Rachel West
@ovaachiever.bsky.social
Assistant Professor of Physiology at Auburn University
Interested in all things placenta, pregnancy, sex differences, and endogenous retrovirus!
Hiker, runner, reader, toddler mom.
Interested in all things placenta, pregnancy, sex differences, and endogenous retrovirus!
Hiker, runner, reader, toddler mom.
A new preprint from our lab is up on bioRxiv! We used trophoblast stem cell model to compare the innate immune response between LPS and IFNB between cell types and cell lines.
Trophoblast stem cells and syncytiotrophoblasts lack inflammatory responses to LPS but retain robust interferon-mediated antiviral immunity https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.10.23.684222v1
October 27, 2025 at 1:48 PM
A new preprint from our lab is up on bioRxiv! We used trophoblast stem cell model to compare the innate immune response between LPS and IFNB between cell types and cell lines.
Reposted by Rachel West
Sum: science works.
Pasteurization destroys H5N1 bird flu in milk www.sciencenews.org/article/past...
Pasteurization destroys H5N1 bird flu in milk www.sciencenews.org/article/past...
Pasteurization destroys H5N1 bird flu in milk
Tests show pasteurized dairy with H5N1 remnants did not cause illness in mice, supporting safety of milk during outbreaks.
www.sciencenews.org
September 30, 2025 at 4:38 PM
Sum: science works.
Pasteurization destroys H5N1 bird flu in milk www.sciencenews.org/article/past...
Pasteurization destroys H5N1 bird flu in milk www.sciencenews.org/article/past...
Reposted by Rachel West
Everyone in ICUs during COVID has haunting pregnancy stories: tenuous patients, emergency intubations, crash C-sections. Even after 5 years of immunity from vaccines and past infections, COVID harms placentas and pregnancy outcomes. Undermining vaccine confidence only endangers pregnant people.
May 27, 2025 at 7:31 PM
Everyone in ICUs during COVID has haunting pregnancy stories: tenuous patients, emergency intubations, crash C-sections. Even after 5 years of immunity from vaccines and past infections, COVID harms placentas and pregnancy outcomes. Undermining vaccine confidence only endangers pregnant people.
My contribution to the #McClintockLetters is out today in the Tifton Gazette! My father and I wrote a hometown op-ed outlining how federal funding for land-grants and experiment stations changed farming in southeast Georgia and how its all at risk.
tiftongazette.com/2025/06/11/l...
tiftongazette.com/2025/06/11/l...
LETTER TO THE EDITOR: The Land-Grant Acts: Making America Great Since 1862 - Tifton Gazette
Many years ago, our country took the steps to provide the infrastructure and funding to develop a world-class agricultural production system. Today, that system is at risk. Here’s why that matters to ...
tiftongazette.com
June 11, 2025 at 2:24 PM
My contribution to the #McClintockLetters is out today in the Tifton Gazette! My father and I wrote a hometown op-ed outlining how federal funding for land-grants and experiment stations changed farming in southeast Georgia and how its all at risk.
tiftongazette.com/2025/06/11/l...
tiftongazette.com/2025/06/11/l...
Reposted by Rachel West
Defending male mice and women mice from mouse gender ideology
Exclusive: NIH appears to archive policy requiring female animals in studies www.thetransmitter.org/policy/exclu...
Exclusive: NIH appears to archive policy requiring female animals in studies
Such a shift would “put us back in the dark ages in terms of our science,” says neuroscientist Anne Murphy, who helped to formulate the original policy.
www.thetransmitter.org
February 25, 2025 at 2:01 PM
Defending male mice and women mice from mouse gender ideology
Reposted by Rachel West
🌟 Check out the program snapshot for our upcoming annual meeting! We hope to see you there July 30th-August 1st in Portland, Oregon 🌟
February 24, 2025 at 4:44 PM
🌟 Check out the program snapshot for our upcoming annual meeting! We hope to see you there July 30th-August 1st in Portland, Oregon 🌟
Reposted by Rachel West
🤦🏽♀️ “USDA says it accidentally fired officials working on bird flu and is trying to rehire them” www.nbcnews.com/politics/dog...
USDA says it accidentally fired officials working on bird flu and is trying to rehire them
In a statement, an Agriculture Department spokesperson told NBC News that officials are "working to swiftly rectify the situation."
www.nbcnews.com
February 18, 2025 at 11:14 PM
🤦🏽♀️ “USDA says it accidentally fired officials working on bird flu and is trying to rehire them” www.nbcnews.com/politics/dog...
Reposted by Rachel West
ATTENTION
If you are on a study section that was scheduled to meet, please post or DM me with information regarding:
1. The name of the study section
2. The scheduled date
3. Whether the meeting actually occurred
THANK YOU
If you are on a study section that was scheduled to meet, please post or DM me with information regarding:
1. The name of the study section
2. The scheduled date
3. Whether the meeting actually occurred
THANK YOU
a man wearing a top hat and a purple jacket is asking for more .
ALT: a man wearing a top hat and a purple jacket is asking for more .
media.tenor.com
February 18, 2025 at 3:38 PM
ATTENTION
If you are on a study section that was scheduled to meet, please post or DM me with information regarding:
1. The name of the study section
2. The scheduled date
3. Whether the meeting actually occurred
THANK YOU
If you are on a study section that was scheduled to meet, please post or DM me with information regarding:
1. The name of the study section
2. The scheduled date
3. Whether the meeting actually occurred
THANK YOU
Reposted by Rachel West
Boosting this again because it's a good thing to have in your camera roll or your records for your kids' next doctor's visits...just in case the new Head of Human Services does what all the other nominees are doing and guts all available information necessary to living.
In case this disappears from the CDC site in the coming hours: here is the full recommended vaccine schedule for birth to 18 years. Keep kids and your community safe. Alt text supported. @altcdc.bsky.social #vaccines #shots #RFKJr
February 14, 2025 at 8:31 PM
Boosting this again because it's a good thing to have in your camera roll or your records for your kids' next doctor's visits...just in case the new Head of Human Services does what all the other nominees are doing and guts all available information necessary to living.
A Valentine’s card from my lab attached to my door this morning. Happy Valentine’s Day!
February 14, 2025 at 2:48 PM
A Valentine’s card from my lab attached to my door this morning. Happy Valentine’s Day!
The craziest thing about this job is that last night I got the notice that the NIH proposal I submitted in October was not discussed. Then this morning, I had to dust myself off and submit another proposal for this cycle's submission deadline. I'm on a hamster wheel of rejection and resubmission.
February 11, 2025 at 6:27 PM
The craziest thing about this job is that last night I got the notice that the NIH proposal I submitted in October was not discussed. Then this morning, I had to dust myself off and submit another proposal for this cycle's submission deadline. I'm on a hamster wheel of rejection and resubmission.
Reposted by Rachel West
Somewhere in the U.S., there’s a scientist staring at their NSF/NIH grant application wondering why they bother. This post is for you. Science and society both need you. Hang in there and know there is a whole community supporting you.
January 29, 2025 at 4:52 PM
Somewhere in the U.S., there’s a scientist staring at their NSF/NIH grant application wondering why they bother. This post is for you. Science and society both need you. Hang in there and know there is a whole community supporting you.
Reposted by Rachel West
Hi, Vox reporter here: If you've had a study section, NIH travel, or other NIH-related meeting cancelled (or not), raise your hand! Reply or DM me, and repost for visibility if you're able.
#academicsky @drugmonkey.bsky.social
#academicsky @drugmonkey.bsky.social
January 23, 2025 at 6:03 PM
Hi, Vox reporter here: If you've had a study section, NIH travel, or other NIH-related meeting cancelled (or not), raise your hand! Reply or DM me, and repost for visibility if you're able.
#academicsky @drugmonkey.bsky.social
#academicsky @drugmonkey.bsky.social
This is by far the best explanation of how scientifically wrong and insidious the "biological sex" executive order is.
I was interviewed by @msjpauly.bsky.social for @motherjones.com regarding that awful gamete size "sex" executive order. A bit of an explainer here of why the science is so bad, and why that's dangerous:
Trump’s definitions of "male" and "female" are nonsense science with staggering ramifications
"How can you so fully misunderstand basic human biology, and then legislate about it?"
www.motherjones.com
January 23, 2025 at 4:38 PM
This is by far the best explanation of how scientifically wrong and insidious the "biological sex" executive order is.
Beyond the fact that this is just wrong on every biological definition of sex, can anyone explain why the Trump administration has chosen to define sex as the ability to produce the "large" or "small" reproductive cell??
January 21, 2025 at 7:45 PM
Beyond the fact that this is just wrong on every biological definition of sex, can anyone explain why the Trump administration has chosen to define sex as the ability to produce the "large" or "small" reproductive cell??
Reposted by Rachel West
I participated in a faculty panel a few weeks ago in which senior (ahem) faculty gave advice on careers in academia by pretending luck had very little to do with our success. One piece of advice riled me up, in which it was argued that a reason for their success was their ability to say no. 1/
December 9, 2024 at 3:16 AM
I participated in a faculty panel a few weeks ago in which senior (ahem) faculty gave advice on careers in academia by pretending luck had very little to do with our success. One piece of advice riled me up, in which it was argued that a reason for their success was their ability to say no. 1/
The undergrads in the lab have been asking for lab "merch" so I'm surprising everyone at tomorrow's final lab meeting of 2024!
December 4, 2024 at 7:47 PM
The undergrads in the lab have been asking for lab "merch" so I'm surprising everyone at tomorrow's final lab meeting of 2024!
Reposted by Rachel West
Scientists who study sex variables ("differences")- now more than ever you need to be extremely specific and careful when you discuss sex in your work and with the public. Our language can be weaponized against sex and gender minorities, and justify policy trying to restrict them from public space.
Calling it now, we'll see republicans try to pass a national law defining sex (and gender) as based on gametes and as binary in the next two years, citing and/or expanding Mace's bill to things like healthcare, gov't ID, etc. It's already happened (successfully) in a couple states.
...surprised to see Mace's bill will define "biological sex" based on eggs vs sperm, given that there's myriad problems with that distinction, summarized here: juliaserano.medium.com/why-are-gend...
November 22, 2024 at 11:59 PM
Scientists who study sex variables ("differences")- now more than ever you need to be extremely specific and careful when you discuss sex in your work and with the public. Our language can be weaponized against sex and gender minorities, and justify policy trying to restrict them from public space.
Our lab took new lab photos yesterday so I thought sharing our new photo would be the perfect start to a new platform. So lucky to get to work with this group!
November 14, 2024 at 2:53 PM
Our lab took new lab photos yesterday so I thought sharing our new photo would be the perfect start to a new platform. So lucky to get to work with this group!