Cape Town’s fynbos plant kingdom showing off this morning

For children and teens, heart and blood vessel complications of Covid overshadow the very rare and short-term risk of vaccinations, a new report from nearly 14 million kids www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

Humanity has missed the 1.5 C climate target Our politicians, oligarchs and fossil fuel lobbyists are still denying, debating and both-siding

South Africa's become the first African country to approve the groundbreaking twice-a-year anti-HIV jab, lenacapavir (LEN). Our @miamalan.bsky.social spoke to CapeTalk to explain why the country what's next. Click the link to listen to the full interview: omny.fm/shows/the-jo...

Can we advance our understanding of asymptomatic TB from inflammatory biomarkers? Our latest preprint. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

New comment: Tuberculosis and undernutrition: improving estimates to reinforce the policy imperative www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

Nature research paper: SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccines sensitize tumours to immune checkpoint blockade go.nature.com/477I3sj

Humanity has missed 1.5C climate target And with climate change denialism peaking, I fear the worst www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Well, this is a brilliant #IDSky article that cuts close to the bone! 😬 Reframes #academia as an infection for which the causative organism may be less easy to define, but that can be just as insidious on affected individuals (clinical academics)! #AcademicSky #MedSky 🧪 @cidjournal.bsky.social

“Moderna is still developing the CMV vaccine for patients undergoing a bone marrow transplant.” www.statnews.com/2025/10/22/m...

Given the absolutely insane levels of disinformation and growing attacks on science and scientists, all scientists must be taught - how to communicate effectively - how to engage the public - how to engage politicians and policy makers - how to engage with the media - how to counter misinformation

Brimstone canary on pincushion flowers this morning

A paper in Nature Communication reports on a new method to produce strong, biodegradable plastic from bamboo. The bioplastic resembles oil-based plastics in strength, shapeability, and thermal stability but can biodegrade in soil within 50 days. go.nature.com/4h1xv0X 🧪

Understanding patterns of #TB exposure and transmission is needed for targeted prevention strategies. In our latest pre-print, @petedodd24.bsky.social and I estimated the proportion of TB exposure to and transmission from sex and age groups for 177 countries. bit.ly/4nbV492

Check out our new paper in @lancetmicrobe.bsky.social In this IPD-MA we show that single-gene transcripts are equivalent to multi-gene signatures to Dx subclinical TB They perform consistently across settings + show potential clinical utility to stratify therapy #IDsky #TBsky bit.ly/47jU7GN

We are inviting applications for postdoctoral fellows in immunology of TB at the South African Tuberculosis Vaccine Initiative, University of Cape Town. For more information see the attached ad: idm.uct.ac.za/media/739223

Despite political obstacles, officials are on track to disburse all of the research funds allocated to the NIH go.nature.com/46Mxycw

Good question to reflect on, as we start the week

$630 billion annually on bombs, tanks and missiles But no money for universal health coverage

We are looking to hire post-docs to work on T cell responses to M. tuberculosis infection using murine and NHP models. If you know T cells and wanna work on the top global infectious killer check us out. BSL3 experience not required. The NIH intramural program in Bethesda MD is an amazing place!

Operation Warp Speed was arguably one of the most successful policy initiatives in recent history, accelerating vaccine delivery that saved millions of lives. It’s remarkable to see some now urging the leaders who backed it to disown the achievement.

As we see ANOTHER huge drop in the cost of curing tuberculosis, I am reminded that 1. drugs are not expensive because they're made of platinum or something, and 2. the fruits of activism are often harvested over many years. Thanks to all the folks who made this happen. www.stoptb.org/news/breakin...

We are hiring! The Dept of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics is looking for faculty at the Assistant or Associate professor level (tenure track). Please consider joining our vibrant microbiology and immunology community at the University of Pittsburgh School of medicine

The Playbook Used to ‘Prove’ Vaccines Cause Autism www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Scientists’ role in defending democracy www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Some positive stories 👇🏾 “Countries with widespread HPV vaccination and regular cervical cancer screenings are already seeing dramatic reductions in cancer rates. They demonstrate that it’s possible to effectively eliminate the disease” @scientificdiscovery.dev ourworldindata.org/hpv-vaccinat...

@bengern.bsky.social et al. show that the early interplay between #neutrophils & CD4 T cells is pivotal in determining #TB pathology, and that depleting neutrophils can improve outcomes even at late timepoints, which has therapeutic relevance rupress.org/jem/article/...

Are vaccines safe? What’s actually in them? In this episode of Science in 5, WHO’s Dr. Kate O’Brien breaks down how vaccines are tested, approved, and monitored even after they reach the public. She also explains what happens if a safety concern is flagged. www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqur...

Every country is warming. Every country is experiencing more extreme weather events because of climate change, mainly caused by burning fossil fuels. www.ShowYourStripes.info Time to #ShowYourStripes and start climate conversations to prompt actions to reduce emissions, personally & collectively.

Meet the antivax whisperer trying to turnaround Britain's child vaccine slump one family at a time. How does she do it? What does she say? Interview with Professor Elizabeth Whittaker: www.thetimes.com/article/26a8...

‪ ‪Wednesday 18 June 2025: Professor Mark Hatherill, SATVI Director, to present seminar titled "A century of TB vaccine development" at Wolfson Pavilion, at the Institute for Infectious Diseases and Molecular Medicine @cidri-africa.bsky.social; @tomscriba.bsky.social idm.uct.ac.za/events/idm-c...

This is a research ethics emergency 🚨 on the scale of those we know from history - the Tuskegee syphilis study, Nazi “scientific”atrocities. The impact on the global clinical research field is immense. Will we (scientists, participants, communities, ethics committees) ever trust funders again?

This graph on UK childhood vaccine uptake from the article (source @ukhsa.bsky.social ) is quite alarming. I wonder how impactful this move with health visitors will be, but I guess vaccine hesitancy is multi factorial, so it's well worth trying multiple strategies. #IDSky #vaccination #MedSky

Cuts have consequences, illustrated. As seen on TV 📺

The remarkable benefit of exercise was just extended to improved survival after cancer in a randomized trial @nejm.org nejm.org/doi/full/10....

Some basic facts about international students, who they are and who they are not Please pass on the message @shashikalb.bsky.social

In today’s newsletter @miamalan looks at why the health department is snubbing the very #HIV same scientists they relied on during #COVID19. mailchi.mp/bhekisisa.or...

I love that over a hundred climate activists - oh no excuse me, Environmental and Natural Resource Economists! - are objecting to the "quiet cancellation of this important leadership initiative & critical public resource," calling it "as shortsighted as it is unlawful." Read more: support-nca.org

🚨 PhD opportunity in Toulouse! Join a dynamic team to study membrane proteins & transporters of therapeutic interest using cryo-EM, enzymology & biophysics. 📅 Deadline: June 19, 2025 🔗 Funded by @frm-officiel.bsky.social #StructuralBiology #MicroSky More details 👇 shorturl.at/OaVMI

Please share broadly. We all need to rise up for #NSF75 thank you @marvimatos.bsky.social for your leadership in the National Science Board. If not now, when?!?! 🧪

The National Institutes of Health's Vaccine Research Center has lost dozens of contractor staff. scim.ag/4dckdNn

It took decades to build America’s research infrastructure It’s destruction is happening in a matter of weeks 🥺😢😔

BCG Revaccination for the Prevention of Mycobacterium tuberculosis Infection | New England Journal of Medicine www.nejm.org/doi/full/10....

#Tuberculosis prevention and care relies heavily on international donor funding in many settings. In our latest preprint, we examine the potential impact of reductions in international donor funding for #TB - by the US and by other major donor countries. 1/8 www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...

We were asked for more details on our study @lancetmicrobe.bsky.social. Sadly, unable to stratify by age, sex or TB disease severity. Lower IL-6 signalling protects from TB, but to work out how, need better phenotyping & IL-6 blocking interventions #TBSky #IDSky #ImmunoSky @gushamilton.bsky.social

I don't get how anyone can possibly be okay with ending the WHI. This study has accrued decades of data from 42000 women and it is still going. It helps to address critical research gaps that have been allowed to go unfilled because of durable misogyny and provides invaluable insight into aging.

Interested in the magnitude of US NIH funding for biomedical research in South Africa? It’s been very significant indeed with major advances and enormous impact! But, also highlights the potential (astronomical) impact of targeting South Africa in NIH funding cuts! bhekisisa.org/health-news-...

Wonderful to see these excellent results from a large, multi-country evaluation of tongue swabs for TB diagnosis! Diagnostic accuracy of swab-based molecular tests for tuberculosis using novel near point-of-care platforms: A multi-country evaluation www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...

Reducing high blood pressure substantially lowers the risk of dementia and cognitive impairment without dementia, according to the results of a clinical trial published in Nature Medicine. go.nature.com/44z6kGy #medsky 🧪