New preprint! Current T7-based MNV reverse genetics can be performed by co-transfecting plasmids encoding T7 RNA polymerase and vaccinia capping enzymes. We see a further 100-1000-fold boost in titres by incorporating CD300lf-expressing BSR-T7 cells into this system. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Learning is complex, messy, emotional: AI can’t replicate that ChatGPT and other AI tools may seem irresistible. But educators should beware, as they could end up trading away the thing that gives them value — the rich experience of slow learning

Chatbots offer a magnificent bribe - a fast, frictionless route to information that bypasses the discomfort of learning. In this op-ed, we describe this as a Faustian bargain, in which we trade away what it means to be human & universities trade away their value
www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/comm...

Congrats to Dr @stephenholmes.bsky.social on passing his PhD viva today! Thanks to examiners Al Darby and @mtrost.bsky.social!

Funding***

We persevere 😫 just an absolute whack finding climate to exist in at this stage in your career!

Fellowship application unsuccessful! First of many I am sure. Might be worth looking to leave Liverpool - if anyone in my network is looking for lecturers/junior group leaders. Hit me up. Virology, informatics, sequencing, RNA mods etc. 🦠🧬🧑‍💻

As much as my heart’s truest answer to the rhetorical question kicking off this thread was, “nope!” it’s an important read for those of us in the broader emerging virus research space.

This might be the thread that gets me to quit all together because what the actual fuck.

We have landed at Festival of Genomics! 🧬

First stop at Alida Bio!

One of the companies to keep an eye out for if you’re interested in RNA mods… and if you’re not. Why?!

Also big thanks to Jerome for giving me the special alida tube stand 🤩 favourite colour and everything!

#FoG26 #RNAmods

Conversations at the crossroads of the Human RNome project: a collaborative reflection by the RNome early career Researcher (ECR) Published in RNA Biology (Just accepted, 2026)

The future is RNome 🧬

New publication out today summarising the ECR experience of the Human RNome consortium meeting in Frankfurt last August! Thanks to coauthors @bennetthenzeler.bsky.social @ramibechara.bsky.social et al for getting this across the line!!

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Machine learning enables scalable and systematic hierarchical virus taxonomy - Nature Biotechnology vConTACT3 enables multirank, large-scale classification of eukaryotic and prokaryotic viruses.

Machine learning enables scalable and systematic hierarchical virus taxonomy - @sullivan-lab.bsky.social go.nature.com/4qoPli9

What’s fun is, they unsent the message 🤣

It’s just… wild 😝

It’s happening again…. Used to be straight on this kind of message during the pandemic. Going back there is kind of difficult… how would you handle this… basically. Help. 🦠

The absolute highlight of my 2025 is now available on YouTube! Check out the "making of" mini-documentary and full performance of Antiviral Roller Skating at the @britsciassoc.bsky.social Festival earlier this year. My New Years resolution will be to do it all again in a different city! 👀

In this Perspective, Ryan Langlois hypothesizes that antiviral genes are evolutionarily selected for their function at fever temperatures yet are commonly studied at basal temperatures, a potential blind spot in our understanding of antiviral gene mechanisms. rupress.org/jem/article/...
#Virology

Scikit-bio: a fundamental Python library for biological omic data analysis - Nature Methods Nature Methods - Scikit-bio: a fundamental Python library for biological omic data analysis

The scikit-bio paper in online in Nature Methods! Many thanks to our collaborators, community contributors and reviewers! We couldn’t have done it without you. www.nature.com/articles/s41... #Bioinformatics #OpenSource

Congratulations again to the excellent @idb-virology.bsky.social for this amazing science communication piece.

Please go and watch the videos and keep the vision alive! Yes it is the viral lifecycle being explained by roller skaters…

Viral protease-mediated polyprotein processing in human astroviruses Positive-sense RNA viruses often encode large polyproteins that are proteolytically processed by viral and host proteases into functional replication proteins. Astroviruses infect intestinal and neuro...

New preprint: Viral protease-mediated polyprotein processing in human astroviruses

Great collaboration with Lulla lab. And the first of @leandroxneves.bsky.social proteolysis stories. More coming soon!

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Single-cell phenotypic analysis and multiplet detection through incorporation of microscopy data into cellenONE-based single-cell proteomic data analysis The reliability of single-cell proteomics (SCP) is intrinsically linked to the fidelity of cell isolation; however, the identification of co-isolated cells (doublets or multiplets) remains a persisten...

New preprint from the lab, and joint first authors @biomarkella.bsky.social and @stephenholmes.bsky.social!

Single-cell phenotypic analysis and multiplet detection through incorporation of microscopy data into cellenONE-based single-cell proteomic data analysis

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

big moves!

so that's

Parse -> Qiagen
Scale -> 10X Genomics
Fluent -> Illumina

next-gen single-cell cell omics, capable of processing 10^6 to 10^8 cells

i wonder if what the near term looks like - will commercial kits stagnate while the buyers rebrand?

Te Tiriti obligations don't disappear just because the government claims they're not necessary.

He Whakaputanga and Te Tiriti o Waitangi are the foundation on which Aotearoa stands, and continue to have legal authority. Without them, there is no kāwanatanga.

www.archives.govt.nz/discover-our...

Identification of Capture Phases in Nanopore Protein Sequencing... arxiv.org/abs/2511.0...

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#proteomics #prot-preprint

CLAE: A High‐Fidelity Nanopore Sequencing Strategy for Read‐Level Viral Variant Detection and Environmental RNA Virus Discovery High-fidelity Nanopore sequencing offers a cost-effective, portable path to uncovering viral dark matter in complex environments—but suffers from severe read-length bias, low throughput, and limited ...

RNA Virus Journal Club – Upcoming Talk - this thursday (Nov 6th !)

With @rdrpsummit.bsky.social - excited to announce talk and discussion with Dr Sanguu Kim about HF nanopore sequencing strategy for virology :)

calendar.app.google/oyRVP6v5Tvjg...
CET: 14:00–15:00,
Format: 30 min + 30 min

Only certain types of bats host viruses with high epidemic potential, research suggests Those found in coastal South America, Southeast Asia, and equatorial Africa are more likely to carry pathogens such as SARS-CoV-2.

www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/onl...

Photograph of mounted great false vampire bat (Vampyrum spectrum) against light green background in the collections of the Cole Zoology Museum (University of Reading). Its wings are fully extended and it has sharp teeth. It looks very scary.

🦇🩸⚰️ Happy Halloween! 🧛🩸🦇

Same-sex sexual behaviours in bats were first documented in 1895! Here's a more recent study: www.italian-journal-of-mammalogy.it/Same-sex-sex...

#Halloween #HappyHalloween #histsci #histbio #STS #GLAM #queer #lgbtq #queernature #PrideInSTEM 🌈🗃️

A news title card that reads ’First evidence in the UK of breeding aegypti mosquito – the main spreader of dengue, chikungunya and Zika’ with an image of an aegypti mosquito on a person’s skin.

First evidence in the UK of breeding aegypti mosquito – the main spreader of dengue, chikungunya and Zika.

Dr Marcus Blagrove writes for The Conversation highlighting the need for enhanced mosquito surveillance and proactive strategies to mitigate future risks.

bit.ly/3KKlGQP

#TeamLivUni

Something not so sciencey… off to Barcelona next week to screen a documentary my partner has produced and I’m excited!

Any Nick Garrie fans? 🎸🎥

The Viral AlphaFold Database of monomers and homodimers reveals conserved protein folds in viruses of bacteria, archaea, and eukaryotes VAD is a Viral AlphaFold Database of protein monomers and homodimers from viruses infecting hosts across the tree of life.

Viral AlphaFold Database (VAD) is live in Science Advances

~27,000 predicted viral protein monomers & homodimers

Conserved folds across bacteria, archaea & eukaryotic viruses

New toxin–antitoxin system KreTA uncovered

Vast “functional darkness” remains uncharted

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Image shows a background with the United Kingdom flag with a vaccine in the foreground.

Following recent decisions by pharmaceutical companies to scale back investment, the UK Parliament’s Science, Innovation and Technology Committee is seeking written evidence on the competitiveness of the UK’s life sciences sector.