Rocío Martínez Aguilar

The boys’ club: How Epstein’s influence shaped the exclusion of women in STEM In one email, an AI researcher suggested it’s “hard to be brilliant if you are worrying if you look fat or why another woman hates you.”

Women's voices have been curiously absent from the media coverage of the Epstein files. Kudos to @jkutzie.bsky.social for publishing this excellent piece. If you consider yourself to be an ally please take a moment to consider the impact of the ecosystem created by men at the top.

Our latest preprint, led by @lizihegarty.bsky.social & aided by @erinwatson.bsky.social shows that fixation time matters when it comes to visualising #macrophages in #salivarygland & other epithelia.We find 1hr allows detection of mac subsets while preserving architecture. With @bainlab.bsky.social

Women Want Out 40% of women of reproductive age want to leave the US. Why?

open.substack.com/pub/katemann...

Targeting macrophages to protect fertility after chemotherapy at University of Edinburgh on FindAPhD.com PhD Project - Targeting macrophages to protect fertility after chemotherapy at University of Edinburgh, listed on FindAPhD.com

🚨 PhD position - now open 🚨

Interested in doing a #PhD in #FertilityPreservation at The University of Edinburgh?

We have an exciting project on #Macrophages, #Chemotherapy & #Infertility supervised by @RoseanneRosario, @RodTMitchell and Elaine Emmerson.

www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

Targeting macrophages to protect fertility after chemotherapy at University of Edinburgh on FindAPhD.com PhD Project - Targeting macrophages to protect fertility after chemotherapy at University of Edinburgh, listed on FindAPhD.com

🧫 For anyone interested in doing a #PhD in #fertility preservation, #chemotherapy & #macrophages please see this opportunity at @edinuni-irr.bsky.social in #Edinburgh, supervised by Roseanne Rosario, @rodtmitchell.bsky.social & me.

💻 www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

📆 Closing date: 6th March

Targeting Post‐Irradiation Thyroid Dysfunction: Electrospun Scaffolds As A Dual‐Action Approach for Antioxidant and Immune Modulation Radiation-induced hypothyroidism follows head and neck radiotherapy due to oxidative stress and inflammation. Electrospun polycaprolactone scaffolds containing adenosine have potential to modulate th...

V happy to share the latest collaborative effort between myself & Anthony Callanan, led by #PhDstudent Mary Heim, who characterised #macrophages in the irradiated #thyroid, and then developed electrospun scaffolds to locally modulate immune response.
advanced.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Endo1000 logo, a scientist looking through a microscope.

We are excited to announce we are recruiting patients for our ENDO1000 project! 🎉

Head over to the ENDO1000 website for more information and to sign up for the study: edin.ac/49UMqad

Your data could make all the difference to improving the lives of people living with endometriosis.

🎉 Congratulations to Seema Banglawala, winner of the 2026 Reproduction and Fertility Prize, presented last week in Edinburgh at Fertility 2026!

The RaF Prize recognises outstanding presentations and excellence in early career research, and this year, Seema’s work truly stood out.

Congratulations!

Harnessing comparative biology to understand climate change induced heat stress impacts on maternal and offspring health at University of Edinburgh on FindAPhD.com PhD Project - Harnessing comparative biology to understand climate change induced heat stress impacts on maternal and offspring health at University of Edinburgh, listed on FindAPhD.com

We have a PhD studentship available starting in October 2026. Investigating climate change heat stress impacts on maternal and child health. Get in touch if you have questions! www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

VIDA DTC - Understanding the impact of post-stroke infection on neuroinflammation and small vessel disease in stroke recovery at University of Edinburgh on FindAPhD.com PhD Project - VIDA DTC - Understanding the impact of post-stroke infection on neuroinflammation and small vessel disease in stroke recovery at University of Edinburgh, listed on FindAPhD.com

We have a further exciting PhD opportunity in the lab investigating the impact of systemic infection on the recovering brain after stroke and its link to small vessel disease and cognitive decline. Details in the link below
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

Tissue resident colonic macrophages persist through acute inflammation and adapt to aid tissue repair Macrophages are crucial for the maintenance of intestinal homeostasis, are considered key proinflammatory effector cells during intestinal inflammatio…

Thrilled for our wonderful postdoc @lizihegarty.bsky.social whose #PhD work on colonic #macrophages and #colitis with @bainlab.bsky.social @edinuni-irr.bsky.social has been accepted for publication in @mucosalimmunol.bsky.social 🔬

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Age‐Associated Inflammatory Monocytes Are Increased in Menopausal Females and Reversed by Hormone Replacement Therapy Post-menopausal females (> 64 years) have an increase in frequency of inflammatory monocyte populations with defective phagocytosis as compared to pre-menopausal (< 40 years) females. Hormone Replace....

I am so proud to say that our paper is now available at Aging Cell. There is a paucity of data as to how the menopause impacts your immune system, and the aim of this study was to investigate the impact of the menopause on monocyte phenotype and function.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Last Saturday, we opened our doors to the public once again for Doors Open Day.

Visitors were invited to take part in lab tours, a specialist talk and our science marketplace, exhibiting research from across our Institute and the College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine.

edin.ac/46IYFF7

A chart of "Major concerns of PhD candidates." The top text says, "Financial pressures top the list of concerns faced by PhD candidates, but concerns differ among the sexes. Those studying in the United States rank the political landscape as their main worry." The chart shows that in the full survey, political landscape is the biggest concern for about 20% of students (a bit higher for women than men) but there's an annotation saying "In US PhD students, this rose to 64%". Overall, the highest-rated concern was financial pressures at around 40%.

That's quite the chart annotation.

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

Screenshot showing the following text: "When the COVID-19 pandemic began, few of us anticipated the lingering aftermath that would emerge in its wake. As a researcher in women's health, I found myself drawn into an unexpected and urgent area of study: the intersection of long COVID and menstruation". Post written by Jacqueline Maybin and Alexandra Alvergne.

Behind the scenes: researching long COVID and menstruation

@jackiemaybin.bsky.social @edinuni-irr.bsky.social

#WomensHealth #LongCovid #Periods #COVID19 #menstruation #Health

https://bit.ly/4nRbEMa

Delighted all of @lizihegarty.bsky.social's hard work as paid off. She shows that tissue resident colonic #macrophages persist through #inflammation and adapt to aid tissue repair.

Lovely collaborative work with colleagues @edinuni-irr.bsky.social and beyond. 🙏🏻

@uofgsii.bsky.social

🪧We are delighted to announce the winners of the CMVM Postdoc Appreciation Week Awards 2025 - we received lots of super nominations so congratulations to everyone nominated - see🧵for results...

Absolutely delighted that our superstar #postdoc @lizihegarty.bsky.social was awarded the @cmvm-edinburghuni.bsky.social Student Support & Supervision Award for #PAW 2025. Thoroughly deserved for everything she does for @emmersonlab-irr.bsky.social, @bainlab.bsky.social & @edinuni-irr.bsky.social

New research highlights an important connection between long Covid and menstrual health.

Women with long Covid often face heavier, longer periods and worse symptoms around menstruation.

Read more 👉 edin.ac/42xzdRJ

@edinuni-irr.bsky.social | @jackiemaybin.bsky.social

Long Covid study sheds light on link with period disruption | Institute for Regeneration and Repair Women with long Covid experience longer, heavier periods compared with those never infected with the virus, new research suggests.

Long Covid study sheds light on link with period disruption 🩸

Women with long Covid experience longer, heavier periods compared with those never infected with the virus, new research suggests.

Read our article: edin.ac/3VQcV9Z

#EMDS2025 attendees - if anyone is looking for a postdoc position and likes what they see of #Edinburgh, please come and speak to me or @lizihegarty.bsky.social (poster 71) or @erinwatson.bsky.social (poster 35).

Official advert coming soon! #postdoc #macrophages @britsocimm.bsky.social @emds2025.bsky.social
@edinuni-irr.bsky.social

@ucuedinburgh.bsky.social FIRST DAY OF WELCOME WEEK STRIKE ACTION ‼️#StopTheCuts

📢 Staff at the University of Edinburgh are on strike against £140m cuts.

Show your support to colleagues at Edinburgh university ✊

Our partnered project 'Breaking Barriers in Research Funding Applications: Evaluating Narrative CVs and Co-designing Solutions' has come to an end! Thanks @edicaucus.bsky.social @daphnejacksontr.bsky.social University of Surrey. Here's an overview of what we have been working on and our key findings

8 cartoon-drawn headshots, each with a different colour of shading. Steph - sepia shading, with flowing brown hair and glasses. Robbie - purple shading, with glasses and fair hair in a low ponytail falling over one shoulder. Susan - green shading, with wavy fair hair and glasses. Alex, orange shading, with short brown hair. Olivia, blue-grey shading, with black braids pulled into a bun at the nape of the neck. Eimhir, pink shading, with short hair. Gwen, turquoise shading, with pixie cut dark hair and earrings. Chris, blue shading, with short dark hair and glasses.

Take some of your own time, and read 8 stories of casualised and precariously employed academics.
in-their-own-time.ed.ac.uk

Dr Cécile Ménard and Dr Lena Wånggren with artist Maria Stoian received EDICa Flexible Funding to produce this research and artwork highlighting the challenges faced.

If you're into the immunology of anything reproduction please submit an abstract! I will be chairing the spoken session, and we're hoping for a great poster showing in the field too. From uteruses to sperm, to placentas to babies - send it in ☺️ #BSI25 #reproimmunology

2025 event :: UK Postdoc Appreciation Week How can postdocs move beyond day-to-day survival and actively shape their future?

UK National Postdoc Appreciation Week (UKNPAW) 2025 is coming!
Join the online and free flagship event 'From surviving to thriving: planning your future', on 15th September 10.30am (expected finish time 12.30pm), register here uk-postdoc-appreciation-week.webnode.co.uk/teaching-met...

Single cell proteomic analysis defines discrete neutrophil functional states in human glioblastoma Neutrophils are vital innate immune cells shown to infiltrate glioblastomas, however we currently lack the molecular understanding of their functional states within the tumour niche. Neutrophils are k...

Happy to share our latest preprint doing low cell number (mini-bulk) and single cell #proteomics on tumour associated neutrophils from human glioblastoma where we find multiple functional states that would be invisible to scRNAseq, some showing pro-tumoural states with potential therapeutic value