From Spillover to the Brain: Understanding Zoonotic Viruses Across the Life Cycle of Infection | ESWI Our guests are early career scientists active in opposite ends of the infection spectrum: one scientist is a virus hunter, tracking viruses in urban environments, while the other investigates how viru...

🧠🦠 New #ESWIAirborne podcast episode out now!
How do viruses move from environmental spillover to the brain—and what can this tell us about future #PandemicPreparedness?
🎧 Listen now: eswi.org/activities/p...

Shapeshifting spike proteins help coronaviruses infect whales and dolphins Coronaviruses use spike proteins to enter cells. This study shows these spikes can change shape, helping the viruses adapt to new hosts, including whales and dolphins. Understanding this flexibility may help predict and prevent future cross-species infections.

For a plain-language overview of our work, see this lay summary courtesy of Kudos:

www.growkudos.com/publications...

ESWI Airborne: Shaping the Future of Respiratory Virus Research | ESWI Tune in to the new ESWI podcast podcast series featuring Early Career Scientist featuring researchers who will help shape the next decades of influenza and respiratory virus research.

Had a blast in participating in this podcast about understanding zoonotic viruses across the life cycle of infection.
👇
ESWI Airborne: Shaping the Future of Respiratory Virus Research eswi.org/activities/p...

The Orange Cat Brain Atlas is here. 🧠🐈

Today, we published the first comprehensive cellular map of the orange cat brain. The new atlas reveals a single, specialized neuron responsible for behaviors like staring at walls, knocking objects off tables, and the 3am "zoomies."

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...

Just two weeks left to apply to the IGNITION PhD Programme! We’re offering fully funded PhD positions.

Join our team @humantechnopole.bsky.social to use cutting-edge human stem cell models to study immune mediated neurodegeneration.

For more info check out: ignition-consortium.eu

Please share 🙏

Thanks to everyone that contributed Feline Benavides, Syriam Sooksawasdi Na Ayudhya, Ashley Pereirinha Da Silva, Mark Power, Willemijn Rijnink, Auriane Deguergue, Björn Meyer, Femke de Vrij, Debby van Riel and Kristina Lanko

We show that NPEVs disrupt spontaneous neural activity in a virus-specific manner, and this disruption does not correlate with viral replication efficiency. Using a neural network model, we show that NPEVs can compromise neurotransmission.

NPEVs are known to cause serious neurological complications such as meningitis, encephalitis, and acute flaccid paralysis, yet the mechanisms behind their effects on neural function remain poorly understood.

Non-polio enterovirus infection and electrophysiological changes in human iPSC-derived neural networks Our results demonstrate that neurotropic NPEVs lead to disruption of spontaneous neural activity in a virus-specific manner, which does not correlate with their replication efficiency.

🧠🦠Excited to share our latest work on non-polio enteroviruses (NPEVs) and their impact on the brain.
#Enteroviruses #Neuroscience #Virology #Neurovirology #InfectiousDiseases
www.thelancet.com/journals/ebi...

Non-polio enterovirus infection and electrophysiological changes in human iPSC-derived neural networks The non-polio enteroviruses (NPEV) enterovirus D68 (EV-D68) and enterovirus A71 (EV-A71) are highly prevalent and considered pathogens of increasing h…

Non-polio enterovirus infection and electrophysiological changes in human iPSC-derived neural networks

Work led by @lisabauervirus.bsky.social and our tiny contribution with our former Erasmus+ student, Auriane.

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

Genomic features associated with sustained mammalian transmission of avian influenza A viruses Nature Microbiology, Published online: 27 January 2026; doi:10.1038/s41564-025-02257-4Reduced GC-related content in the influenza A virus genome may be a necessary condition for sustained mammalian transmission and should be included in risk assessment tools for pandemic influenza.

Out Now! Genomic features associated with sustained mammalian transmission of avian influenza A viruses #MicroSky

Regulatory hotspot on the influenza A virus polymerase revealed through the structure of the NEP-polymerase complex Structural studies reveal how influenza virus switches between making new RNA genomes and exporting them from the host nucleus.

Beautiful work from @efodor.bsky.social and Jonathan Grimes' labs - the first full structure of the influenza A virus NEP protein, and a clear indication that its role in viral replication is more nuanced that first thought
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

First evidence in Europe of highly pathogenic avian influenza virus H5N1 infection in a dairy cow. Antibodies against H5N1 detected in a cow with mastitis and respiratory signs on a Dutch dairy farm at the end of December. A cat on that farm had died from H5N1. www.tweedekamer.nl/downloads/do...

Evolution, spread and impact of highly pathogenic H5 avian influenza A viruses - Nature Reviews Microbiology In this Review, Fouchier and colleagues explore the evolution, spread and zoonotic risks of highly pathogenic H5 avian influenza viruses. They highlight recent unusual outbreaks, discuss future prepar...

However, highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 no longer occurs just in birds. Worldwide, nearly 100 species of mammals have been found positive, including farmed maammals like cows, pigs and minks, and wild mammals like seals, sea lions, foxes and skunks. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Second, it raises the question whether national governments should start systematic avian influenza in mammals. Currently, this is only performed in birds.

Bird flu antibodies found in cow in the Netherlands, a first outside of U.S. Dead cat led to discovery, but officials stress no further spread of H5N1 has been detected

This first probable case of highly pathogenic avian influenza in a dairy cow in Europe raises two points. First, it suggests that virus incursion is possible in the Dutch housing system, which differs from that in the southern U.S., where cows were first infectted. www.science.org/content/arti...

Cryo-electron tomography reveals coupled flavivirus replication, budding and maturation - Nature Communications In this study, Dahmane et al use a method called cryo-electron tomography to uncover new details of how tick-borne flaviviruses transform cells into virus factories.

I am super happy to share this paper in its final form. We used FIB milling to "dig in to" cell lines and mouse brains infected with tick-borne flaviviruses, followed by cryo-ET to study the virus replication. It's open access, so have a look!
#virology #teamtomo
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

*ATgliaNet Symposium 2026*
📅 March 20th, 2026, 9:30 - 18:00
📍 Location: Center for Brain Research, Spitalgasse 4, Vienna

Keynote speaker Prof. Leda Dimou (University of Ulm)

Website for registration and abstract submission (until February 13th): hirnforschung.meduniwien.ac.at/ueber-uns/ev...

WASHINGTON, D.C., December 19, 2025—On December 14, 2025, USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) announced the first detection of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in a dairy herd in Wisconsin. On December 17, the National Veterinary Services Laboratories (NVSL) completed whole genome sequencing and confirmed that the virus is H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b genotype D1.1. Analysis indicates that this detection is a new spillover event from wildlife into dairy cattle, separate from previous events. Key Points Most detections in U.S. dairy herds have resulted from movements linked to the original spillover event that occurred in the Texas Panhandle in late 2023, involving the B3.13 strain. In early 2025, through the National Milk Testing Strategy, USDA detected two spillover events in Nevada and Arizona dairy herds. Both were identified early, and no further herd infections occurred through animal movements. These events involved the D1.1 strain. The Wisconsin herd, also detected through the National Milk Testing Strategy, represents a new, separate spillover event and involves the D1.1 strain. At this time, no additional dairy herds have been identified as infected in association with this event.

#H5N1 : An infected herd was recently detected in Wisconsin, and genome sequencing indicates that this is yet another spillover event, making it the fourth detected one.

How do these spillovers happen and why are they restricted, so far, to the US?

www.aphis.usda.gov/news/agency-...

@thijskuiken.bsky.social

Drones detect deadly virus in Arctic whales' breath Whale breath collected by drones is giving clues to the health of wild humpbacks and other whales.

BBC News - Drones detect deadly virus in Arctic whales' breath
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... (it is, in case you're wondering, cetacean morbillivirus)

Woche 2 der Grippewelle in Österreich:
Über 100 Influenzafälle 📈 im #Sentinelsystem #ZentrumVirologie
Virus Subtypverteilung verschiebt sich weiter Richtung H3N2 (80% der Influenza-Proben)
Anstieg der Influenza-Hospitalisierungen (SARI Dashboard)

Wenn ihr Symptome habt, bleibt bitte zu Hause

A pandemic toolbox for clade 2.3.4.4b A(H5N1) influenza virus risk assessment Since 1997, more than 1000 cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H5N1) have been reported in humans.1 During this time, A(H5N1) viruses have evolved into dozens of clades, showing ever-expandin...

See also the comment by Jessica Belser (@jessbelser.bsky.social): "A pandemic toolbox for clade 2.3.4.4b A(H5N1) influenza virus risk assessment": www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

Replication of clade 2.3.4.4b H5N1 virus, clade 2.1.3.2 H5N1 virus and H3N2 virus in human primary nasal and tracheobronchial respiratory epithelium Replication kinetics of H3N2 , H5N1 , H5N1 Polecat2022 , or H5N1 Bovine2024 in two independent experiments in nasal respiratory epithelium (A, B) and tracheobronchial epithelium (C) cultures with a multiplicity of infection of 0⋅1. Replication kinetics were performed in technical duplicates in three independent experiments and data represented show the mean with 95% CIs. (D) Detection of influenza A virus nucleoprotein by immunohistochemistry in the nasal and tracheobronchial epithelium cultures 24 h after inoculation. Source: Attachment and replication of clade 2.3.4.4b influenza A (H5N1) viruses in human respiratory epithelium: an in-vitro study Bauer, Lisa et al. The Lancet Microbe, Volume 0, Issue 0, 101230

Current H5N1 avian influenza viruses replicate better in human respiratory tissues than a historic one, warranting "the urgency to prevent cross-species transmission to humans by controlling spillover events to mammals and limiting viral spread in farmed mammals." www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

Plus linked comment

A pandemic toolbox for clade 2.3.4.4b A(#H5N1) #influenza virus risk assessment

www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

#IDSky #ClinMicro #ViroSky #OpenAccess #OA

New research article

Attachment and replication of clade 2.3.4.4b #influenza A (#H5N1) viruses in human respiratory epithelium: an in-vitro study

www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

#IDSky #ClinMicro #ViroSky #OpenAccess #OA

Check out the new publication of Viruses like it 🍬🍭!
@lisabauervirus.bsky.social and @debbyvanriel.bsky.social investigated the clade 2.3.4.4b A(H5N1) influenza virus attachment and replication in human respiratory epithelium!
Congratulation to all involved!

Attachment and replication of clade 2.3.4.4b influenza A (H5N1) viruses in human respiratory epithelium: an in-vitro study Clade 2.3.4.4b H5N1 viruses have phenotypic characteristics that are different from a clade 2.1.3.2 H5N12005 virus. The ability of clade 2.3.4.4b viruses to attach to and replicate in respiratory epit...

Excited to share that our mansucript is finally published! Check it out here:
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...