Katie Wilkinson

@drkwilkinson.bsky.social

1131 Followers 2054 Following

Neurophysiologist | http://wilkinsonneuro.com | Past Chair of the American Physiological Society's Science Policy Committee | she/hers

Spoon bridge with cherry sculpture w Minneapolis in the background

American Physiology Summit graphic saying Meet us at the Summit with a circular SJSU Wilkinson Neurophysiology blue and gold muscle spindle

Well loved Sutter P-80 puller w some handwritten instructions on lab tape and post its

Back of a woman in a monarch butterfly costume that says No Kings in the USA and holding a very beautiful crowned butterfly shaped sign that says No War No Ice

A group of eight people, smiling, and surrounding a tree decorated in blue and gold with cork mouse ornaments

2025 Word cloud of most common answers, Health disparties, cures, diabetes, cancer pollution, vaccines were very common answers

Poster w QR code, microscope, and magnified dish that says Funding Science Saves Lives

Eye pin that says Science is Political from Two Photon Art https://twophotonart.com/products/copy-of-science-is-political-eye-enamel-pin-blue-and-black

Konrad Lorenz leading around 3 ducklings that had imprinted on him

Eye pin that says Science is Political from Two Photon Art https://twophotonart.com/products/copy-of-science-is-political-eye-enamel-pin-blue-and-black

6 people surrounding a tall corpse flower with a small rectangular cut for collecting pollen

Hand holding two sparkly black brain pins

Two wooden bookends. One has a cartoon image of muscle spindle etched into it. The other has a confocal image of a muscle spindle.

Crowd marching with American flags and protest signs including sunny San Jose including one that says Keep your tiny hands off California

Poster advertising Natanya Villegas’s PhD Final Oral Thesis Defense. Title: Innovations in programmable nucleic acid libraries and CRISPR enrichment for molecular biology applications

Graphic that says Research Funding Cuts. Since March, the Trump administration has slashed millions of dollars in research grants at Bay Area universities, targeting research that prioritizes health equity, transgender youth, anti-racism and discrimination, vaccines and aging. Graphic with federal funding cut amount and total funding cut. UC lost $37 M of $5 B; Stanford $1.3M of $1.2 B, and CSU $7 M out of $410 M.

Graphic that says Research Funding Cuts. Since March, the Trump administration has slashed millions of dollars in research grants at Bay Area universities, targeting research that prioritizes health equity, transgender youth, anti-racism and discrimination, vaccines and aging. Graphic with federal funding cut amount and total funding cut. UC lost $37 M of $5 B; Stanford $1.3M of $1.2 B, and CSU $7 M out of $410 M.

Poster saying Congratulations to the 4 SJSU student teams that placed at the 2025 CSU Student Research Competition. Indranil Dutta got first; Sherry Tsai, Mayra Cardenas Rojo, Leena Rehman, and Mariam Malik got 2nd; Aruna Gomathinayagam got 2nd, and Stephen Ball and Nourdean Shraim got honorable mention.

Toilet seat with ‘Flush the Fascist’ written on it

Slide showing plants that aren’t growing well with the following text: #LessonsFromPlants:
A different perspective
We don't try to "teach" or "mentor" the plants to be "better plants"; we asked questions about the environment and the caretakers
@BerondaM

3 smiling APS staffers, Rebecca, Mark, and Alissa, holding a photo frame that says american physiological society on top and Advocating for Science at #APS2024 #WeArePhysiology

Trophy with a big and small flask and plaque that says G.A.M.E.T.E.

Graph showing increase over time in sales of organic food and number of autism cases. The curves are virtually identical.

Sign with picture of Elmo that says Save Elmo Deport Elon

Two women dressed professionally standing in front of a banner celebrating 20 years of the Emory FIRST program

Two female scientists in suits with the Capitol Building in the background

Two scientists in suits in front of Rep Lofgren’s office

Two scientists in suits outside Representative Liccardo’s office

Two scientists in suits in front of Representative Sara Jacobs office

3 scientists in suits in front of the black mountain statue in the Hart Senate Building

3 scientists in suits in front of a black mountain statue in the Hart Senate Building

Smiling woman in a suit in front of the US Capitol building

Group of 7 people holding science protest signs that say things like Fund Science Not Billionaires and Save Our Science

Attendees at SF Stand Up for Science with signs

Four female professors at the train station with science protest signs

Poster that says Save Our Science with SOS in red. Also a QR code to sign the Open Letter to Our College Students

Poster that says Save Our Science with SOS in red. Also a QR code to sign the Open Letter to Our College Students

Sign that reads Resistance is NOT futile…it’s V/I! Has a picture of a resistor.

Poster that says Save Our Science with SOS in red. Also a QR code to sign the Open Letter to Our College Students

Card with red background and white letters that says ‘It’s time to love yourself and break up with the union’

NIH funding cut could kill medical research
Re: “Judge temporarily blocks Trump move to cut NIH funding” (Page A1, Feb. 11).

Thankfully courts have paused, for now, the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) attempt to immediately slash the amount of money given to research institutions to support research. If allowed to proceed, the loss of money to pay research support staff and support research facilities will be a death knell for biomedical research in the United States.

At San Jose State, my lab is currently funded by NIH to test out a treatment to prevent a devastating side effect of cancer chemotherapy drugs. Odds are if you know cancer survivors, you know someone still struggling with chronic pain or other issues caused by chemotherapy. If NIH cuts research support funds, I doubt that SJSU will be able to find the funds to make up the shortfall, meaning that I will have to fire talented scientists and stop our research.

Researching cures to improve America’s health is not wasteful spending.

Katherine Wilkinson
Professor of Biological Sciences, SJSU
San Jose

NIH funding cut could kill medical research
Re: “Judge temporarily blocks Trump move to cut NIH funding” (Page A1, Feb. 11).

Thankfully courts have paused, for now, the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) attempt to immediately slash the amount of money given to research institutions to support research. If allowed to proceed, the loss of money to pay research support staff and support research facilities will be a death knell for biomedical research in the United States.

At San Jose State, my lab is currently funded by NIH to test out a treatment to prevent a devastating side effect of cancer chemotherapy drugs. Odds are if you know cancer survivors, you know someone still struggling with chronic pain or other issues caused by chemotherapy. If NIH cuts research support funds, I doubt that SJSU will be able to find the funds to make up the shortfall, meaning that I will have to fire talented scientists and stop our research.

Researching cures to improve America’s health is not wasteful spending.

Katherine Wilkinson
Professor of Biological Sciences, SJSU
San Jose

Panel a, 5 Hz LED stimulation with clear muscle spindle afferent firing that persists after LED turned off. Panel b, 10 Hz LED stimulation with even greater increases in muscle spindle afferent firing as expected if you are lengthening the muscle spindle more with the higher frequency stim.

Panel a shows increased firing of muscle spindle afferent (top) during ramp and hold stretch (length and force traces below). Quantified afferent firing rate on bottom. Panel b shows similar increased afferent firing rates during LED stimulation that also pauses when LED turns off, suggesting gamma MN activation. Twitch contractions were also seen indicating some alpha MN activation as well.

Cartoon schematic of ex vivo muscle nerve prep. Muscle and innervating nerve in tissue bath. Nerve placed in suction electrode hooked up to amplifier. Muscle tied to tissue post and lever arm of a force and length transducer and controller.

2023 Federal funding fact sheet for California from FASEB. CA gets $5.31B in NIH funding, $1.07B in NSF funding, $103M in USDA funding, and $226M in DOE funding in FY2023.

2023 Federal funding fact sheet for California from FASEB. CA gets $5.31B in NIH funding, $1.07B in NSF funding, $103M in USDA funding, and $226M in DOE funding in FY2023.

CA Congressional District 16 Federal Funding data sheet from FASEB sharing that the district receives $727M in NIH funding, $88.5M in NSF funding and $875K in USDA funding in FY2023.

2023 Federal funding fact sheet for California from FASEB. CA gets $5.31B in NIH funding, $1.07B in NSF funding, $103M in USDA funding, and $226M in DOE funding in FY2023.

2023 Federal funding fact sheet for California from FASEB. CA gets $5.31B in NIH funding, $1.07B in NSF funding, $103M in USDA funding, and $226M in DOE funding in FY2023.

CA Congressional District 16 Federal Funding data sheet from FASEB sharing that the district receives $727M in NIH funding, $88.5M in NSF funding and $875K in USDA funding in FY2023.

Large male elephant seals on the beach vocalizing at another male in the water that was coming too close to a female elephant seal between them.

Christmas tree decorated with blue and gold ornaments and laminated mice with lab members’ faces. Tree topper is a neuron with dendrites.

Katie and Anusha standing in front of her projected title slide

Flyer advertising Dr. Anusha Allawala’s seminar titled ‘Network-targeted Neuromodulation for Psychiatric Disorders-How do we Personalize Therapy for Depression?’

3 APS Advocates looking at talking points before a meeting on Capitol Hill