Becca Riggins 🇻🇮 ⛵️🧪
@profriggins.bsky.social
she/her. Full Prof, AD Educ & Training @LombardiCancer. #lobular, HER2+/ER+ BrCa, #nuclearreceptors, #GBM. Co-founder @nrimpact.bsky.social. When not sciencing, I'm enjoying ⛵️⛺️🏋🏻♀️🏃🏻♀️🥃 Skeets my own
Pinned
I make the final career leap to Professor today 🤗 I wouldn't be here without the incredible support of lab members, colleagues, mentors, friends, and family. Thank you so much! #academicsky 🧪🧬👩🔬
Reposted by Becca Riggins 🇻🇮 ⛵️🧪
Australia recorded ZERO cases of cervical cancer in women under 25 for the first time since they started tracking the cancer in the 80s.
This is the power of vaccines.
The HPV vaccine is extremely effective at preventing cancer.
Viruses can be oncogenic. Get your vaccines and protect yourself!
This is the power of vaccines.
The HPV vaccine is extremely effective at preventing cancer.
Viruses can be oncogenic. Get your vaccines and protect yourself!
newsGP - Australia set for world-first cervical cancer elimination
Vaccination programs have played a key role, and GPs remain ‘instrumental’ in boosting screening rates to reach the 2035 target.
www1.racgp.org.au
November 27, 2025 at 3:45 AM
Australia recorded ZERO cases of cervical cancer in women under 25 for the first time since they started tracking the cancer in the 80s.
This is the power of vaccines.
The HPV vaccine is extremely effective at preventing cancer.
Viruses can be oncogenic. Get your vaccines and protect yourself!
This is the power of vaccines.
The HPV vaccine is extremely effective at preventing cancer.
Viruses can be oncogenic. Get your vaccines and protect yourself!
Reposted by Becca Riggins 🇻🇮 ⛵️🧪
Interested in Zebrafish brain imaging? We released a 3D printed mold that's is super helpful for us. Check it out
Customizable FDM-based zebrafish embryo mold for live imaging
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Work by Marcela and Jaakko in the lab
Customizable FDM-based zebrafish embryo mold for live imaging
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Work by Marcela and Jaakko in the lab
November 27, 2025 at 6:53 AM
Interested in Zebrafish brain imaging? We released a 3D printed mold that's is super helpful for us. Check it out
Customizable FDM-based zebrafish embryo mold for live imaging
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Work by Marcela and Jaakko in the lab
Customizable FDM-based zebrafish embryo mold for live imaging
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Work by Marcela and Jaakko in the lab
Reposted by Becca Riggins 🇻🇮 ⛵️🧪
Thats 216 biomedical PhD students for their whole degree, or 140 2 year R21 grants, or 30 5 year R01 grants, or one fired football coach...
FIFTY FOUR MILLION DOLLARS, to fire a football coach at a state university
SOURCE: LSU has given Brian Kelly formal written notice that he has been terminated without cause and that it will fulfill the obligation of his nearly $54 million buyout.
November 27, 2025 at 3:45 AM
Thats 216 biomedical PhD students for their whole degree, or 140 2 year R21 grants, or 30 5 year R01 grants, or one fired football coach...
Reposted by Becca Riggins 🇻🇮 ⛵️🧪
A great intro to academic conferencing.
Not sure how I missed this one.
scienceforeveryone.science/getting-the-...
Not sure how I missed this one.
scienceforeveryone.science/getting-the-...
Getting the most of out a scientific conference
A slightly unconventional guide to your first time
scienceforeveryone.science
November 26, 2025 at 4:47 AM
A great intro to academic conferencing.
Not sure how I missed this one.
scienceforeveryone.science/getting-the-...
Not sure how I missed this one.
scienceforeveryone.science/getting-the-...
November 21, 2025 at 9:44 PM
Reposted by Becca Riggins 🇻🇮 ⛵️🧪
THIS IS BIG
For non-academics who might not understand why:
1. Sen. Warren is still a Harvard professor so this is a call coming from inside the house
2. As a tenured law prof, Warren knows it is a VERY big deal from a labor standpoint to call on Harvard to ignore tenure. The bar for this is HIGH.
For non-academics who might not understand why:
1. Sen. Warren is still a Harvard professor so this is a call coming from inside the house
2. As a tenured law prof, Warren knows it is a VERY big deal from a labor standpoint to call on Harvard to ignore tenure. The bar for this is HIGH.
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 18, 2025 at 12:43 AM
THIS IS BIG
For non-academics who might not understand why:
1. Sen. Warren is still a Harvard professor so this is a call coming from inside the house
2. As a tenured law prof, Warren knows it is a VERY big deal from a labor standpoint to call on Harvard to ignore tenure. The bar for this is HIGH.
For non-academics who might not understand why:
1. Sen. Warren is still a Harvard professor so this is a call coming from inside the house
2. As a tenured law prof, Warren knows it is a VERY big deal from a labor standpoint to call on Harvard to ignore tenure. The bar for this is HIGH.
Reposted by Becca Riggins 🇻🇮 ⛵️🧪
Today I am starting a weekly post titled "Autism: The Evidence". I hope it helps someone fight the colossal wave of misinformation that is drowning us. Part 1: I heard Autism prevalence has gone up. Is that true? If so why?
November 15, 2025 at 3:11 AM
Today I am starting a weekly post titled "Autism: The Evidence". I hope it helps someone fight the colossal wave of misinformation that is drowning us. Part 1: I heard Autism prevalence has gone up. Is that true? If so why?
Reposted by Becca Riggins 🇻🇮 ⛵️🧪
Read how understanding and tracking recent changing trends for lobular breast cancer are important—not only to improve care for those affected by it, but also to advance NBCC’s overarching mission to end all breast cancer. https://nbcc.info/4qmyBbS
New Data Show Lobular Breast Cancer Cases Are on the Rise - National Breast Cancer Coalition
In the US, cases of invasive lobular breast cancer are rising faster than other breast cancers, a new American Cancer Society report finds.
www.stopbreastcancer.org
November 16, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Read how understanding and tracking recent changing trends for lobular breast cancer are important—not only to improve care for those affected by it, but also to advance NBCC’s overarching mission to end all breast cancer. https://nbcc.info/4qmyBbS
Reposted by Becca Riggins 🇻🇮 ⛵️🧪
It really seems like this administration is trying to eliminate the field of public health. MPHs and DrPHs will no longer be considered "professional degrees" by the DOE and, therefore, will face limits to accessing federal student loans.
aspph.org/department-o...
aspph.org/department-o...
Department of Education Proposal Excludes Public Health Degrees from “Professional Degree” Definition
Discover the new results and implications of Dept of Ed consensus regarding professional degree programs and public health education.
aspph.org
November 14, 2025 at 3:27 PM
It really seems like this administration is trying to eliminate the field of public health. MPHs and DrPHs will no longer be considered "professional degrees" by the DOE and, therefore, will face limits to accessing federal student loans.
aspph.org/department-o...
aspph.org/department-o...
Reposted by Becca Riggins 🇻🇮 ⛵️🧪
Adding more signs of how NIH science is/was broken: my lab team could not show up for 3 more accepted talks at scientific conferences, totaling 9 for the year now. If you interview current NIH trainees for grad or med schools please understand that we are giving them the best experience we can.
While the government was shut down, 379 NIH study section meetings (containing 24,380 grant applications) were postponed. NIH is committed to getting these reviewed, but please be patient and understanding with staff, as this is a complex and heavy lift.
November 13, 2025 at 2:10 PM
Adding more signs of how NIH science is/was broken: my lab team could not show up for 3 more accepted talks at scientific conferences, totaling 9 for the year now. If you interview current NIH trainees for grad or med schools please understand that we are giving them the best experience we can.
Reposted by Becca Riggins 🇻🇮 ⛵️🧪
I wrote in the New York Times about how I think companies saying women are leaving because of "return to office" is a cop out. Nursing, a fundamentally in person job, is almost 90% female. So what do women really want? Boundaries.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/02/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/02/o...
Opinion | What Women Really Want: Work Boundaries
www.nytimes.com
November 2, 2025 at 1:33 PM
I wrote in the New York Times about how I think companies saying women are leaving because of "return to office" is a cop out. Nursing, a fundamentally in person job, is almost 90% female. So what do women really want? Boundaries.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/02/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/02/o...
Reposted by Becca Riggins 🇻🇮 ⛵️🧪
"Regrettably, and despite the null hypothesis being simple, elegant and often underpinned by evidenced or reasoned convictions, conventional p-value analysis can only argue against the null hypothesis, never in favour of it."
Saying ‘no’ with confidence: statistical approaches to test for the absence of an effect | Biology Letters
Publishing non-significant findings is essential for the progress of science. However,
many of us forget that ‘absence of evidence is not evidence of absence’ and believe
that a statistically non-sign...
doi.org
November 2, 2025 at 7:55 AM
"Regrettably, and despite the null hypothesis being simple, elegant and often underpinned by evidenced or reasoned convictions, conventional p-value analysis can only argue against the null hypothesis, never in favour of it."
Reposted by Becca Riggins 🇻🇮 ⛵️🧪
When times are tough and we’re stressed out, we have to take extra care to not make other people’s lives unnecessarily hard, especially if they don’t have the freedom to easily avoid us (e.g., employees, students, family).
Don’t let your shit roll downhill
Don’t let your shit roll downhill
September 26, 2025 at 3:50 PM
When times are tough and we’re stressed out, we have to take extra care to not make other people’s lives unnecessarily hard, especially if they don’t have the freedom to easily avoid us (e.g., employees, students, family).
Don’t let your shit roll downhill
Don’t let your shit roll downhill
Reposted by Becca Riggins 🇻🇮 ⛵️🧪
A couple of fresh analogies in here that might be useful to you at Thanksgiving dinner.
#TobRegSky #PedSky #MedSky #EpiSky #addictionsci #policysky #polisky #neuroskyence #neurosci 🧪🛟🫁
Excellent reporting by @bruceylee.bsky.social in @forbes.com about the new NIH multi year funding policy decimating US biomedical research.
www.forbes.com/sites/brucel...
Excellent reporting by @bruceylee.bsky.social in @forbes.com about the new NIH multi year funding policy decimating US biomedical research.
www.forbes.com/sites/brucel...
How New Trump Multiyear Policy Makes NIH Grants Even Harder To Get
The new Trump administration multiyear funding policy for NIH grants has dropped National Cancer Institute grant funding rates from one in 10 applicants to one in 25.
www.forbes.com
October 28, 2025 at 3:51 PM
A couple of fresh analogies in here that might be useful to you at Thanksgiving dinner.
Reposted by Becca Riggins 🇻🇮 ⛵️🧪
As a first generation Jamaican-American, the impact of Hurricane Melissa hits differently. To say that Jamaicans are resilient is an understatement, the island will need help now and for a while. This is what you can do to help www.instagram.com/reel/DQW_h8D... #islandsky #Caribbeansky #Jamaicansky
Login • Instagram
Welcome back to Instagram. Sign in to check out what your friends, family & interests have been capturing & sharing around the world.
www.instagram.com
October 28, 2025 at 7:41 PM
As a first generation Jamaican-American, the impact of Hurricane Melissa hits differently. To say that Jamaicans are resilient is an understatement, the island will need help now and for a while. This is what you can do to help www.instagram.com/reel/DQW_h8D... #islandsky #Caribbeansky #Jamaicansky
Reposted by Becca Riggins 🇻🇮 ⛵️🧪
there was a deliberate decision to not cite my MIRA on this commentary, even though service to the scientific community is *supposed* to be a consideration during review
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Scaling back DEI programmes and the loss of scientific talent - Nature Cell Biology
Programmes that support diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in science are under attack in the USA. Data indicate that diversity in the scientific workforce increases creativity and success in tackl...
www.nature.com
October 24, 2025 at 6:25 PM
there was a deliberate decision to not cite my MIRA on this commentary, even though service to the scientific community is *supposed* to be a consideration during review
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Becca Riggins 🇻🇮 ⛵️🧪
@joann-trejo.bsky.social, @marymunson4.bsky.social and I have a commentary in @natcellbio.nature.com on recent attacks on DEI in biomedical research: "If scientific research, especially biomedical research, is meant to serve everyone, then it requires that everyone has an opportunity to participate"
Scaling back DEI programmes and the loss of scientific talent
Nature Cell Biology - Programmes that support diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in science are under attack in the USA. Data indicate that diversity in the scientific workforce increases...
www.nature.com
October 23, 2025 at 4:36 PM
@joann-trejo.bsky.social, @marymunson4.bsky.social and I have a commentary in @natcellbio.nature.com on recent attacks on DEI in biomedical research: "If scientific research, especially biomedical research, is meant to serve everyone, then it requires that everyone has an opportunity to participate"
Reposted by Becca Riggins 🇻🇮 ⛵️🧪
Also worth mentioning, the deletion test is impossible to do when we have so many hidden figures in science and medicine whose contributions were significant but poorly acknowledged: people like Vivien Thomas, Herman Branson, Rosalind Franklin, and many others who are more hidden by history.
October 23, 2025 at 9:51 PM
Also worth mentioning, the deletion test is impossible to do when we have so many hidden figures in science and medicine whose contributions were significant but poorly acknowledged: people like Vivien Thomas, Herman Branson, Rosalind Franklin, and many others who are more hidden by history.
Reposted by Becca Riggins 🇻🇮 ⛵️🧪
Reposted by Becca Riggins 🇻🇮 ⛵️🧪
I know & trust that NIH staff will get this round of reviews done. Yet having done my own CSR reviews 'for nothing' & with my own R01 sitting unreviewed now, working on another NIH grant has never felt so painful and futile. A quiet impact on science, perhaps, robbing the joy from looking ahead.
If you are serving on NIH study sections that have been cancelled, PLEASE continue to work on your reviews. NIH will do everything their power to ensure the meetings happen eventually, and the more prepared you are when those meetings are rescheduled, the better.
Welp. Thanks to the Republican gov shutdown I have a bunch of hours back in my week due to a NIH study section not meeting.
These poor applicants. They will be waiting week by week for government to reopen and to find out what will happen to their grant application.
These poor applicants. They will be waiting week by week for government to reopen and to find out what will happen to their grant application.
October 20, 2025 at 3:52 PM
I know & trust that NIH staff will get this round of reviews done. Yet having done my own CSR reviews 'for nothing' & with my own R01 sitting unreviewed now, working on another NIH grant has never felt so painful and futile. A quiet impact on science, perhaps, robbing the joy from looking ahead.
Reposted by Becca Riggins 🇻🇮 ⛵️🧪
This is ~70 5 year NIH grants to study blindness, Alzheimer's, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, epilepsy, infectious disease, stroke, respiratory diseases, etc...etc...etc...
The Department of Homeland Security has purchased two Gulfstream private jets for Kristi Noem, the secretary, and other top department officials at a cost of $172 million, according to documents reviewed by The New York Times.
Coast Guard Buys Two Private Jets for Noem, Costing $172 Million
Public documents show the Department of Homeland Security has contracted to purchase a pair of top-of-the-line Gulfstream jets for the secretary and other top officials.
nyti.ms
October 18, 2025 at 7:23 PM
This is ~70 5 year NIH grants to study blindness, Alzheimer's, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, epilepsy, infectious disease, stroke, respiratory diseases, etc...etc...etc...
Reposted by Becca Riggins 🇻🇮 ⛵️🧪
Our latest work is out in Nature today. In this paper, we introduce an improved version of NanoSeq, a duplex sequencing protocol with <5 errors per billion bp in single DNA molecules, and use it to study the somatic mutation landscape of oral epithelium in >1000 people www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Somatic mutation and selection at population scale - Nature
A new version of nanorate DNA sequencing, with an error rate lower than five errors per billion base pairs and compatible with whole-exome and targeted capture, enables epidemiological-scale studies of somatic mutation and selection and the generation of high-resolution selection maps across coding and non-coding sites for many genes.
www.nature.com
October 8, 2025 at 4:31 PM
Our latest work is out in Nature today. In this paper, we introduce an improved version of NanoSeq, a duplex sequencing protocol with <5 errors per billion bp in single DNA molecules, and use it to study the somatic mutation landscape of oral epithelium in >1000 people www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Becca Riggins 🇻🇮 ⛵️🧪
This was not a sample of academics.
How many browsing tabs do you typically have open?*
1: 6%
2-5: 54%
6-10: 14%
11-20: 8%
21-30: 2%
More than 30: 3%
*across all windows, on desktop/laptop
yougov.co.uk/topics/techn...
1: 6%
2-5: 54%
6-10: 14%
11-20: 8%
21-30: 2%
More than 30: 3%
*across all windows, on desktop/laptop
yougov.co.uk/topics/techn...
October 8, 2025 at 6:02 PM
This was not a sample of academics.
Reposted by Becca Riggins 🇻🇮 ⛵️🧪
Announcing such a major change to NSF GRFP this late in the cycle is incredibly cruel. 2nd yr students (mine included) have been working so hard on their proposals despite ongoing uncertainty. They are driven and passionate about being outstanding scientists and helping those coming up behind them.
September 26, 2025 at 5:46 PM
Announcing such a major change to NSF GRFP this late in the cycle is incredibly cruel. 2nd yr students (mine included) have been working so hard on their proposals despite ongoing uncertainty. They are driven and passionate about being outstanding scientists and helping those coming up behind them.
Reposted by Becca Riggins 🇻🇮 ⛵️🧪
This may be the most important paper ever published about NIH funded research.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
What if NIH had been 40% smaller?
Replaying history with less NIH funding shows widespread impacts on drug-linked research
www.science.org
September 25, 2025 at 9:20 PM
This may be the most important paper ever published about NIH funded research.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...