In collaboration with Nicola Muller, and led by @lambod50.bsky.social, we have a new preprint out that's all about reassortment! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Using TargetedBeast, we built massive (9000 tips!) Bayesian phylogenies of North American H5Nx viruses, and inferred the host...
Enhanced fitness of SARS-CoV-2 by the expression of a truncated N protein that antagonizes antiviral responses. A triple mutation (GGG→AAC) internal to the N gene of SARS-CoV-2, which emerged with the ancestral B.1.1 lineage, created a novel transcription-regulating sequence (TRS-N*). TRS-N*, indicated as a red box on the viral genome, drives the production of a new subgenomic mRNA (sgmRNA-N*) encoding a truncated N protein (N*). The N* protein, referred to as “NiORF3” by Mears and colleagues and “N*M210” by Mulloy and colleagues, contains the C-terminal domain of N, which includes a dsRNA binding motif. N* interferes with host antiviral responses activated by viral dsRNA during infection, such as the production of interferon-β (IFNβ) following sensing by RIG-I and the formation of ribonucleoprotein granules. The thickness of the T-shaped lines is proportional to the inhibitory effect. Upregulation of N*, shown on the right part of the figure, increases antagonism of the antiviral response and enhances viral fitness, conferring a selective advantage. Mulloy and colleagues also reported the presence of N* in SARS-CoV-2 virions, supporting the idea that it may contribute, similarly to full-length N, to the packaging of the viral genomic RNA, as previously shown. NTD, RNA sequence coding the N-terminal domain; CTD, RNA sequence coding the C-terminal domain. The TRS-N* is located in the Linker region between NTD and CTD. The black rectangle at the left end of the sgmRNAs represents the leader sequence common to all sgmRNAs. Partially created in BioRender. Sola, I. (2026)
Non-spike changes driving #SARS-CoV-2 fitness remain unknown. This Primer explores two @plosbiology.org papers showing that N gene mutations create a truncated N protein that enhances fitness by blocking #antiviral responses 🧪 Papers: plos.io/3PIZMjr plos.io/4jyUAco Primer: plos.io/4cnGhG8
This is a reference to multi-year funding and this statement is complete horseshit.
Early stage investigators are not preferentially receiving multi-year funded grants and often need longer grants and more stability rather than the ability to spend more upfront.
5/8
A panel of immunohistochemistry images showing infection of a panel of IAV viruses (as 6:2 reassortants on a PR8 backbone) in epithelia from the teat and gland cisterns of Aberdeen Angus, Limousin and Holstein Friesian cattle
🚨New pre-print!🚨
Using a panel of different H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b viruses and human seasonal influenza, and mammary explants from common beef and dairy cattle breeds, we add to the growing data showing that H5N1 spillovers into cattle should be seen as an ongoing risk
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Congrats to Matthew for winning the People’s Choice Award in the university round!!
I’m looking for an automated way to read others’s scientific data without giving credit or acknowledgement, and also claim full credit for insights from it. And I want it to have a fitting name
OAI: say no more
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...
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...
Very cool to finally be able to see what is going in with SARS-CoV-2/sarbecoviruses in horseshoe bats!
Excited to advertise a fully funded PhD with @socialinfluenza.bsky.social investigating how influenza virus evolution differs between different avian hosts (and how this impacts pandemic potential). Joint between @pirbrightinst.bsky.social + @cvrinfo.bsky.social
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
Senior professors - if you want to help your junior colleagues in these times, I am begging you, review our papers. I have done 25 manuscript reviews in the last 6 years. But my own manuscript is stalled out waiting for reviewers. Relatedly, I won't be doing any more reviews until tenure. 🧪
Not enough UK dads are engaging with this consultation!
A short survey could help make the world a slightly better place.
www.gov.uk/government/c...
Very proud of Matthew’s amazing three minute thesis talk and excited to cheer him on in the university wide competition next week!
Your periodic reminder that there are FREE stock photos of vaccination (many without needles!) available from SELF Magazine in collab with the American Academy of Pediatrics
www.self.com/story/vaccin...
My lab at Pitt is looking for a Research Scientist to help us make phage therapy for patients with antibiotic-resistant infections. Please share and apply! cfopitt.taleo.net/careersectio...
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)
N*M210 inhibits SG/RLB formation by sequestering dsRNA. HeLa cells expressing N*M210-FLAG (blue) were transfected with poly (I:C) (pink) and SG/RLB formation was measured using TIAR (yellow). This experiment was conducted and imaged by Rory P Mulloy, who agrees to publish this image under a CC-BY licence.
#SARSCoV2 has optimized its replication fitness in the human host. @rorymulloy.bsky.social @corcoranlab.bsky.social &co show that a #nucleocapsid gene mutation enhances production of a truncated protein that boosts viral fitness by suppressing #antiviral responses @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/3PIZMjr
Fantastic to see this out!
That's not the issue:
If your submission receives an unfundable score in one cycle, you ordinarily receive the reviews too late to resubmit in the next cycle. But continuing submission makes it possible to revise and resubmit in the next cycle after the original submission. That's a huge bonus.
Not sure what to make of the recent news of a new human case of bird flu in Europe?
I wrote a quick piece for @theconversation.com explaining what we currently know, and why it's not time to worry - yet
theconversation.com/first-europe...
This is brilliant.
Read the last paragraph.
Slowly.
[gift article]
Is It 1914 in America? www.nytimes.com/2026/03/29/o...
🚨 Postdoc position open - please repost!
Join our lab in Lausanne🇨🇭to study KSHV, virus–host interactions & RNA decay + great quality of life right by Lake Leman and the Alps ⛰️
Apply here 👉 sites.google.com/view/muller-...
@statnews.com conducted a national survey of NIH-funded researchers and found that, a year after Trump's return, many scientists are reeling, with some closing labs entirely. ‘This is like the Titanic,' one respondent told me. For full details, see our special report
www.statnews.com/2026/03/19/n...
And if you have not been accepted, understand that this is a VERY weird time for grad admissions. Lack of acceptance may not be due to YOU, but due to uncontrollable factors at the university. Keep trying in the future.
Bar chart titled "Matters of Scale" comparing proposed US research budget cuts to the European Union's €500-million (US$571-million) "Choose Europe" fund. The chart shows: * National Institutes of Health (NIH): $8 billion in cancelled grants and $18 billion in proposed cuts by 2026 (long orange bar). * National Science Foundation (NSF): $5.1 billion in proposed cuts by 2026 (shorter orange bar). * EU's Choose Europe fund: $571 million (very short blue bar). The graphic highlights that the EU fund is much smaller in scale compared to the US budget cuts. Text above the chart explains the EU’s intention to attract US researchers in response to policy decisions by the convicted felon and rapist Donald Trump.
If people think American scientists are somehow going to land in Europe, I've got news for you about the difference between millions and billions.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Another excellent Substack from Elizabeth Ginexi on a near-stoppage of release of Notices of Funding Opportunity (NOFOs) at NIH and why it matters
open.substack.com/pub/elizabet...
