Sign in

Kristen Kroll

@kkroll.bsky.social
2.8K followers 1.6K following 214 posts

I lead a Washington University lab focused on regulation of brain development and using stem cell, organoid and mouse models to study its disruption in neurodevelopmental disorders. Views are my own. sites.wustl.edu/krolllab

PostsRepliesMedia
Kristen Kroll @kkroll.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
🧪Rita Levi-Montalcini escaped war torn Italy and had a career of incredible brilliance and resilience. I loved learning about her life and wonderful scientific interactions with embryologist Viktor Hamburger throughout her years at Washington University open.substack.com/pub/kristenk...
open.substack.com
The Woman Who Turned Her Bedroom Into a Laboratory — and Changed Neuroscience Forever
Rita Levi-Montalcini, the trailblazing scientist who kept working to survive
02618
Kristen Kroll @kkroll.bsky.social · 28/06/2026
🧪Highlighting Kakenya's Dream, educating and empowering the women in STEM careers in places where opportunities are lacking, and Phoebe, a recent Kakenya grad and newly minted nurse, who provides essential medical care in her under-resourced community in Kenya. open.substack.com/pub/kristenk...
open.substack.com
The Future, One Girl at a Time: Kakenya’s Dream Gives Girls a Chance to Beat the Odds, Gain an Education, and Transform their Communities
Here’s how Kakenya’s Dream — and its graduates — are changing what’s possible for girls and women.
053
Kristen Kroll @kkroll.bsky.social · 07/06/2026
We’re excited to share this essay about Trudy Elion, a groundbreaking biochemist who, against all odds, helped design drugs still used today. Trudy succeeded despite the social barriers erected to discourage people like her. Stay tuned! (And read and share, please!) substack.com/@debbywaldma...
substack.com
Trudy Elion: The Drug Detective Who Saved Countless Lives
A pioneer of rational drug design whose discoveries continue to cure disease
000
Kristen Kroll @kkroll.bsky.social · 22/03/2026
🧪 The latest installment of our "women in STEM" series, on physicist Chien-Shiung Wu. substack.com/profile/6958...
substack.com
Kristen Kroll (@kristenkroll)
My terrific former student/lab member and colleague Renata Shen did the primary writing on this installment of our "women in STEM" essay series, on physicist Chien-Shiung Wu. Wu's life prompts us to r...
0124
Reposted by Kristen Kroll
Donna Stern @dvsmemphis.bsky.social · 18/02/2026
Noncitizen voting in federal elections is already illegal. The SAVE Act doesn’t fix a real problem; it creates one. It builds a giant bureaucracy to hunt for rare cases and ends up blocking huge numbers of eligible citizens who did everything right. #sheshed
14243176
Kristen Kroll @kkroll.bsky.social · 14/02/2026
🧪 A new series on women in STEM (introductory essay below), to raise awareness among the public, especially since education, science, and hard won rights gained by the last generation of women are under existential threat in the US. Feel free to share. substack.com/@kristenkrol...
substack.com
Kristen Kroll (@kristenkroll)
In our new Substack series featuring women in STEM, we’ll tell one story at a time, about women whose discoveries changed medicine and science, and what it cost them to be heard. Each week, we’re goi...
071
Reposted by Kristen Kroll
Mike Nellis @mikenellis.bsky.social · 13/11/2025
Boy, if I were Donald Trump, I’d be pissed that my supposedly loyal Vice President has gone completely and totally silent on social media since these Epstein emails dropped. Vance always does this when it gets really bad—just disappears. Like Homer in the hedges.
3342265
Kristen Kroll @kkroll.bsky.social · 09/11/2025
How did we get to the longest oligarchic retrenchment in America’s history (e.g. now)? How did ‘movement conservatism’s’ rhetoric, ideology, and misinformation campaigns of the past ~45 years bring us to this point? And where do we go from here? Dr. Richardson illuminates our history and future.
open.substack.com
"That government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth": Heather Cox Richardson explains America's tilts between democracy vs. oligarchy past & present
"There is nothing more American than standing against kings...what will make the difference...is remembering that we are we the people. This is our moment. Let’s get out there and do it." HCR-10/14/25
141
Kristen Kroll @kkroll.bsky.social · 23/10/2025
substack.com/@kristenkrol...
substack.com
Kristen Kroll (@kristenkroll)
Republicans are constantly trying to eviscerate Democrat-supported programs that benefited rural states like Medicaid spending, SNAP (the supplementary nutrition program formerly known as food stamps)...
010
Reposted by Kristen Kroll
Steven Beschloss @stevenbeschloss.bsky.social · 16/10/2025
I’m old enough to remember when we had a system of checks & balances that involved Congress, when Congress controlled the purse and legislated, and the president respected the Constitution & rule of law. I’m old enough to remember when a U.S. president wouldn’t want to be King George or a dictator.
409103482540
Kristen Kroll @kkroll.bsky.social · 13/10/2025
I'm attending No Kings's event, “No Kings 2 - National Protest (West County, STL)” - sign up now to join me! www.mobilize.us/nokings/even...
mobilize.us
No Kings 2 - National Protest (West County, STL) · No Kings
**In America, we don’t put up with would-be kings.** Our peaceful movement is only getting bigger and stronger. “NO KINGS” is more than just a slogan—it’s the foundation our nation was built upon. Bo...
040
Kristen Kroll @kkroll.bsky.social · 13/10/2025
substack.com/@kristenkroll/ Where will you be? Will you be wearing a costume somewhat prematurely re Halloween and the amazing Portland resistance? Find a protest near you-https://www.nokings.org/#map We inhabit the twilight preceding the potential loss of democratic governance…
substack.com
Kristen Kroll (@kristenkroll)
Where will you be? Will you be wearing a costume somewhat prematurely re Halloween and the amazing Portland resistance? Find a protest near you-https://www.nokings.org/#map We inhabit the twilight ...
010
Kristen Kroll @kkroll.bsky.social · 02/10/2025
🧪 Many official government websites now have partisan propaganda about the government shutdown (as below for NIH/HHS)--this is an illegal violation of the Hatch Act. See the instructions below for registering your objection to this illegal use of government webpages for partisan propaganda.
0132
Kristen Kroll @kkroll.bsky.social · 30/09/2025
For many years now—we must stand up for democracy, if we want to continue living in one.
042
Kristen Kroll @kkroll.bsky.social · 30/09/2025
This
010
Kristen Kroll @kkroll.bsky.social · 28/09/2025
🧪Guideline convergence across specialties and borders leads to the same recommendation: acetaminophen remains appropriate first-line therapy for fever and pain in pregnancy. Don’t let disinformation drive clinical care. substack.com/@kristenkrol...
substack.com
Kristen Kroll (@kristenkroll)
What the best evidence actually shows: Large, modern, better-controlled designs The 2024 Swedish population study (n≈2.5M) used sibling analyses to control for shared genetics and environment. Result...
03916
Kristen Kroll @kkroll.bsky.social · 27/09/2025
040
Kristen Kroll @kkroll.bsky.social · 27/09/2025
010
Kristen Kroll @kkroll.bsky.social · 27/09/2025
🧪on recent assertions by RFK Jr. regarding autism and Tylenol: You may wish to pass this along to others who need to separate facts and data from the unsupported or falsifiable assertions made by those with much less knowledge leading our HHS. substack.com/@kristenkrol...
substack.com
Kristen Kroll (@kristenkroll)
For those who have asked me about recent assertions by RFK Jr. regarding Tylenol and autism, please see this article and the NYT deep dive penned by Sam Wang, who has also studied this topic in depth....
33512
Kristen Kroll @kkroll.bsky.social · 19/09/2025
So important substack.com/@kristenkrol...
substack.com
Kristen Kroll (@kristenkroll)
Anyone who watched the 2011 White House Correspondents' Dinner got a glimpse of how much Trump hates being mocked. President Obama and Seth Meyers spent nearly five minutes roasting Trump over his pro...
010
Kristen Kroll @kkroll.bsky.social · 19/09/2025
Stephen and Jimmy go online to create their own show…and warn that our mainstream media and the current regime would like for them to ‘shut their traps’: substack.com/@kristenkrol...
substack.com
Kristen Kroll (@kristenkroll)
https://youtu.be/HMGD1KCYFOw Stephen and Jimmy go online to create their own show…and warn that our mainstream media and the current regime would like for them to ‘shut their traps’—amazing!
020
Kristen Kroll @kkroll.bsky.social · 19/09/2025
Stephen’s conservative cousin returns to have “a word” with us 😂😂 Please stay, satirical Colbert, as reality truly has that “well known liberal bias” you once called out, regarding democracy and the common good. Now more than ever, we need you: other Stephen Colbert! fb.watch/CcSqeXuH_4/?...
fb.watch
000
Kristen Kroll @kkroll.bsky.social · 16/09/2025
Love both of these guys—sane, humane, thoughtful voices in a world that increasingly seems utterly unhinged. Thank you Stephen and Prof. Reich substack.com/profile/6958...
substack.com
Kristen Kroll (@kristenkroll)
https://fb.watch/C8WkS8BNio/?fs=e Love both of these guys—sane, humane, thoughtful voices in a world that increasingly seems utterly unhinged. Thank you Stephen and Prof. Reich
010
Kristen Kroll @kkroll.bsky.social · 15/09/2025
Congratulations, Stephen! You saved our sanity for decades with incisive satire, brilliant commentary, kindness and humanity. Will miss you dearly. And yes, reality DOES still—perhaps now more than ever—have a “well known liberal bias”. Please don’t be a stranger in our living rooms and lives
000
Kristen Kroll @kkroll.bsky.social · 14/09/2025
🧪AUTHORITARIANISM IN ACTION RFK Jr. has banned government scientists from publishing in the world’s top medical journals. This will isolate U.S. science from the global community — and people WILL DIE as a result. Now would be a great time to contact your Congressperson!
36366172
Reposted by Kristen Kroll
Jlou @wehearvoices.bsky.social · 11/09/2025
RIP, Charlie Kirk. Your motto was “Prove Me Wrong” Especially on guns, I think you were proved wrong, unless your grieving wife and children still believe that the cost of 2nd A in America is gun death. And, now you aren’t here to Prove me wrong. I’m sorry. #DemVoice1 #Voices4Victory #Pinks
Dark blue poster with text in white, saying, “it’s the damn guns” 
Text in red says, Again
532694
Kristen Kroll @kkroll.bsky.social · 09/09/2025
Cut them loose so the rest of us can move into the 21st century, rather than back to the dark ages. substack.com/@chrisarmita...
substack.com
Cut the Failed Red States Loose: Why America Can't Keep Carrying the Dead Weight
Jackson, Mississippi residents spent weeks collecting rainwater in buckets during their third water system collapse since 2021.
130
Kristen Kroll @kkroll.bsky.social · 09/09/2025
🧪Very cool work to unleash new repair capacity in a damaged brain after stroke
043
Kristen Kroll @kkroll.bsky.social · 09/09/2025
🧪An excellent article about what we’re losing in science and education in America and why it is mission critical that we fight for it: “Why on earth would we abandon institutions that have genuinely made America great?” www.nytimes.com/2025/09/08/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | We Are Watching a Scientific Superpower Destroy Itself
12410
Kristen Kroll @kkroll.bsky.social · 05/09/2025
The USA Literacy Crisis & This Election leslyejoyallen.com/2024/11/13/t...
leslyejoyallen.com
The USA Literacy Crisis & This Election
by ©️Leslye Joy Allen One factor that no one is talking about is the USA’s #LiteracyCrisis! I taught college history for 7 years and belong to 5 generations of educators in my family. Yet, this cou…
121
Reposted by Kristen Kroll
Christopher Armitage @carmitage.bsky.social · 05/09/2025
Let’s begin with what transcends partisan politics: democratic legitimacy derives from consent of the governed, expressed through free & fair elections where all citizens participate. This isn’t a progressive/conservative position. It’s the premise upon which the American experiment rests.
open.substack.com
The Republican Party Chose Hungary's Playbook. Here's How That Movie Ends.
Let’s begin with a principle that transcends partisan politics: democratic legitimacy derives from the consent of the governed, expressed through free and fair elections in which all citizens can part...
042
Reposted by Kristen Kroll
Christopher Armitage @carmitage.bsky.social · 03/09/2025
Research on bullying reveals... that those who “returned hostility with hostility appeared to be the most mature.” Boys who stood up to bullies were “judged more socially competent by their teachers,” while girls who fought back were “more popular and more admired by teachers and peers”.
open.substack.com
Bully the Bully: The Psychology of What Gavin Newsom Is Getting Right
Your grandmother was wrong.
12812
Reposted by Kristen Kroll
alexis simpson @amutepiggy.bsky.social · 05/09/2025
i love evidence i love bullying you're telling me there's evidence based bullying? HELL YEAH
4397
Reposted by Kristen Kroll
Ned Resnikoff @resnikoff.bsky.social · 01/09/2025
Weird, putting tariffs on construction materials and throwing day laborers in concentration camps should have solved the supply problem by now
62574622
Kristen Kroll @kkroll.bsky.social · 31/08/2025
🧪Truth in advertising—already killing patients whose trials were cancelled, trashing decades of expertise and a science research enterprise that returned $2.50 on economic activity in the US for each dollar spent, brought $ to all 50 states, and funded >99% of new, commercialized discoveries/drugs
1218
Kristen Kroll @kkroll.bsky.social · 31/08/2025
Check out my substack, Democracy, Social Justice, Education, and the Common Good, for reading recommendations and upcoming author/book deep dives for American democracy in peril. "Democracy and the Fall": open.substack.com/pub/kristenk... #Democracy #America #Anti-fascist #Social Justice
open.substack.com
Democracy and the Fall: Recommended Reading for Resistance and Recommitting to our Core Values
“Someone asked me if I had plans for the fall… It took me a few minutes to realize they were talking about autumn and not democracy.” Terrific reads for planning our resistance to our republic's fall.
010
Reposted by Kristen Kroll
Rhuta Bhayga @rhutabhayga.bsky.social · 30/08/2025
This really spoke to me
The trick is maintaining a sense of alarm that doesn't tip over into despair (and at the opposite end, not falling into complacency "it will all work out" or "that's someone else's job to make it work out). We are in the middle of the story and we write it with how we show up, how we build solidarity, how we support those in the front lines, how we stand on principle, how we don't let them erase those principles of truth, fact, law, science, and human rights.
918383
Reposted by Kristen Kroll
jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 29/08/2025
someone should put together a "kennedy death count" for everyone who dies of a preventable disease and just plaster it everywhere www.statnews.com/2025/08/28/c...
statnews.com
Crisis within CDC is spilling into real world, experts say
"I’ve never heard as many colleagues saying things like 'CDC is dead’ as I have today," an agency employee told STAT.
284116973357
Reposted by Kristen Kroll
Acyn @acyn.bsky.social · 29/08/2025
Welch: He claims that he's the law and order president. But we all know that's a lie because he's a convicted felon. He pardons convicted felons, he surrounds himself with obsequious people that kiss his all day, every day
542188205517
Reposted by Kristen Kroll
Race Bannon @racebannon.bsky.social · 28/08/2025
If you are white, you have less risk showing up at "music festivals" or "group walks down the street" than many others. Use that reduced risk to help protect others who can't and to save our democracy.
13572152
Reposted by Kristen Kroll
Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 29/08/2025
A federal judge has ordered Florida to shut down "Alligator Alcatraz," after the state spent a staggering $218M to build the now-vacant detention camp. Closing it will run taxpayers another $20M. An utterly cruel and costly waste.
865145874306
Kristen Kroll @kkroll.bsky.social · 29/08/2025
🧪Harassing the neurodivergent is abusive behavior by our current US regime
0133
Kristen Kroll @kkroll.bsky.social · 29/08/2025
🧪yep
1147
Kristen Kroll @kkroll.bsky.social · 29/08/2025
Soft secession—a necessary strategy, as “states rights” take on a whole new meaning: lawful, targeted non-cooperation. States decline to carry out or resource federal initiatives they judge unlawful or harmful. They write their own playbooks…and defend them in court. substack.com/@kristenkrol...
substack.com
Kristen Kroll (@kristenkroll)
Soft secession—a necessary strategy and the point where “states rights” take on a whole new meaning under this regime: What it is: A lawful, targeted non-cooperation strategy. States decline to carry...
042
Kristen Kroll @kkroll.bsky.social · 25/08/2025
A very important message to all US physicians and scientists: The non-scientific, non-medical, illegal (allegedly) and capricious activities of RFK Jr and HHS are shocking enough to have long-standing highly a-political medical organizations taking a stand for patients substack.com/@kristenkrol...
substack.com
Kristen Kroll (@kristenkroll)
The non-scientific, non-medical, illegal (allegedly) and capricious activities of RFK Jr and HHS are shocking enough to have long-standing highly a-political medical organizations taking a stand for p...
000
Kristen Kroll @kkroll.bsky.social · 21/08/2025
On Project 2025 and our current US regime
021
Kristen Kroll @kkroll.bsky.social · 20/08/2025
🧪 We are hiring a postdoctoral research scholar in human stem cell biology, transcriptional and epigenetic regulation of brain development, and neurodevelopmental disorders. Please share this advertisement with anyone you think may be qualified and interested. www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/42...
010
Kristen Kroll @kkroll.bsky.social · 20/08/2025
🧪 This is a recording of our recent We Made this Political Podcast--a wonderful chance to talk all things democracy, women in America and academia, career and family choices and constraints, and promoting equity in STEM/Science open.substack.com/pub/kristenk...
open.substack.com
Ep. 15 We Made This Political: Kristen Kroll, Part II
A recording from Kristen Kroll and Lauren Hall's live video
020
Kristen Kroll @kkroll.bsky.social · 19/08/2025
Our latest podcast on navigating academia, the challenges for higher education in America today, and how to work for a more equitable path for the common good, in all of this. We will be next coauthoring an essay on these topics. Ep. 16: Kristen Kroll, Part II open.substack.com/pub/wemadeth...
open.substack.com
Ep. 16: Kristen Kroll, Part II
Navigating Academia: Challenges, Equity, and Resilience
000
Kristen Kroll @kkroll.bsky.social · 19/08/2025
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/18/o... 🧪If the United States abandons mRNA, it will not simply be forfeiting a public health advantage. It will be ceding a strategic asset. In national security terms, mRNA is the equivalent of a missile defense system for biology.
nytimes.com
Opinion | America Is Abandoning One of the Greatest Medical Breakthroughs
12412