2 job adverts on a NERC project w myself + @darrenobbard.bsky.social on “What determines the virome: ecology and the environment, evolution, or species history?” early 2026 in @uniexecec.bsky.social - Postdoc: jobs.exeter.ac.uk/hrpr_webrecr... - RA: jobs.exeter.ac.uk/hrpr_webrecr... Pls share!

Congrats to @summabibby.bsky.social @naphakm.bsky.social Daniel Watterson et al. here at SCMB on the first high-res cryo-EM structures of yellow fever virus! Striking vaccine vs virulent particle differences and a single R380 residue shaping antigenicity & neutralisation. doi.org/10.1038/s414...

For my take on the actual science

Jesse Lazear died of yellow fever Sept. 25, 1900. Along with other research by the Yellow Fever Commission, his demonstration that yellow fever is transmitted by mosquitoes provided the basis for efforts to control this devastating disease. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesse_W...

In 2016 Geoffrey Hinton said “we should stop training radiologists now" since AI would soon be better at their jobs. He was right: models have outperformed radiologists on benchmarks for ~a decade. Yet radiology jobs are at record highs, with an average salary of $520k. Why?

“Mario Draghi’s warning on EU research ‘rings true’ It does. I’m part of a consortium that was deemed fundable yet there’s no money to fund it. Many others have been there. Europe needs to do better, if we genuinely want to attract colleagues and research topics. But also for those already here.

Laughable as this is, the reality is that many will take it at face value. Many more who are undecided will hesitate further. The upshot being that kids will get ill, disease will spread, and decades of hard-earned public health gains will be lost. It is a shameful, callous act. Heartbreaking.

💥 Global Health Clinical PhD Opportunity 💥 🩺🧪 www.liverpool.ac.uk/infection-ve...

The 11th European Meeting on Viral Zoonoses is underway in beautiful St. Raphael, France. 🇫🇷

Most of your personal and medical data I would imagine. Just so a chatbot can replace some guy in a call centre selling car insurance.

1206 genomes reveal origin and movement of Aedes aegypti driving increased dengue risk | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/.... A seminal paper of great interest to all. Great work and congratulations to the team!

See you later today :-) (Thursday 18th).

LSTM keeps growing!

Derzeit vermehrt #Chikungunya Fälle in Italien. Bei Fieber, Hautausschlag, Gelenksschmerzen nach Italienaufenthalt (va i d Regionen Emilia-Romagna und Venetien) sollte man sich auch auf #Chikungunya testen lassen #Referenzzentrale_HumaneArbovirusInfektionen #ZentrumVirologie #MedUniWien

The 4th International Meeting on Arboviruses and their Vectors, IMAV, a Microbiology Society focus meeting, will take place in Hamburg, Germany, on September 1 & 2, 2026. Registration to open soon! Speakers in next post.

See you Thursday 18th for our first seminar of the series with the inspiring @priyashah.bsky.social from @ucdavis.bsky.social with her talk “Harder, better, faster, stronger: integrating virology and engineering to drive discovery”. All welcome! email us for the zoom link.

France: More than 800 measles cases in the first eight months of 2025 open.substack.com/pub/outbreak...

Italy West Nile virus deaths rise to 39 open.substack.com/pub/outbreak...

England: Half of measles cases reported in London open.substack.com/pub/outbreak...

Pre-print: our description of RZ affiliate ZNFX1 is now online. On binding viral RNA, ZNFX1 generates parallel Ub currents, coordinating Ub-dependent RNA silencing and aggregate resolution. Huge effort from first authors Dan Squair and @eilidhrivers.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

It is difficult, if not impossible, to think of a biomedical scientist whose many diverse discoveries had more impact than those of David Baltimore. www.latimes.com/obituaries/s...

Ah, the “free speech” line. Getting the debate going. So they knew of these nonsensical claims before they were voiced? A debate on what exactly followed?

I know it’s the reform conference- but the covid 19 vaccine/cancer/Royal family stuff cannot just go uncommented. What’s happening in the US is really bad and UK voters need to realise that the same level of madness is possible here too.

That’s my society! Standing up for what’s right. Standing up for everyone.

A new £4.9m trial will test whether fusidic acid, a common antibiotic, could be repurposed as a short course cure for river blindness. Led by LSTM, with partners in Cameroon, Germany & Switzerland, the FAME study could transform elimination efforts. More here 👉 lstm.ac/RiverBlindne...

As national medical, scientific, public health and patient organizations, we call for the resignation of HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to ensure the health of the American people. Read our statement: asm.org/press-releas...

A common type of ant in Europe breaks a fundamental rule in biology: its queens can produce male offspring that are a whole different species go.nature.com/4mOb5T9

In the last few months a number of colleagues -young and senior- in the UK infectious diseases field have told they had enough and closing their labs, with some universities offering pay offs to staff. A worrying trend.

New #review out 🚨 for mosquito enthusiasts 🦟 ! Have you ever questioned the approach you routinely use to investigate #mosquito-virus #interactions? ⬇️ www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Psyched to be co-chairing this great line up of diverse speakers who represent the best in arbovirus research. See you there! Send us your email for a Zoom login. Please help with a re-post :-)

“There is significant concern in the global health community about the misinformation and the reduction in funding that is now available for global vaccine initiatives.” Professor Tom Fletcher spoke to the BBC News Channel today about vaccine-preventable disease outbreaks.

Enough is enough. The health of the country is in danger. Read our resignation letters: insidemedicine.substack.com/p/breaking-n...

#NIH is hanging by a thread. The #CDC has been decimated. #RFK Jr. and Russell #Vought are psychopaths--I don't say this frivolously--they are cold, calculating, inflicting violence on millions through public policy. It is where we are right now. These men are not normal. 1/

France: Chikungunya, dengue and West Nile virus update open.substack.com/pub/outbreak...

Opening for a biochemist to help us in the characterisation of novel ubiquitin-based antivirals. Diverse backgrounds welcomed; a keen sense of adventure is a must 😁 Details and criteria are below; please get in touch with any questions. www.jobs.gla.ac.uk/job/research...

How cool is this.

Excited to share our new preprint co-led by @jnoms.bsky.social! Here we reveal an exceptional diversity of viral 2H phosphodiesterases (PDEs) that enable immune evasion by selectively degrading oligonucleotide-based messengers. This 2H PDE fold has evolved striking substrate breath & specificity.

Check this review! Lots of work led by @minealtinli.bsky.social on bacterial dsRNA delivery. Thanks for including me.

August 20 is World Mosquito Day. It was established in honor of British doctor Sir Ronald Ross, who in 1897 discovered that female mosquitoes transmit the malarial parasite between humans. Ross received the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for his work in 1902.

Curious about tick virology? Read my latest piece in @uk.theconversation.com where I explain findings of my latest research article www.nature.com/articles/s41... Hope it will helps people to understand the importance of studying tick and their pathogens #ScienceforAll #WomenInScience #Arbovirose

rasmussenretorts.substack.com/p/bhattachar... A chilling deep dive into the stark parallels between Lysenko’s destruction of Soviet science and how the MAGA NIH Director Bhattacharya is razing US biomedical research to the ground. @angierasmussen.bsky.social deserves printing in major newspapers

Chikungunya cases top 150 in France open.substack.com/pub/outbreak...

Leishmaniasis is 95% fatal if untreated — yet it’s still overlooked, and media coverage is low. Our new report shows what gets decision-makers to pay attention ⤵️ wellcomeopenresearch.org/documents/10...

Our study is now published in @natcomms.nature.com and describes the 1st definitive identification of genetic variants linked to DENV susceptibility in Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. (1/3)

Postgrad virology students (in or near the UK and Ireland) - still time to submit your abstracts to this meeting. Great venue, great keynote, but most importantly a great chance to interact with other virology PGRs. The deadline is this Wednesday - don't miss out!

Italy: West Nile virus cases rise by more than 100 in past week open.substack.com/pub/outbreak...

🕷️" #USA: Why Is #MarthasVineyard Going #Vegan? It’s All About #Tick Bites. Islanders’ diets are being upended by an onslaught of #AlphaGalSyndrome, a tick-induced #allergy to meat and dairy." by Pete Wells via @nytimes.com www.nytimes.com/2025/08/12/d...

Dengue virus susceptibility in Aedes aegypti linked to natural cytochrome P450 promoter variants www.nature.com/articles/s41...

I wrote about how the NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya can assuage his concerns about public trust in mRNA vaccine technology by not lying about them anymore. open.substack.com/pub/rasmusse...

Awesome opportunity.