💯
It’s also worth considering that the same may be true of HCMV. There is developing data that HCMV is beneficial to immune priming and this work from @bpfairfax.bsky.social is impressive and thought provoking
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40269332/
People living with HIV have been disproportionately affected by Mpox.
In 2025, CVR researchers uncovered the emergence of drug-resistant Mpox strains, highlighting growing challenge for global Mpox control and need for improved surveillance & alternate treatments.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=54t8...
New News & Views out today in @natmicrobiol.nature.com with @mariekedoesscience.bsky.social — "When viral RNA lingers in joints" — on a new study by Zarrella et al. asking why chikungunya virus causes chronic arthralgia/arthritis. (1/3)
Someday, with luck and hard work, she will have a name too.
I don’t post many personal issues here, ….but what Fresh Hell is this?
Did no one inform the filmmakers that Hersheys chocolate smells and tastes of sick?
youtu.be/H1nxODYzt-w?...
Submitting to the ERC with full confidence
An illustration of an apical region of an animal cell in cross section, shown crowded with individual molecules. The plasma membrane is densely occupied by influenza virus glycoproteins, and from the surface bud influenza virions with different morphologies (L-R): spherical, bacilliform, filamentous with a genome, filamentous and empty, filamentous with a helical inner layer, and filamentous with a cofilactin cytoskeleton.
🚨New pre-print!🚨
Because influenza virions are highly variable in form no single method can show their molecular architecture in detail. Here, we integrate multiple structural and compositional approaches to identify new features of these beautiful virus particles
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
UK and EU finalise agreement to bring UK into Erasmus+ in 2027
- Thousands across the UK set to benefit from re-opening of the historic Erasmus+ programme
www.gov.uk/government/n...
Does anyone have serum/plasma from a cohort of (ambulatory) patients with herpes zoster (shingles) ? A small cohort would be fine. We will test if they have auto-Abs against type I IFNs, as the risk of zoster increases over 50 yo. Please RT or contact me !
@dandepledge.bsky.social ?☝️
Graph of receptor binding curves showing an ancestral and recent H5N1. The ancestral virus does not bind NeuGc receptor well, whereas the recent virus birds NeuGc and NeuAc containing receptors equally.
Really excited to be able to share our latest preprint, describing how during its evolution in cattle, H5N1 has got better at using a type of alternative receptor that's abundant in cows, but not found in humans and birds.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Unsurprising, R managed to get this one wrong too. We have those geese round the corner from us in London. Very good at cleaning up any large food debris that attracts rodents. Thus, with no rodents attacking nests, native duck species in the area thrive.
“You only live twice “ - Nancy Sinatra ?!
I’m amazed.
It’s really true: BA.3.2 (new COVID lineage) is infecting children at a much higher rate than previous lineages.
I’m late to this party, but I couldn’t really believe it was true until I did the analysis for myself.
1/
💯
And, Robards crushes every scene he is in.
youtu.be/cpXKbU1ORrk?...
Proud of Louisa Iselin. Not the easiest PhD, covid, two supervisors (shabazlab.bsky.social) moving labs, but she pushed through and delivered a really solid piece of work on how interferon reshapes RNA-protein interactions post-translationally www.cell.com/cell-reports...
At a recent conference, a Senior Investigator sat next to me at dinner and asked who I was and what stage of my career I’m at 🙄🥳
Delighted to share our latest preprint describing an integrative model for influenza A virions. We combined proteomics, lipidomics and cryo-ET to build a comprehensive set of models, using subtomogram averaging we show that IAV filaments package cofilactin. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Since I'm getting a questions about the new data - a few _preliminary_ comments:
1️⃣ Are the outbreaks in the US connected?
👉 Very likely.
2️⃣ Does this mean US will lose elimination status?
👉 Yes, but that's been clear for a while.
Data: nextstrain.org/measles/geno...
A few details + caveats 🧵👇
Pleased to have written this with my @independentsage.bsky.social friends @sheencr.bsky.social, @duncanrobertson.bsky.social, and @helensalisbury.bsky.social
We must reverse the decline in MMR and other vaccines, urgently...
bmj.com/cgi/content/...
I’ve started working in Scotland during interesting times. Too cold? Not with climate breakdown and the relentless march of vectors and virus northwards.
Are you excited by virology? Would you like to do a PhD? Three fantastic opportunities are available to do joint PhDs between @cvrinfo.bsky.social and @pirbrightinst.bsky.social
Details in the thread below - please share!
Deadline 8th May 2026, fully funded for UK Home students
(1/4)
Bio-Rad/De’Longhi hybrid lab coffee maker
Our newest piece of lab equipment: Bio-Rad’s “Buffer C dispenser”, developed in cooperation with De’Longhi.
A discreet bench-top device that won’t raise suspicions with the lab safety officers.
Headshot of the late Professor Robin Weiss
You can now read the Society's full tribute to former President Professor Robin Weiss FRS. Robin was an Honorary Member and, in addition to serving as President from 2006 to 2009, was the winner of the Marjory Stephenson Prize Lecture in 2015: https://microb.io/4dRe7Ei
Lab Leakers: "SARS-CoV-2 can't infect bats, so it must have been made in a lab".
Science: "Let's do the experiment".
SARS-CoV-2 behaves exactly like one would expect in a reservoir species - low-level infection, no overt disease, etc.
Elegant study from Sato Lab:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
2 WSB Atlanta + Windows shot up in CDC shooting haven't been replaced months later 1d L Windows shot up in CDC shooting haven't been replaced months later It has been seven months since a gunman opened fire on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention building in Atlanta. The suspect
Imagine going to work for seven months and the bullet holes are still there
Nice coverage by @kakape.bsky.social in @science.org of our preprint, where we present data showing orthopoxviruses, including MPXV, infect duikers, which are popular bushmeat in many mpox endemic regions. Highlights lots more about orthopoxvirus ecology to explore:
www.science.org/content/arti...
