Lettuce at Taco Bell in five states confirmed as a source of diarrhea-causing parasite — via @apnews.com www.statnews.com/2026/07/17/c...

Interesting new IFN ko mouse model but oddly they KO “ifnlr2” for lambdas, which doesnt really exist, jts actual name is IL10R2/B, which js also a receptor for many(!) other important cytokines www.nature.com/articles/s41...

So pleased to have my new Junior Historians Club in the news today & super proud of the young historians-in-training who spoke to the BBC about their interest in history! www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

"Food security should be viewed as epidemic prevention. Peace and protection should be recognised as health infrastructure."

😬 wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/...

Please share 🚨 We have a postdoc position open on avian influenza virus tracking and genomics across natural to develop an early-warning system to protect human and animal health hrwebapp.qub.ac.uk/tlive_webrec...

Large cluster of probable avian influenza virus infections in European cattle on a single farm www.eurosurveillance.org/content/10.2...

Masters by Research at @uniexecec.bsky.social in beautiful Cornwall ecologyconservation.exeter.ac.uk/masteer-coho... these are *funded* - covering home tuition fees, a research/training support grant and a prog of cohort activities. Lots of projects available (including one w/ me!) - pls share!

It's #InvasiveSpeciesWeek! Climate + Co-Centre Funded Investigator Dr Ross Cuthbert (@qubelfastofficial.bsky.social) write about the Asian tiger mosquito, climate change, and the new MosquitoNI project tracking mosquitoes in Northern Ireland. Read it here 👇️

Australia confirms first case of H5N1 bird flu as virus reaches every continent www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

We’re thrilled to launch our 9th annual course on viral bioinformatics & genomics! Welcome speech by head of Bioinformatics @davidlrobertson.bsky.social 🧬 #bioinformatics #genomics @cvrinfo.bsky.social @uofgsii.bsky.social @woahglobal.bsky.social

Turning research into action! The @yai.ie Sustainability Statement showcases how early-career researchers are tackling some of Ireland’s biggest challenges—biodiversity loss, clean energy, and the links between environment and health. Explore the statement: www.ria.ie/young-academ...

We recently hosted our first ever International day for Biodiversity event in @qubelfastofficial.bsky.social. Thank you to our keynote, Dr Cathy Maguire from the Office for Environmental Protection, speakers, poster contributors, & organising committee for helping make the event such a success

The WHO has declared an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda a “public health emergency of international concern”. For more information on Ebola, our cross-portfolio collection of articles on the virus is freely available to all: https://microb.io/4uUT6ht

With Eugene Koonin, we wrote a rather comprehensive review on the origin, evolution and organization of the #virosphere. We describe all 10 viral realms and the logic behind them, and so much more. Check it out! comptes-rendus.academie-sciences.fr/biologies/ar...

Amazing work from Charlotte Lewis - our latest preprint describes structure guided development of an antiviral peptide, targeting VP2 portal assembly - a strategy that may have broad application to treat or prevent calicivirus disease. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Here's your regular reminder that viruses can be alive OR dead: purified tobacco mosaic virus virions from 1979, sedimenting at 1G since then at 4C - about as alive as NaCl. Alive when rubbed onto a plant about 10 years ago, though 😁

Do you have a passion for communications and engagement? Do you think viruses are cool? We are recruiting maternity cover for our Comms and Engagement Lead here @cvrinfo.bsky.social, the largest virus research centre in the UK. Hybrid working options, generous salary, great people. Please share!

Took a long time to get this done, 2-3 years on Figure 1 alone but glad it's finally out!! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

We did a thing: Scientists find a new way coronaviruses can get into human cells www.cam.ac.uk/research/new...

Hendra virus genotypes 1 and 2 differ in V protein-mediated immune evasion www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/jour...

Having fantastic time at @microbiologysociety.org annual conference in Belfast. Just gave a short talk on predicting protein-protein interactions with AlphaFold3 🔮 and all the tricks we’ve applied to make it work for challenging targets 👾

Our lab is attending @microbiologysociety.org Annual Conference in Belfast! I will be talking later today about new approaches to use phages against urinary tract infections caused by Proteus mirabilis. If you miss the talk or would like to learn more about this work, check the poster A224.

Looking forward to #Microbio26 in Belfast this week where we have 6 presentations across a few sessions on both our virus and host work (can you spot us?). Plus I will be co-chairing the virus forum innate immunity session with @leesherry.bsky.social on Tuesday pm!

We have launched the first public reporting tool for mosquitoes in Northern Ireland 🦟 The #MosquitoNI project aims to fill regional knowledge gaps while improving understandings of how mosquitoes respond to human-induced environmental changes 🌡️🏗️ mosquitoni.com www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Buffaloed in Brandenburg: Germany's first Brush with Foot-and-Mouth Disease after four Decades of Freedom https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.03.30.713672v1

Our newest piece of lab equipment: Bio-Rad’s “Buffer C dispenser”, developed in cooperation with De’Longhi. A discreet bench-top device that won’t raise suspicions with the lab safety officers.

🚨New Influenza Tool🚨 Interested in IAV mutations? Looking for markers of mammalian adaptation? Frustrated by converting between IAV numbering systems? The #Flu-MutationExplorer, a new tool from @cvrbioinfo.bsky.social and @royalvetcollege.bsky.social, is here to help: flu-gdb.cvr.gla.ac.uk (1/n)

Recent measles virus infection increased the severity of infectious disease in WWI with the exception of pandemic influenza https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.03.16.26348545v1

I like an action shot of St Patrick

@yai.ie is delighted to welcome 21 new members from across Ireland and Northern Ireland. Learn more about the new YAI members on the Royal Irish Academy website: www.ria.ie/2026/03/12/y...

Lovely day in Academy House. Thanks to all @yai.ie and @ria.ie for organising. Warm welcome to all our new members! Looking forward to working with you over the coming months.

Apes, lice and prehistory - by Robin Weiss in 2009 pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...

Now this is a right mess - how to sink your national surveillance system by refusing to review pathogen classification when a disease moves from "exotic" to endemic www.vettimes.com/news/vets/li...

Can safely way this is the craziest and coolest study I have led. We chart the evolution of sheeppox virus, finding it in the Eurasian steppe ~3700 years ago, and also in a LOT of parchment from medieval Europe (made from a range of animals skins!) #aDNA

Excited to be hosting Dr Nicola Fletcher (UCD) today at our QUB School of Biological Sciences to discuss one health virology

Measles cases are resurging globally, but genomic surveillance at the global scale is sparse. In our new preprint, we show wastewater can provide population-level and low-cost data on virus spread and evolution. See @kgandersen.bsky.social's post for a high level summary, more detail here though!🧵

Measles, mumps, and chickenpox are 3 viruses that can cause encephalitis, an uncommon but serious swelling of the brain. The MMRV vaccine protects you against all-3 of these viruses, as well as rubella. 🔴🧠 #Red4WED #WorldEncephalitisDay

Two great 4y positions up for grabs with us and Ross working on his BBSRC MosquitoNI project, with collaborators in GB. Deadlines in a week (research fellow) and 2 weeks (RA). Lots of vector ecology and modelling but also looking at what viruses can we find in our 🦟!

New modelling suggests chikungunya transmission in Europe may be possible at lower temperatures than previously thought—expanding the seasonal and geographic risk as the Asian tiger mosquito spreads north with warming climate. : royalsocietypublishing.org/rsif/article...

Why does the common cold knock some of us down while others barely sniffle? Excited to share our new paper published in @cellpressblue.bsky.social revealing how nasal epithelial cells coordinate to defend against Rhinovirus. Read here: www.cell.com/cell-press-b... #Virology #ScienceSky

Get ready for the 4th IMAV meeting!

I’m excited to recruit a postdoc to join my lab at NIAID (Rocky Mountain Labs). We study mucosal immunity and vaccine responses to respiratory viruses in a collaborative, supportive environment. Details & apply: www.training.nih.gov/jobs/pdf-miv... #Postdoc #Immunology #Virology #NIHJobs

Major problem with this review is that there is no such thing as “human parainfluenza virus” onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

A dairy cow in the Netherlands appears to have been infected with H5N1, the first report of this deadly avian influenza virus having spread to cattle outside of the United States 🧪🦠 www.science.org/content/arti...

🦟 New project | Mosquitoes, their viruses and associated disease risk in NI MosquitoNI will be co-led by a multi-institutional team including @UofGlasgow's CVR (@emipondeville), @QUBelfast & @UK_CEH. www.gla.ac.uk/research/az/...

Great to have our ‘MosquitoNI’ project funded by a BBSRC New Investigator Award This £1.5M project will unravel how mosquitoes, their viruses, and associated pathogens respond to environmental changes. It also addresses knowledge needs in a data-poor temperate region www.qub.ac.uk/schools/Scho...

One Week left to apply for this exciting PhD via the QUARTILES DLA w/ @micecoevo.bsky.social , @timskvortsov.bsky.social & Julianne Megaw) on understanding drivers of virus ecology in the largest freshwater lake in the British Isles, Lough Neagh! www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

Happy Little Christmas! While Nollaig na mBan is a relatively new* thing, the Feast of the Epiphany, January 6th, was known as Notlaic Becc ‘Little Christmas’ or Notlaic Stéille, ‘Christmas of the star’, in early Irish texts. It seems to have marked the end of the season, & 'back to work' time! 1/