We have a 5am start today as we have both our 96-trap grids open and it is going to be a long day @lydiabeckeriii.bsky.social @bethsallis.bsky.social @profjudiallen.bsky.social @amypedersen.bsky.social

Today two of our team left the island for a short break and Indra, Shaun and Tom arrived. We also celebrated Beth and Indra’s successful first year PhD vivas! @amypedersen.bsky.social @profjudiallen.bsky.social @lydiabeckeriii.bsky.social

An amazing Week 1 on the Isle of May — busy days, lots of mice, and much more to come!
@kathelse.bsky.social
@amypedersen.bsky.social

The “squeak-stake” is a bit of fun we have on the island - aim is to guess the number of mice we trap each day. We have 3 Manchester UG with us this season and Rachel who has never been here before guessed EXACTLY the right number on day 1 @amypedersen.bsky.social @lydiabeckeriii.bsky.social

First trapping day of the summer season 2025 has gone very well. Loggers are out too now so we can monitor how our mice are moving round the grid @amypedersen.bsky.social @grahammunology.bsky.social @lydiabeckeriii.bsky.social @macaulayturner.bsky.social

Lab is set up, food is stashed and first traps are out. @amypedersen.bsky.social @lydiabeckeriii.bsky.social @profjudiallen.bsky.social

We have headed out today for our 4th field season on the Isle of May - good to be back and looking forward to what the next 6 weeks brings @amypedersen.bsky.social @lydiabeckeriii.bsky.social @profjudiallen.bsky.social @sheencr.bsky.social

Day one has involved setting up the lab and re establishing our grids which have lain unused since December 2024 @lydiabeckeriii.bsky.social @profjudiallen.bsky.social @amypedersen.bsky.social

Panel Discussion: 'What turns spillovers into epidemics?' This talk brings together experts in pathogen genomics, virology, ecology, climate science, and data science to explore how AI, genomic surveillance, and…

Interesting looking set of talks on 'What turns spillovers into epidemics?' w @jessmetcalf.bsky.social @danielstreicker.bsky.social @aineotoole.bsky.social @peacockflu.bsky.social @HouriyahTegally - 19th May www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/events/what-...

Wild house mice have a more dynamic and aerotolerant gut microbiota than laboratory mice - BMC Microbiology The mammalian gut microbiota is a complex microbial community with diverse impacts on host biology. House mice (Mus musculus) are the major model organism for research on mammals, but laboratory domes...

We compared gut microbiota across >800 lab and wild house mice. Wild mice have more diverse, aerotolerant, and dynamic microbiotas than their lab counterparts. See our latest paper here: bmcmicrobiol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.... #gutmicrobiome #musmusculus #wildmice

Postdoctoral Research Associate at The University of Edinburgh Apply now for the Postdoctoral Research Associate role on jobs.ac.uk - the leading job board for higher education jobs. View details.

Hi #Drosophila folk: I'm advertising a 2-year #Postdoc, funded by a BBSRC grant on the genetic and immune determinants and evolutionary constraints underlying extreme pathogen transmission phenotypes. Deadline 29 April, details in the link below, or feel free to email:
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DMQ231/p...

Professor Amy Buck elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh for her work pioneering RNA biology March 2025: Professor Amy Buck, EID member in the School of Biological Sciences, has been elected as a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh for her cross-disciplinary research to understand how pa...

Huge congratulations to EID member Amy Buck who has been elected as a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh!

Full news story ⤵️

edinburgh-infectious-diseases.ed.ac.uk/news-and-eve...

RCN formally responds to Cardiff University’s proposed closure of its School of Nursing | Royal College of Nursing The College is very disappointed and strongly opposes the proposals, which were announced without prior consultation, warning that it poses serious risks to nurse academics, student members, patients,...

Just a reminder that Cardiff University is proposing to cut 400 academic staff and drop nursing, ancient history, modern languages, music and religion altogether - all this while opening a new campus in Kazakhstan at the same time.

Yep. Me neither. 🤯

www.rcn.org.uk/news-and-eve...

Rewilding catalyzes maturation of the humoral immune system Releasing laboratory mice into the natural environment enhanced maturation and activation of the humoral immune system.

Rewilding catalyzes maturation of the humoral immune system | Science Advances www.science.org/doi/full/10....

We're based in the Ashworth Laboratories, King's Buildings, University of Edinburgh. Photo shows the main staircase in the entrance to the Ashworth, stone steps from the 1920s, decorated with a series of bright, colurful banners depicting the science that's tackled in the building.

I'm very pleased to have two lab positions open this week, to join our team looking at immune regulation in infection and co-infection. We're especially interested in tissue-based immunity, cytokine regulation and immune metabolism. Join us! Postdoc (3y) and research technician (12mo) posts open.

A high-lipid diet leads to greater pathology and lower tolerance during infection Summary: Canaries fed a diet high in lipids show more severe disease outcomes than those fed a high-protein diet, with important implications for human and wildlife disease transmission.

A high lipid diet leads to worse infectious disease outcomes. Interesting implications for wildlife food supplementation. Always exciting to have a new manuscript out! Congrats @ashley-love.bsky.social @sauerscientist.bsky.social
@jexpbiol.Bsky.social

journals.biologists.com/jeb/article/...

Recent genetic drift in the co-diversified gut bacterial symbionts of laboratory mice - Nature Communications Here the authors show that lab mice have retained ancient gut bacterial symbionts that diversified in parallel with rodent species, but the genomes of these gut bugs have accumulated mutational burden...

Lab mice (domesticated for >100y) have kept gut bacterial strains that codiversified w/ rodents for >25My. Here, authors show genetic drift occured in the lab, leading to loss of microb diversity+more deleterious mutations, impacting microbial fitness in lab vs wt mice
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Cover of journal showing monarch butterflies.

Exciting to see this monarch butterfly on the cover of @cp-trendsecolevo.bsky.social this month. In this issue, Astrid Groot and I suggest that parasitism may contribute to the evolution of warning coloration by selecting for anti-parasitic toxins and pigments. Picture taken in St Marks Florida.🧪

Bill banning mRNA vaccines in Iowa passes subcommittee • Iowa Capital Dispatch Health care providers could face a misdemeanor charge and fines of $500 for administering mRNA vaccines under the bill.

Bill banning mRNA vaccines in Iowa passes subcommittee iowacapitaldispatch.com/2025/03/03/b...

It’s really getting hard to keep up with the stupidity Olympics in this country

Workshop highlights vector borne diseases February 2025: Researchers came together at the Edinburgh Futures Institute to discuss the impact of climate and environmental change on vector borne disease.

🪰 Vector Borne Diseases workshop 🦟

Last month we hosted a successful workshop to bring together those who work on VBDs as well as highlighting the facilities at Edinburgh that underpin much of the research activity into VBDs.

More info ➡️ edinburgh-infectious-diseases.ed.ac.uk/vector-borne...

DOGE moves to cancel NOAA leases at critical forecasting centers NOAA's nerve center of national weather forecasting is on a lease cancellation list.

DOGE moves to cancel NOAA leases on key weather buildings www.axios.com/2025/03/03/d...

NSF plans to reinstate all probationary employees who were fired on 18 Feb!
NSF’s decision. 👏🏻👏🏻❤️

As the Texas outbreak grows, how contagious is measles, really? Vaccination eliminated measles from the U.S. 25 years ago. But it can still spread in pockets where vaccination rates are low, like the west Texas county with a current outbreak. Here's how fast.

NPR did a thing. I helped out.

www.npr.org/sections/sho...

In September in Geneva we applauded a major milestone in the effort to eradicate measles and rubella viruses from the face of the earth.

Today an unvaccinated child has died of measles in the country where the vaccine was developed.

This is not greatness.

Ax falls on elite group of Ph.D.s training to lead U.S. public health labs Most of the fellows in CDC’s highly competitive Laboratory Leadership Service were fired last weekend

Most of the fellows in CDC’s highly competitive Laboratory Leadership Service were fired last weekend.

The ultracompetitive, 2-year program, which trains Ph.D. scientists in the intricacies of public health laboratory work. scim.ag/4gPy0te

National Science Foundation Fires 168 Workers as Federal Purge Continues Firings at the NSF included permanent employees who had already completed their one-year probationary period, as well as at-will workers.

www.wired.com/story/nation...

Firings happening right now at the NSF.

I am so sorry to hear this Leslie.

Protein families secreted by nematodes to modulate host immunity Parasitic nematodes release a wide variety of immunomodulatory proteins, which allow them to escape the host’s immune-mediated killing or ejection mec…

Our review on nematode immunomodulation is just out in Current Opinions in Microbiology! Here we discuss recent findings on immunomodulators with enzymatic or binding activities - binding to host cytokines or receptors, or other immune-relevant molecules. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Researchers receive NERC grants pioneering environmental research February 2025: Four researchers from the School of Biological Sciences have received Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) grants to push the frontiers of environmental research. h

🌳 Researchers receive NERC grants pioneering environmental research 🐝

@reecelab.bsky.social @susanjohnston.bsky.social @sandyheth.bsky.social #AlexTwyford

edinburgh-infectious-diseases.ed.ac.uk/news-and-eve...