Delighted to share the (preprint) output of @mhairijan.bsky.social's Oxford visit:
SARS-CoV-2 Neutralising Antibody Profiles Reveal Variant Specific Antibody Dynamics and Regional Differences in Infection Histories in Malawi. dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn...
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We've partnered with specialist recycling organisations to transform your old items into donations.
To learn more, visit our website: https://humaneresearch.org.uk/fundraising-ideas
A woodcut of a highland cow peering through a square frame (image credit Ed Hutchinson)
🚨New pre-print!🚨
Influenza viruses need proteases to become infectious. Here, we identify the proteases needed for influenza D virus entry, and show that proteases in the human airway are more than capable of activating this non-human virus
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
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...
Just at the airport after a great @microbiologysociety.org annual conference! Enjoyed sharing my @humaneresearch.bsky.social research with the virology community and catching up with old and new friends. Looking forward to next year already #Microbio26
Great delivery by Sarah Little from @grovearmada.bsky.social team @microbiologysociety.org : Scalable Screening of AI Designed Binders that Prevent Virus Entry
Vaccines protect against some of the most serious diseases we know. But their impact goes beyond infection.
Research suggests they may also support long-term health, including reducing cardiovascular risk.
Explore our latest #CelebrateVaccines blog! ➡️ vist.ly/4yngv
Interested in viruses and innate immunity? Then join @connorggbamford.bsky.social and myself in the innate immunity symposium session at 2:30 in Meeting Room 1 #Microbio26
Interested in animal-origin free research? Then come along to my poster #231 describing my @humaneresearch.bsky.social work on producing animal-free viral immunology assays to assess measles immunity #Microbio26
Fantastic Translation Prize talk from @alanlparker.bsky.social amazing work going from bench to bedside using oncolytic viruses #Microbio26
Looking forward to #Microbio26 in Belfast this week where we have 6 presentations across a few sessions on both our virus and host work (can you spot us?). Plus I will be co-chairing the virus forum innate immunity session with @leesherry.bsky.social on Tuesday pm!
Out today in @natecoevo.nature.com!
📝 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
We compare the mutational tolerance of enteroviruses A & B across their full proteomes, mapping distinct host interaction strategies 🦠 and identifying mutation-resistant regions that could inform antiviral development 💊
It is almost five years since I first applied AlphaFold to a handful of viral proteins.
Today, hundreds of thousands of predictions and many discoveries later, we are delighted to announce the integration of our Viro3D dataset into the @ebi.embl.org and Google DeepMind AlphaFold Database.
Image of a herpesvirus structure
I am excited to share our latest preprint - An evolutionarily divergent herpesvirus with a giant tail. Featuring symmetry breaking and genome annotation from structure using ModelAngelo. doi.org/10.64898/202...
Are you fascinated by viruses? Would you like to design your own original research project in the UK's largest virology centre? Why not come and do a PhD @cvrinfo.bsky.social - application deadline 6th Jan 2026 (1/1): www.findaphd.com/phds/program...
Join @uofglasgow.bsky.social for a funded 3.5 year PhD programme:
www.gla.ac.uk/colleges/mvl...
Also up for grabs is a project on antiviral PROTACs, supervised by us and the France lab (School of Chemistry) should ubiquitin and viruses appeal! Please get in touch with any questions.
Following our recent publications on next-generation poliovirus vaccines, we were asked by @uk.theconversation.com to provide a short explainer on why new vaccines are needed to ensure the eradication of polio globally - theconversation.com/to-eradicate...
7/7 Finally to thank everyone who worked so hard to get this paper published from @researchleeds.bsky.social @ox.ac.uk (STRUBI) @NIBSC_MHRA and @ukcpi.bsky.social and if anyone has any questions then please let us know!
6/7 These results highlighted that our PV VLPs have the potential to be produced using currently available infrastructure making them a viable next-generation vaccine candidate for a polio-free world #Endpolio #vaccineswork
5/7 Then for the first time, we showed that in the presence of adjuvant, a trivalent immunisation of our VLPs were as immunogenic in the vaccine batch release assay as the current IPV vaccine showing the potenital for dose-sparing #endpolio #vaccines
4/7 Despite this similarity, this new PV2 VLP displayed increased increased immunogenicity compared to its predecessor, and in the presence of adjuvant was as immunogenic as the current IPV vaccine
3/7 We also produced a different PV2 mutant, which significantly increased VLP yields and improved particle thermostability. The team @ox.ac.uk (STRUBI) then determined the structure of these mutants by cryoEM and found them to be highly similar
2/7 This paper follows on from our previous work, highlighting how immunogenic poliovirus virus-like particles (PV VLPs) made in yeast can be made at scale using fermentation with increased yields compared to flask-based expression
Much like London buses, you wait for ages, then 2 publications come along in quick succession! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#vaccineswork #endpolio 1/7
Great few days in Liverpool for @microbiologysociety.org conference, can't wait to catch up with everyone again next year! #Microbio25
Here is a press release from @universityofleeds.bsky.social highlighting our recent publication describing next-generation VLP vaccines for polio #vaccines #Endpolio www.leeds.ac.uk/main-index/n...
Huge congratulations to co-first authors Kaniz Fatema and Joe Snowden the Stonehouse/Rowlands Lab @researchleeds.bsky.social on their publication describing a novel VLP vaccine platform. #vaccineswork
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
8/8 Finally, I just wanted to thank all members of the consortium for their hard work in getting this over the line at @researchleeds.bsky.social @ox.ac.uk (STRUBI) @NIBSC_MHRA @johninnescentre.bsky.social and if anyone has any questions or wants to know more, then please let us know!
7/ These results highlighted that these VLPs have the potential to be used as a next-generation poliovirus vaccine post-eradication to avoid the problems posed by using live virus to produce our current vaccines. #Vaccineswork #Endpolio
6/ So we took inspiration from other VLP vaccines and used an adjuvant, which worked beautifully! With VLPs for all three poliovirus serotypes being more or as immunogenic as IPV in the rat model!