Christina (Chris) Tobin Kahrstrom
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microchris.bsky.social
Christina (Chris) Tobin Kahrstrom
@microchris.bsky.social
Senior editor at Nature, handling the micro stuff, including bacterial and fungal pathogens, host-associated microbiomes, host-microbiota interactions, phage-bacteria interactions, antimicrobial discovery and AMR, among many others...

All views my own
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...
Associate or Senior Editor, Nature (Biological, Clinical, and Social Sciences)
Title: Associate or Senior Editor, Nature (Biological, Clinical, and Social Sciences) Organization: Nature Portfolio Locations: New York or Jersey City – Hybrid Working Model Closing Date: September 2...
springernature.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com
July 24, 2025 at 8:40 AM
Reposted by Christina (Chris) Tobin Kahrstrom
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 👇
April 11, 2025 at 4:14 PM
Reposted by Christina (Chris) Tobin Kahrstrom
Our paper out today in @nature.com shows the important role Bifidobacteria in the infant gut microbiota play in mediating optimal responses to vaccination.
April 2, 2025 at 11:52 PM
Reposted by Christina (Chris) Tobin Kahrstrom
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...
Tariffs hit science labs: Trump levies raise cost of supplies
Import taxes on staples such as microscopes, glassware and computer chips will affect institutions already feeling financial strain.
www.nature.com
April 4, 2025 at 12:54 PM
Reposted by Christina (Chris) Tobin Kahrstrom
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
A broad-spectrum lasso peptide antibiotic targeting the bacterial ribosome
Nature - A new lasso peptide antibiotic exhibits broad-spectrum activity against Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria by interfering with bacterial protein synthesis, is unaffected by common...
rdcu.be
March 26, 2025 at 7:28 PM
Reposted by Christina (Chris) Tobin Kahrstrom
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...
NIH Grants Fueled $95 Billion In FY 2024 Economic Activity, Finds New Report
National Institutes of Health grants generated almost $95 billion in economic activity nationwide in FY 2024 according to a new report by United for Medical Research.
www.forbes.com
March 13, 2025 at 12:55 AM
Reposted by Christina (Chris) Tobin Kahrstrom
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...
America Is Sleeping on a Powerful Defense Against Airborne Disease
Treating clean indoor air as a public good would have protected Americans against more than COVID-19.
www.theatlantic.com
March 11, 2025 at 9:13 PM
Reposted by Christina (Chris) Tobin Kahrstrom
“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.”
March 7, 2025 at 8:00 PM
Reposted by Christina (Chris) Tobin Kahrstrom
🚨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...
Elon Musk is a proven danger to good science, but the Royal Society won’t say so. That’s why I resigned | Kit Yates
It is vital to act, and I urge colleagues to do so. How can we stand by and laud this man while he undermines scientific integrity? asks academic and author Kit Yates
www.theguardian.com
March 4, 2025 at 3:51 PM
Reposted by Christina (Chris) Tobin Kahrstrom
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
March 3, 2025 at 9:53 PM
Reposted by Christina (Chris) Tobin Kahrstrom
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.
March 1, 2025 at 12:24 AM
Reposted by Christina (Chris) Tobin Kahrstrom
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.
February 28, 2025 at 7:15 PM
Reposted by Christina (Chris) Tobin Kahrstrom
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/...
A call for the United States to continue investing in science | mBio
The U.S. life science research mission is critical not only to human health and understanding the natural world but also to agriculture and food production, technological innovations, socioeconomic pr...
journals.asm.org
February 27, 2025 at 7:05 PM
Reposted by Christina (Chris) Tobin Kahrstrom
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
February 28, 2025 at 7:46 PM
Reposted by Christina (Chris) Tobin Kahrstrom
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
Audio long read: Why kids need to take more risks — science reveals the benefits of wild, free play
Listen to an audio version of a recent Nature Feature.
www.nature.com
February 28, 2025 at 3:55 PM
Reposted by Christina (Chris) Tobin Kahrstrom
Nature research paper: Macrophages recycle phagocytosed bacteria to fuel immunometabolic responses

https://go.nature.com/3XmyOPD
Macrophages recycle phagocytosed bacteria to fuel immunometabolic responses - Nature
Phagocytosed bacteria can serve as an alternative nutrient source for macrophages, influencing their metabolic and immune responses through the recycling of microbial components, with the process regulated by nutrient-sensing mechanisms and bacterial viability.
go.nature.com
February 27, 2025 at 4:04 PM
An important and shocking account of the carnage at NIH:

www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...
Inside the Collapse at the NIH
Administration officials pressured the NIH to avoid clear advice from the agency’s own lawyers to restart grant funding now.
www.theatlantic.com
February 28, 2025 at 2:26 AM
Reposted by Christina (Chris) Tobin Kahrstrom
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.
February 26, 2025 at 5:53 PM
"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...
UK ‘falling short’ in fight against rise of superbugs resistant to antibiotics
Antimicrobial resistance contributing to estimated 35,000 deaths a year in UK, and government ‘a long way’ from containing the problem, says NAO
www.theguardian.com
February 26, 2025 at 11:21 AM
Reposted by Christina (Chris) Tobin Kahrstrom
Staff and observers worry that the agency may not be prepared for emerging threats including bird flu and insect-borne diseases.
Upheaval and firings at CDC raise fears about disease outbreak response
Staff and observers worry that the agency may not be prepared for emerging threats including bird flu and insect-borne diseases.
www.npr.org
February 25, 2025 at 7:34 PM
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...
Fungal impacts on Earth’s ecosystems - Nature
This Review delves into the fungal kingdom, exploring the relationships among fungi, animals, plants and the environment, and investigating both the threats posed by fungi and their potential benefits...
www.nature.com
February 26, 2025 at 11:12 AM
"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...
Postdocs and PhD students hit hard by Trump’s crackdown on science
As US federal grants remain frozen and budget cuts loom, anxiety and fear grip early-career researchers.
www.nature.com
February 25, 2025 at 4:15 PM