Audrey John MD PhD

Graph of award probability of R35 and R01 from NIH factbook as a function of review rank percentile. As is apparent, 2025 is a significant departure, with lower award probabilities at all scores <40 and significant departures from norm, where even being in the top 10% is no longer a nearly certain indicator of success. Data source: https://report.nih.gov/nihdatabook/report/302

The data is in: the NIH goalposts have shifted.

What were once almost certain fundable scores have become coin flips and what used to be likely grants have become aspirational, leading to fewer awards.

Another manifestation of how HHS policies have led to fewer awards and less science.

In the US this year, there have been 10 new measles outbreaks and 90% of cases are outbreak associated. 92% are unvax.

In the first two months, we are about halfway to our 2025 annual case total. Thank you to the CDC peeps who continue to report these numbers 🥰

www.cdc.gov/measles/data... #IDSky

Fabulous review by CHOP's own Karen Puopolo - particularly great for #PedsIDSky fellows (and faculty)!

Key Points from the Review Article "Group B Streptococcal Disease"

A new review by Karen M. Puopolo, MD, PhD, describes the microbiologic and epidemiologic features, pathogenesis, treatment, and prevention of group B streptococcal disease. Read the full review: nej.md/4aJJ6Pv

#MedSky #IDSky #Neonatology

‘Truly spectacular’ drug for sleeping sickness simplifies treatment, raising hopes for eradication European regulators greenlight new one-dose compound that could help African countries get rid of an ancient burden

In today's good news a single dose drug for sleeping sickness that could completely change the elimination game. Dare I hope for eradication!
Acoziborole administered as a single oral dose was ~95% effective across both early and late-stage disease in RCTs.
www.science.org/content/arti...

Penn Vet Scientists Earn National Honors for Breakthrough Research in Virology and Cancer Innovation Penn Vet's Louise Moncla, PhD, receives Ann Palmenberg Junior Investigator Award; Timour Baslan, PhD, named 2026 Damon Runyon–Rachleff Innovation Award recipient

www.vet.upenn.edu/penn-vet-sci...

A titan of vaccine development sees his field’s achievements slip away Stanley Plotkin, the 93-year-old "godfather of vaccines," is watching his field’s achievements slip away.

Stanley Plotkin had a major hand in the development of a number of vaccines in use today; he designed the rubella vaccine. He remembers the world before widespread use of vaccines & knows what's coming as vaccine policy is rewritten & vaccine confidence is eroded. www.statnews.com/2026/03/02/s...

A titan of vaccine development sees his field’s achievements slip away Stanley Plotkin, the 93-year-old "godfather of vaccines," is watching his field’s achievements slip away.

@helenbranswell.bsky.social celebrates the one-and-only Stanley Plotkin, godfather of vaccines, wise elder, spark plug that's still firing. www.statnews.com/2026/03/02/s...

Developed cGMP-compliant Cryptosporidium parvum oocysts (ABO809) with 0.5% peracetic acid ⚗️, safe & viable for human challenge, enabling drug/vaccine testing in adults.

📣 Grant Writing 101 Workshop applications are now open!

This is a foundational cohort program designed to equip early-career pediatric researchers with the skills needed to submit competitive grant applications.

Apply by March 10, 2026: https://ow.ly/LFfb50Ycplg

I will never not share my favorite public health poster.

What your breath says about the bacteria in your gut Metabolites in mouse and human breath correlate to gut-microbe populations and might be helpful in diagnosing disease.

“gut-microbiome composition explained at least 20% of the variation in 35 breath compounds that they tested.” www.nature.com/articles/d41...

CellDrop Automated Cell Counter: Count Cells Without Slides Reduce costs and streamline your cell counting workflows with the DeNovix CellDrop Automated Cell Counter.

A breath of #air could help diagnose #gut #microbiome disruptions ...

| #VolatileOrganicCompounds | #VOC | #microbes | #biomarkers | #colon | #metabolites | Via the-scientist .com

Breath tests could help monitor gut health, new study suggests

🫁 Breath tests could help monitor gut health, new research suggests. Scientists detected more than 1,000 volatile organic compounds in exhaled breath, many linked to gut microbial metabolism. 🔗 www.sciencedirect.co... #HealthNews #Microbiome #Science

Exhaled breath may carry clues to gut microbiome health The human gut is home to trillions of beneficial microbes that play a crucial role in health. Disruptions in this delicate community of bacteria and viruses—called the gut microbiome—have been linked to obesity, asthma and cancer, among other illnesses.

Analysis of exhaled breath can identify gut microbial compounds, offering a potential noninvasive method to monitor gut microbiome health and detect conditions such as asthma. doi.org/hbkzrw

What Your Breath Is Trying to Tell You About Your Health, According to Scientists We asked doctors to explain the latest research.

In this piece I’m quoted about measuring volatile organic compounds in exhaled breath for disease diagnosis and understanding one’s microbiome www.prevention.com/health/a7014...

Breath carries clues to gut microbiome health | WashU Medicine A study in children and mice shows that disease-associated bacteria in the gut can be detected in exhaled breath.

Imagine a near future where all you need to do is breath into your smartphone or a wearable and it will diagnose your health based on your microbiome!

medicine.washu.edu/news/breath-...

Climate change could cause more than 500,000 malaria deaths in Africa by 2050 New research published today in Nature warns climate change could substantially increase malaria burden in Africa over the coming decades. The study projects that a middle-of-the-road climate…

#Climate change could cause more than 500,000 #malaria #deaths in #Africa ...

| #ClimateChange | #disease | #infections | #GlobalWarming | #GHGs | Via @sciencex.bsky.social

Projected impacts of climate change on malaria in Africa - Nature Projected impacts of climate change on malaria burden in Africa by 2050 highlight the urgent need for climate-resilient malaria control strategies and robust emergency response systems to safeguard pr...

Important study in @nature.com how climate change could impact malaria transmission in coming decades. An increase in malaria cases of over 100 million by 2050.
The authors emphasize a need for climate resilient malaria countering measure.
Climate change is real.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Official concedes 8-year-old who died in U.S. custody could have been saved as devastated family recalls final days The parents of 8-year-old Anadith Danay Reyes Alvarez told CBS News that their daughter died in Border Patrol custody because of negligence and discrimination.

Children are dying in the US concentration camps

www.cbsnews.com/news/anadith...

A bird's-eye view of a former Auschwitz II-Birkenau camp showing a wide dirt pathway flanked by parallel rows of barbed-wire fences. Groups of visitors walk along the path, surrounded by the remnants of brick structures and barracks, now reduced to foundations. Green grass contrasts with the somber history of the site, as the path leads toward a guard tower in the distance.

Auschwitz was at the end of a process. We must remember that it did not start from gas chambers.

This hatred gradually developed: from ideas, words, stereotypes & prejudice through legal exclusion, dehumanization & escalating violence... to systematic and industrial murder.

Auschwitz took time.

Statement from VA fed workers on murder of Alex Pretti: As health care professionals dedicated to the care of US Veterans, e grieve the killing of Alex Pretti, a Veteran Health Administration ICU nurse and health scientist in Minneapolis. We ask that people honor and cherish the memory of this man who dedicated his work to those who protect the United States of America.

A Breath of Air Could Help Diagnose Gut Microbiome Disruptions Scientists can detect volatile organic compounds produced by gut bacteria in people’s breath. Image credit:© iStock.com, narcisa In the depths of the human colon, gut microbes help keep the body healthy by aiding digestion and producing vital metabolites. Disruptions to this bustling microbial community are associated with diseases including asthma and serious infections in preterm infants. However, quickly identifying the gut microbiome changes that can lead to these conditions in a hospital is not feasible with current methods. “One of the key barriers to integrating our knowledge of the microbiome into clinical care is the time it takes to analyze the data on the microbiome,” said&hellip;

A Breath of Air Could Help Diagnose Gut Microbiome Disruptions

Scientists can detect volatile organic compounds produced by gut bacteria in people’s breath. Image credit:© iStock.com, narcisa In the depths of the human colon, gut microbes help keep the body healthy by aiding digestion and…

Vibrant color portrait of Jane S. Richardson, the visionary biophysicist and artist who revolutionized structural biology with her invention of ribbon diagrams. She gazes warmly at the camera with a bright, knowing smile that radiates quiet brilliance and decades of curiosity. Her silver-blonde hair woven with gentle waves. Large, elegant dangling earrings catch the light, and she wears a richly patterned brown blouse embroidered with intricate turquoise paisley motifs and delicate beadwork that echoes the molecular elegance she has spent her life depicting. Behind her floats a luminous, dreamlike backdrop of glowing molecular structures--interlocking hexagonal and ribbon-like forms in electric blues, teals, and greens--blending science and art in a single, living canvas.

Hand-drawn and hand-colored (by Jane Richardson) scientific artwork known as a Richardson ribbon diagram (or “ribbon model”), one of the iconic visual inventions of Jane Richardson that transformed the way we see and understand protein structures. A graceful, three-dimensional tangle of protein backbone ribbons twists and spirals through space, rendered in soft pencil lines and luminous watercolor hues. Smooth golden-brown coils represent α-helices that curl like elegant ribbons, while broad teal-green arrows trace the flat, pleated strands of β-sheets slicing through the molecule with directional purpose. Thin, looping golden threads connect the secondary structures, creating a delicate, almost dance-like choreography of biology’s hidden architecture. The entire form is framed by a simple olive-green mat and dark border, giving the drawing the quiet dignity of both fine art and precise scientific illustration—a timeless bridge between molecular reality and human imagination.

Jane Richardson was born #OTD in 1941

+ Developed the Richardson (ribbon) diagram to represent proteins' 3D structure (becoming a standard representation for protein structures)
+ MacArthur Fellow, 1985
+ Elected, Nat'l Academy of Sciences, 1991
+ President, Biophysical Society, 2012

#WomenInSTEM

Alex Pretti was a colleague at the VA. We hired him to recruit for our trial. He became an ICU nurse- I lover working with him. He was a good kind person who lived to help and these fuckers executed him.

White. Hot. Rage.

The gut #microbiota shapes the human and murine #breath #volatilome

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... #OpenAccess #MicroSky

Breath-based diagnostics? @cp-cellmetabolism.bsky.social @odomjohnlab.bsky.social
Gut bacteria influence the volatile organic compounds found in exhaled in host breath
www.cell.com/cell-metabol...

A Breath of Air Could Help Diagnose Gut Microbiome Disruptions Volatile organic compounds in the breath reflect gut microbiome changes, offering a quick and non-invasive way to detect biomarkers of diseases like asthma in children.

www.the-scientist.com/a-breath-of-...

What your breath says about the bacteria in your gut Metabolites in mouse and human breath correlate to gut-microbe populations and might be helpful in diagnosing disease.

www.nature.com/articles/d41...