Sad day for the folks who staked their reputations on lab leak conspiracy theories. www.telegraph.co.uk/global-healt...

🐧We researched one of the world’s rarest #penguins. The yellow‑eyed penguin (aka hoiho/takaraka) isn’t one homogeneous species after all! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... #hoiho #conservation #genomics #birds #nzwildlife #endangered #wildlife #nature

We did a penguin GWAS! Turns out that yellow-eyed penguins (or hoiho) are actually three very divergent groups, which we are calling subspecies www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... @josephguhlin.bsky.social @peterkdearden.bsky.social @annasanture.bsky.social @cegrueber.bsky.social

Our latest preprint evaluates sampling strategies for the detection of avian influenza virus from the environment @profgemmell.bsky.social @dwinter.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Our latest preprint on the genomic epidemiology of flu over 10 years in NZ www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-7...

New publication from the Department of Microbiology and Immunology: A Novel Crustavirus as a Candidate Aetiology of Tail Fan Necrosis in New Zealand Red Rock Lobsters, Jasus edwardsii 🔗 doi.org/10.1111/jfd.... #Microbiology #Virology #AquaticHealth #CrustaceanResearch #MarineBiology #Otago

This is quite late but our lab has a preprint out about a SARS-CoV-2 situation we had in mink in Lithuania back in 2021. It's a doozy with re-emergence of extinct lineages, a country-wide test of all mink farms in Lithuania & some interesting dynamics in mink. www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1... 1/5🧵

We found RHDV2 in gulls! While the virus is likely to be dietary in origin, this suggests that birds may act as mechanical vectors for virus spread. Work by Steph Waller, @dwinter.bsky.social @eddieholmes.bsky.social @mongoosekiwi.bsky.social et al. journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

Phylogenetic insights into the transmission dynamics of arthropod-borne viruses www.nature.com/articles/s41... Great work by Verity Hill and team

Rhys and I found some weird influenza B viruses in fish a few years ago. For 2, the HA's bind a2,3 sialic acid ("bird type receptor"). The Siamese algae eater virus NA has a highly conserved structure and active site. No cross-reactive antibodies in human sera. 👉 biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Sooo happy to finally have this one published!! (3 years in the making… 👀) A comprehensive investigation into the recency and geographical origins of both SARS-CoVs that spilled to humans in the past few decades, now in @cp-cell.bsky.social www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

Two Otago academics, Dr Olivia Harrison and Professor Jemma Geoghegan, have been awarded Prime Minister's Science Prizes for their outstanding work on managing viruses and managing anxiety. Ngā mihi nui! 👏 Read more here:

Recombination between positive-sense and negative-sense RNA viruses: journals.plos.org/plospathogen...

We're looking for a PhD student to join us at Vilnius University in Lithuania. We work on RNA virus evolution computationally but we'd like to generate more mosquito RNA virus sequence data. Official ad: www.gmc.vu.lt/en/doctoral-.... Please share & continue reading if interested.

Just out "Making sense of the virome in light of evolution and ecology" doi.org/10.1098/rspb... from super ⭐ team @meganawallace.bsky.social @duckswabber.bsky.social @jemmageoghegan.bsky.social @ryanmimrie.bsky.social @eddieholmes.bsky.social @xavh.bsky.social in Proc B @royalsocietypublishing.org

One for the hepaci fans. We found a cool new hepacivirus (along with some other things) in kiwi with dermatitis meridian.allenpress.com/jwd/article/...

I spent about 30 hours over four weeks reading all 716 pages of the report of the Royal Commission into the Covid-19 response, then wrote two articles detailing its findings and recommendations. With the paywall now lifted on both of those pieces, here's what I found. 🧵

Preparing for the next pandemic: insights from Aotearoa New Zealand’s Covid-19 response www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

We found a crustavirus that may or may not have something to do with tail fan necrosis in lobsters www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Great walk through of all the knowns and unknowns of the current HPAI outbreak in US dairy cattle with a focus on both the cattle, but also human pandemic risk. 👉 journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

📰 DEFRA avian Influenza update on 04 Mar 2025 #IDSky #IDEpi 🐔 Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 confirmed in a commercial poultry premises near Kington, Herefordshire. 📊 25 cases of HPAI H5N1 in England in 2025 🔗 Avian influenza: latest situation in England 👇

Couldn't ask for a better first Bluesky post! Our new paper, "Pathogens and planetary change," is out now in @natrevbiodiv.bsky.social. We discuss the linkages between biodiversity loss + pandemics and how we can address these interconnected crises 🧪😷 Give it a read: www.nature.com/articles/s44...

Essential reading from @katherinejwu.com @theatlantic.com. For months, we've passively watched H5N1 tear through animals. A year into the cattle outbreak & it remains out of control. H5N1 is everywhere. If H5N1 causes a pandemic, it will be because we let it. www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...

Lots of new viruses (and other known pathogens) here, especially in carnivores and rodents. Of most interest, a bi-segmented coronavirus sampled from diseased red (lesser) pandas (Ailurus fulgens) and that represents a new genus. Work led my Mang Shi and Shuo Su. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Thrilled to be co-leading these efforts with our colleagues at Scripps Research and UCSD.

As usual, Helen is first out of the gate with a great explanatory piece on the CDC's updated technical report on the H5N1 case in Louisiana, with quotes from me and @scottehensley.bsky.social. 👇

🎁 Early Xmas present from your friends at the MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research @cvrinfo.bsky.social We're thrilled to unwrap Viro3D - a comprehensive database of virus protein structures: >85,000 predicted structures from 4,400 human & animal viruses! 🦠 viro3d.cvr.gla.ac.uk

Our latest preprint investigates viruses in calves associated with an idiopathic ill-thrift syndrome www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Fatal Case of Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever, Portugal, 2024 #IDSky #EpiSky

Influenza-like viruses in basal chordates. Love it.

New preprint out now! The history of some RNA virus lineages that infect vertebrates might date back to our invertebrate ancestors. Read more here: biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...

Diversity and cross-species transmission of viruses in a remote island ecosystem: implications for wildlife conservation. Work led by Rebecca French and @eddieholmes.bsky.social academic.oup.com/ve/advance-a...

The Royal Society Te Apārangi has sent an open letter to the Prime Minister about the importance of social sciences and humanities, following changes to the Marsden Fund terms that explicitly exclude research areas in the social sciences and humanities: www.royalsociety.org.nz/news/open-le...

Registration is now open for #BirdsNZ2025 - our annual national ornithological conference, in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland 31 May-2 June. Register by Feb 28 to make the most of early bird rates. Some field trips have limited capacity, so get in quick! All details at www.birdsnz.org.nz/nz-bird-conf... 🪶

I happily signed and edited this letter. The minister has not studied any historical scientific breakthroughs (nor their predictability).

I'm proud to be one of the 80 Rutherford Discovery Fellows signing this open letter denouncing the Minister's cuts to humanities, social science, and fundamental science funding and calling for an immediate reversal. News: www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa... Full letter: docs.google.com/document/d/1...

Job alert 🚨 Research fellow in wastewater surveillance at the University of Birmingham working with myself and @pathogenomenick jobs.ac.uk/job/DFY639/r... Please encourage any recent PhD graduates to apply!

Still no conclusions from the ongoing investigation of the mystery outbreak in DRC. But this Deutsche Welle piece has some new details. www.dw.com/en/dr-congo-...

We are opening a call for applications 2025 – Creation of new junior research groups at the Institut Pasteur in Paris @pasteur.fr all details on our web site : research.pasteur.fr/en/call/call...

What a week 🤦🏼‍♀️ www.science.org/content/arti...

“What’s alarming to me is that we often realize we have a pandemic after the pandemic has started” from @ciddpsu.bsky.social faculty member Troy Sutton on H5N1

“This decision is disastrous and a major step backward . . . . New Zealand needs people who will hold a mirror up to our society and challenge our assumptions, if we are to prosper as people and as a country.” — Grant Robertson Vice-Chancellor University of Otago www.otago.ac.nz/news/newsroo...

"Cutting back on basic science and expecting great economic impact is like blocking the source of a river and expecting water will still flow to the ocean." www.sciencemediacentre.co.nz/2024/12/04/g...

Grateful to @smritimallapaty.bsky.social for covering our analysis of host transcriptional infection signatures at the Huanan market! Still not the “smoking raccoon dog” but getting closer… www.nature.com/articles/d41...

I know there's so much news to track at the moment, but let me add some important science to the list: "An unknown disease killed 143 people in a south-west province of Democratic Republic of the Congo in November." www.theguardian.com/world/2024/d...

Some helpful comments by @jemmageoghegan.bsky.social and Nigel French at @smcnz.bsky.social : www.sciencemediacentre.co.nz/2024/12/02/b...

AVS is now on bluesky - just in time for our biennial meeting starting today #AVS12

I will not hide my inner convictions anymore. Be the change you want to see in the world ! #AcademicSky 🧪

Couldn’t find a virology starter pack so here’s one to get the ball rolling. Repost/reply if you are a virologist so I can find and add you to the list! go.bsky.app/SinqoJU