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Rowan Walrath

@rowanwalrath.bsky.social
862 followers 1K following 189 posts

Associate editor, life sciences reporter @cenmag.bsky.social. Texan Bostonian. she/her. r_walrath@acs.org. For sensitive tips, I'm on Signal @rowanwalrath.01 or email rowan.walrath@proton.me

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Rowan Walrath @rowanwalrath.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Heads up: I'll be away the weeks of 9/21 and 9/28. I trust that my sharp C&EN colleagues will capably handle anything that comes up in my absence. I return 10/5, so if you need something from me specifically, I'd reach out or re-up then!
A sunset view out an airplane window. Overlaying the image is text that reads "out of office" in a mix of script and serif fonts.
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Rowan Walrath @rowanwalrath.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Big praise coming from one of C&EN's finest
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Bri Barbu @bribarbu.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Very very cool interactive data story from some of C&EN's finest!
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Laurel Oldach @laureloldach.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
At the end of this comprehensive story by @rowanwalrath.bsky.social and Shea Murphy, you can play with several data dimensions to see which US city ranks highest in factors that matter to you. (You also have to scroll to find the global cities - they're there!) cen.acs.org/business/inv...
cen.acs.org
Cities of chemistry
C&EN explores which cities have the ingredients for chemical innovation
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Rowan Walrath @rowanwalrath.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
The coolest part, IMO, is this "build your own city ranking" tool. You can use sliders to adjust how much weight you'd give to one dimension, like VC funding or lab space, and see what cities come out on top.
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Rowan Walrath @rowanwalrath.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Special thanks to Shea, whose data chops made this feature possible, and to the folks at Tevard Biosciences, @elilillyandcompany.bsky.social, @greentownlabs.bsky.social, and Michelle Arkin at UCSF for showing why geography is important for building a career and/or a chemistry ecosystem.
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Rowan Walrath @rowanwalrath.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Try it out. Let us know what you think. cen.acs.org/business/inv...
cen.acs.org
Cities of chemistry
C&EN explores which cities have the ingredients for chemical innovation
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Rowan Walrath @rowanwalrath.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
The coolest part, IMO, is this "build your own city ranking" tool. You can use sliders to adjust how much weight you'd give to one dimension, like VC funding or lab space, and see what cities come out on top.
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Rowan Walrath @rowanwalrath.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
These tools are interactive, allowing you to play with data yourself to see what regions are dominant as research centers, chemical industry hubs, and start-up havens—ultimately, whatever matters most to you.
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Rowan Walrath @rowanwalrath.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Boston & Massachusetts may not house the headquarters of top US pharmaceutical companies, but they commands the most chemistry-related VC investment and the third-highest chemistry article output, reflecting their status as a life sciences hub spanning start-ups, academia, and research hospitals.
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Rowan Walrath @rowanwalrath.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Houston, long the stronghold of the petrochemical industry, is now establishing itself as the geographic cornerstone of the US energy transition.
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Rowan Walrath @rowanwalrath.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Different cities and regions play host to different kinds of chemistry ecosystems.
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Rowan Walrath @rowanwalrath.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
And you need institutions. Depending on how you’d like your career to unfold, those institutions can include academic centers, big industrial companies, start-up accelerators and incubators, and venture capital firms.
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Rowan Walrath @rowanwalrath.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
For any career, a network is everything. For chemists, that network is highly specialized. You need laboratory space. You need coworkers and mentors with certain skill sets.
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Rowan Walrath @rowanwalrath.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
What are the most important ingredients for chemical innovation? For @cenmag.bsky.social, my colleague Shea Murphy and I sought to find out. 🧵
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Carl Zimmer @carlzimmer.com · 26/08/2026
Nature honors Dolly Parton's scientific legacy. www.nature.com/articles/d41...
nature.com
Dolly Parton dies aged 80 – researchers celebrate her contributions to science
The country singer was an advocate for vaccines, public health, literacy and marginalized communities.
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Rowan Walrath @rowanwalrath.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Biopharmaceutical executives and investors are cautiously hopeful that President Donald J. Trump’s nominee to head the US Food and Drug Administration will bring some much-needed stability to the agency. @cenmag.bsky.social cen.acs.org/policy/regul...
cen.acs.org
Drug industry leaders size up Trump’s FDA commissioner nominee
White House aide Heidi Overton has been tapped to lead the agency after a tumultuous period
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Eric Topol @erictopol.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Severe Covid leads to persistent viral reactivation, with >10 different viruses noted in the first 40 days after hospital admission. Long Covid was specifically associated with reactivation of latent Anelloviridae virus @nature.com www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Virus reactivation in acute and long COVID-19 - Nature
Chronic reactivation of distinct herpesviruses and anelloviruses occur during acute and long COVID-19, and track with disease severity, inflammation and outcomes, revealing immune signatures with prog...
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Miles W. Griffis @mileswgriffis.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
""We’re interested in FcRn inhibitors as a treatment option for a subset of folks with Long COVID...” Putrino [said]." A great story on Vyvgart and Ampligen, and the challenges of study design for Long COVID, POTS, and ME by @rowanwalrath.bsky.social cen.acs.org/pharmaceutic...
cen.acs.org
Access to potential long COVID drugs dwindles as trials falter
Two sets of studies for COVID-driven conditions show the struggles of drug development
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Chemjobber @chemjobber.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
#chemsky thread on long COVID therapies
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Rowan Walrath @rowanwalrath.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
Thank you, Julia!
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Laura Howes @laurahowes.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
A complicated disease, competing corporate and scientific priorities, and regulatory catch-22s. Please read the results of @rowanwalrath.bsky.social 's reporting as she's tried to better understand the state of drug development for long COVID and related conditions
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Julia Métraux @juliametraux.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
Really good story from @rowanwalrath.bsky.social on the desperation of patients with debilitating chronic illness symptoms for drugs that may give them relief and the lack of transparency to patients of why some trials stop. cen.acs.org/pharmaceutic...
cen.acs.org
Access to potential long COVID drugs dwindles as trials falter
Two sets of studies for COVID-driven conditions show the struggles of drug development
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Greg Folkers @gregfolkers.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
C&EN: Access to potential long COVID drugs dwindles as trials falter by Rowan Walrath @rowanwalrath.bsky.social @cenmag.bsky.social bit.ly/4psZxH7
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Rowan Walrath @rowanwalrath.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
ALSO: big ups as always to @thesicktimes.org for covering long COVID so robustly and piquing my interest in Vyvgart for long COVID POTS.
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Rowan Walrath @rowanwalrath.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
#chemsky #biosky #longcovid #pots #mecfs #pwME #pwLC
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Rowan Walrath @rowanwalrath.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
I can't possibly do the story justice in a Twitter thread, so please read it on @cenmag.bsky.social: cen.acs.org/pharmaceutic... 13/13
cen.acs.org
Access to potential long COVID drugs dwindles as trials falter
Two sets of studies for COVID-driven conditions show the struggles of drug development
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Rowan Walrath @rowanwalrath.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
Two sets of studies for COVID-driven conditions--one for Vyvgart in long COVID POTS, another for Ampligen in long COVID and ME/CFS--show the struggles of drug development in postinfectious diseases. 12/
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Rowan Walrath @rowanwalrath.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
Precision-medicine approaches show promise, but researchers need buy-in from drugmakers. And that buy-in is not really happening. 11/
"The reason why so many trials get stopped or paused is because of mediocre results."

Sadie Whittaker, chief scientific officer, Solve ME
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Rowan Walrath @rowanwalrath.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
Some patients have advocated for expanded-access studies that allow them to keep taking experimental medications. But such studies can imperil a drug’s long-term approval prospects. 10/
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Rowan Walrath @rowanwalrath.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
Over the last six months, I've spoken with patients, patient advocates, physicians, researchers, and drug manufacturers to better understand the state of drug development for long COVID and related conditions. 9/
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Rowan Walrath @rowanwalrath.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
The GoFundMe, which Delli Gatti set up in November, is part of a last-ditch effort to move development of efgartigimod forward after Delli Gatti and other trial participants were left by the wayside. But nothing is a sure bet in long COVID research. 8/
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Rowan Walrath @rowanwalrath.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
The US Food and Drug Administration has not approved any drug for long COVID, and treatments for related disorders are lacking, if they exist at all. 7/
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Rowan Walrath @rowanwalrath.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
Long COVID affects more than 400 million people globally, and it’s a complicated, heterogeneous disease that often overlaps with other illnesses, including POTS and myalgic encephalomyelitis. 6/
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Rowan Walrath @rowanwalrath.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
The trial would ultimately throw Delli Gatti into the unstable world of long COVID research and development, showing how a tangle of competing corporate and scientific priorities—and regulatory catch-22s—have hamstrung experimental treatments for postinfectious conditions. 5/
In the foreground of a collage, a person wearing a surgical mask holds one hand to their chest and another to the mask as if in pain. The image is tinted in ochre yellow except for the surgical mask, which is a bright blue. The background contains multiple images tinted in black and white. In one, a scientist peers into a microscope. In another, a scientist stares directly into the camera, wearing a surgical mask and safety glasses.
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Rowan Walrath @rowanwalrath.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
In 2023, Delli Gatti joined a clinical trial testing a drug called efgartigimod in POTS driven by long COVID, like hers. 4/
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Rowan Walrath @rowanwalrath.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
Better known as POTS, it developed after she got COVID-19 in 2022 as a student at Brigham Young University. 3/
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Rowan Walrath @rowanwalrath.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
In real life, Delli Gatti isn’t always able to muster this kind of energy. Don’t get her wrong—she recently graduated college, and she works part time and makes cupcakes during some of her off hours—but she also lives with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome. 2/
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Rowan Walrath @rowanwalrath.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
In the picture on her GoFundMe page, Mia Delli Gatti looks bright and cheerful. She sticks out her tongue and curls her left hand into a “rock on” symbol. The sun shines through the short, dark curls that halo her face. 1/
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C&EN (Chemical & Engineering News) @cenmag.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
C&EN's 10 Start-Ups to Watch program is seeking nominations for promising chemistry #StartUps. Nominate a company today and help us uncover the future of innovation in chemistry. The deadline is tomorrow, July 1! Nominate here: cen.acs.org/surveys/star... #10StartUpsToWatch #chemsky 🧪
Nominate a start-up for C&EN’s 10 Start-Ups to Watch
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Rowan Walrath @rowanwalrath.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
tbh
An image of the painting "Making of a Great Martini" by Guy Buffet. Across 12 panels, a mustachioed, tuxedoes bartender shakes the perfect martini in a blurred, violent fashion. Streaks of paint evoke chaotic motion.
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Rowan Walrath @rowanwalrath.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
Me the other night: “here, let me take a photo of the can since we liked this beer” The photo in the cold light of day:
A beer can in motion. It is completely blurred. It is clearly white with an illustration of a honeybee on the front but all other distinguishing characteristics are indiscernible.
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Rowan Walrath @rowanwalrath.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
Across conversations at #BIO2026, pharma leaders made it apparent that they do not care where, geographically, a drug candidate originates, so long as it has clinical and commercial potential. Here's what Boehringer Ingelheim, Sanofi, J&J, Bayer, and more are looking for cen.acs.org/pharmaceutic...
cen.acs.org
Here’s what pharmas and investors are looking for at BIO
And yes, China is at the forefront
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Dan Vergano @danvergano.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
Scientific American is being sold to LabX Media, publisher of Discover: group.springernature.com/gp/group/med... They've fired me and other union staff, ahead of June 26 vote ratification. My rates are suddenly more reasonable, if you need editing or reporting - Argonaut2026@gmail.com
group.springernature.com
Springer Nature to divest its consumer media businesses | Springer Nature Group | Springer Nature
Strategic divestment of consumer media portfolio enables Springer Nature to focus on its core business Transaction supports the long-term development
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Laura Howes @laurahowes.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
For all the agency chaos, some bits of the FDA are just getting on with things. Speaking to @rowanwalrath.bsky.social at this year's BIO conference, Vaxart's CEO says they've worked consistently with the same set of reviewers at the agency @cenmag.bsky.social cen.acs.org/pharmaceutic...
cen.acs.org
‘We’re prepared for whatever the FDA wants’: A vaccine developer gets back on track
Vaxart is weeks away from a key readout from its COVID-19 vaccine-pill trial
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C&EN (Chemical & Engineering News) @cenmag.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
They’re here! Introducing the Talented 12 Class for 2026. These early-career scientists are taking on big global #chemistry challenges. Meet the 2026 Class: cen.acs.org/people/profi... #CENT12 #chemsky 🧪
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Laura Howes @laurahowes.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
Marty Makary resigned on Tuesday after a tumultuous year as FDA commissioner. He leaves behind a mixed legacy, as @rowanwalrath.bsky.social reports for @cenmag.bsky.social cen.acs.org/policy/regul...
Marty Makary sits behind a microphone in a suit and tie
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Laurel Oldach @laureloldach.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
Really interesting to see the role the Berkeley grad student union has played in this case: cen.acs.org/research-int...
cen.acs.org
UC Berkeley professor accused of sexual harassment
Graduate student union files grievance on behalf of PhD student
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Rowan Walrath @rowanwalrath.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
Thank you!
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Universal Hub @universalhub.com · 17/04/2026
BU issues Marathon advice to students: No Animal Housing in the GAP and for God's sake, stay away from parties at BC if you can't handle your liquor www.universalhub.com/2026/bu-issu... #Boston #PatriotsDay
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