:52 AM
Reposted by Karen Robbins
Harrison, whose plasma contained a rare antibody, rolled up his sleeve 1,173 times from 1954 to 2018. The Australian is credited with helping 2.4 million babies and advancing scientific research.
James Harrison, whose blood donations saved over 2 million babies, has died
Harrison, whose plasma contained a rare antibody, rolled up his sleeve 1,173 times from 1954 to 2018. The Australian is credited with helping 2.4 million babies and advancing scientific research.
www.npr.org
March 4, 2025 at 2:06 AM
After my fist summer at a NSF-REU site (Colorado State Univ Chemistry) I knew I wanted to become a scientist and began to believe in myself. This is a travesty for the next gen of scientists

NSF downsizes summer research program for undergraduates | Science | AAAS www.science.org/content/arti...
NSF downsizes summer research program for undergraduates
Many participants are from groups underrepresented in science
www.science.org
March 4, 2025 at 8:15 PM
sadly having to refresh on a few old things…
March 4, 2025 at 8:05 PM
Reposted by Karen Robbins
February 28, 2025 at 11:50 PM
Reposted by Karen Robbins
The authors of a Comment article in Nature Human Behaviour propose six actionable steps of allyship that researchers, faculty members and educators can engage in to foster a diverse, equitable and inclusive academia. #Academicsky 🧪
Cultivating allyship for a diverse, equitable and inclusive academia - Nature Human Behaviour
We propose six actionable steps of allyship that researchers, faculty members and educators can engage in to foster a diverse, equitable and inclusive academia: listening to marginalized voices, challenging one's own biases, speaking up to include disadvantaged groups, speaking out to confront bias, advocating for inclusive policies and dismantling institutional biases.
go.nature.com
February 21, 2025 at 2:36 AM
Reposted by Karen Robbins
There are estimated to be more than 300 people with measles infections in west Texas right now, cases have shown up in eastern New Mexico, and there are new cases in New Jersey, Alaska and at least a couple southeastern states. This is a national problem and there is no federal infrastructure for it
No word from CDC as Texas measles outbreak continues to grow. The CDC measles page hasn't been updated since Feb 7 so this outbreak isn't reflected. No MMWR report, no Health Advisory, no nothing. We are on a dangerous path.
Ten more measles cases—58 total—confirmed in Texas outbreak
The latest update includes a case from Lubbock County, pushing the number of affected counties to 5.
www.cidrap.umn.edu
February 20, 2025 at 7:27 PM
Reposted by Karen Robbins
ALSOBROOKS: You said 'we should not be giving Black people the same vaccine schedule that is given to whites.' Can you please explain what you meant?

RFK Jr: There's a series of studies ...

ALSOBROOKS: What different schedule would you say I should've recevied?
January 30, 2025 at 7:40 PM
Reposted by Karen Robbins
CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) has provided real-time data and analysis about disease outbreaks and emerging health threats without a break every week since 1960.

Until today.
January 23, 2025 at 6:38 PM
Reposted by Karen Robbins
Today the Trump admin abruptly and indefinitely terminated many of the activities of the National Institutes of Health, the $50B/year collection of agencies that power the US biotech and health ecosystems. Even if these orders were lifted tomorrow, the disruption would be enormous.

Why care? 🧵
Why should the public care about the freeze on the NIH? Aside from the need for scientific pursuits to make our society better…
-For every dollar we invest in NIH research, there is a $2.5 return.
-Research dollars help fund universities that employ non-academics. (1/)
January 23, 2025 at 3:14 AM
Oh!! Oh!! 🙋🏼‍♀️
nejm.org NEJM.org @nejm.org · Jan 23
A previously healthy 10-month-old girl was referred to the pediatric dermatology clinic with a 6-month history of an intermittently itchy and swollen skin lesion on her neck that had gradually increased in size. 1/3

#MedSky #DermSky
January 23, 2025 at 10:31 PM
Reposted by Karen Robbins
“Make good trouble.”

~ John Lewis
January 22, 2025 at 7:37 PM
Reposted by Karen Robbins
#MedSky #PublicHealth

“A year-long bipartisan Congressional investigation into two private equity-backed 🇺🇸hospital systems found that patient care deteriorated at both systems as their private equity owners reaped significant payouts.”

TL;DR greed kills.

www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcn...
Private equity reduces patient care while enriching investors, Senate report finds
The bipartisan investigation of hospital systems purchased by Apollo Global Management and Leonard Green & Partners reinforced the findings of past academic research.
www.nbcnews.com
January 8, 2025 at 2:04 PM
Reposted by Karen Robbins
1/ We are excited to share our new paper in @jexpmed.bsky.social about humans with autosomal dominant IFNAR1 deficiency (doi.org/10.1084/jem....).
A common form of dominant human IFNAR1 deficiency impairs IFN-α and -ω but not IFN-β-dependent immunity | Journal of Experimental Medicine | Rockefeller University Press
This study identifies 11 IFNAR1 alleles impairing IFN-α/ω responses but sparing IFN-β, including an allele common in Southern China (P335del). Heterozygous
doi.org
December 17, 2024 at 3:11 PM
ok I’m intrigued..
'Some emphasize how Mtb can be thought of as a stealth pathogen that evades or suppresses immune recognition. Others emphasize essentially the opposite — that Mtb elicits a robust inflammatory response that it exploits for its benefit. Both views have validity & the challenge is to reconcile them.'
Tuberculosis as an unconventional interferonopathy
Tuberculosis is caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, a bacterium that accounts for more human mortality than any other. Evidence is accumulating for …
www.sciencedirect.com
December 23, 2024 at 9:37 PM
Reposted by Karen Robbins
Our Editors’ Choice of articles published in #Science #Immunology this year is out now! This free sample collection will be available online to read until the end of February 2025!

bit.ly/SciImm_free
December 19, 2024 at 9:54 AM