Congrats to Angel & Elias as they defended their theses (not thesi apparently) last week at UTMB. They did a great job & we look forward to pubs from both (hint, hint) as they wrap up. Both published their work recently on SARS2: FCS tinyurl.com/2pw3dr4m & Stress Granules tinyurl.com/ujxfcu5d

Great regional conference for virologist in the southeast. Abstract due next week.

"This is pitiful. A thousand people freezing their butts off waiting to worship a rat. What a hype. Groundhog Day used to mean something in this town. They used to pull the hog out, and they used to eat it. You're hypocrites, all of you!"

Our new preprint on #SARSCoV2 nsp14 #exonuclease function in replication fidelity and fitness. ExoN- viruses are attenuated in vitro and in vivo but w/o #interferon signaling replication is largely restored! Suggests nsp14 plays a role in innate antagonism in vivo www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Our paper on the role of #SARSCoV2 NSP3 in stress granule control is now out in JVI. Reposting our original BioRXIV thread on the summary. journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

Excellent news. The NIGMS Building Undergraduate Research Training (BURT) T34 NOFO is published. First due is Feb 25th, for December 26 funding. This condenses previous UG NOFOs so reach out to email/previous PO if you have Qs. files.simpler.grants.gov/opportunitie...

The very first @nanoporetech.com MinION library of @themenacherylab.bsky.social at Emory! So far so good! I've been missing Nanopore for a while! Merry Christmas!

🧵 Thread on our new @natcomms.nature.com paper: TLDR -- ADP-ribosylation inhibits viral replication and represents a previously under-appreciated arm of innate immunity during flu infection. Read along for the details…. (1/11) www.nature.com/articles/s41...

When Hannah’s pharmacy began filling her tacrolimus prescription with a generic version, the lung transplant patient didn't know something very important: Months earlier, an FDA-commissioned study concluded that this generic was not equivalent to the brand drug -- and that her life was at risk.

Put a perspective piece together on how fever may have driven the evolution of antiviral genes: rupress.org/jem/article/...

Check out @lizthayer.bsky.social's new preprint exploring factors that influence cell-to-cell heterogeneity in interferon (IFN) induction potential!

Are you an early career researcher applying to faculty positions this cycle? My #1 piece of advice is to keep an open mind about what the right department looks like. You might be surprised. journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

New paper from our lab on CoV recombination in @natcomms.nature.com: www.nature.com/articles/s41... Collaboration w/ @andrewrouth.bsky.social, the work led by @tommygottago.bsky.social & Yani provides insights into #SARS2 recombination & immune induction. Some takeaways for the TLDR crowd (1/13)

A new preprint from our group on control of stress granules (SGs) by #SARSCoV2. Working with Jakob Nilsson's group, we identified key residues in SARS2 NSP3 critical for binding FMRP proteins & disrupting SGs formation. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

A nice honor to be named to Clarivate’s Highly Cited Researchers for 2025. The recognition is a testament to all the hard work my research group and our collaborators have done over the years. news.emory.edu/stories/2025...

New #coronavirus #postacute lung pathogenesis paper from my friend Dr. John Powers is up at @asm.org JVI. journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/... Confusing as to why this link shows a rotund blue bird. #PASC #SARSCoV2 #Omicron #LoveVirology #JVI #ASM #virology

NIH will spend its full $48B budget — but multi-year funding means fewer projects, record-low grant success, and a warning for U.S. science.👉 lfdn.org/3KOs2hT 💜Learn how you can support NIH funding: www.lustgarten.org/forging-ahead #ResearchMatters

Feels like everything has moved slow since restarting here at Emory last year, but glad to have been nominated by my new peers and selected for this recognition. med.emory.edu/about/facult...

I wish my all my students labeled their figures as well as my daughter.

there is no question in my mind that rfk jr is the most dangerous person in this administration and that his eugenicist ideology threatens the lives of millions of people www.advocate.com/politics/dem...

What the CDC lost: a closer look at the top-ranking officials who have quit HHS Secretary RFK Jr. says agency suffers from ‘malaise,’ but departed officials had deep expertise Knowledge, experience and talent lost due to political ideology.

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

Wow

#WomenInSTEM becoming independent: People should feel free to be themselves and do great science. We asked ten women researchers about their science and the process of setting up a lab as an independent researcher: rupress.org/jem/article/...

Spent the weekend here reflecting & reconnecting. A sorrowful few days thinking of what was lost. The CDC is ubiquitous to our community. An attack on us all. Officer David Rose died protecting us. Take a moment to support & share efforts for the family he left. www.gofundme.com/f/7xahr9-off...

Lab members in ATL are all accounted and safe.

#ASV2025 is where you run into a Nobel Laureate at the bar late at night and they wish you a happy birthday. My birthday is in March. But thanks. Happy birthday @lakdawalalab.bsky.social

Recycling an old twitter thread for #ASV2025: Heading to #ASV2023. One of my favorite meetings in virology. My new students asked me for some tips on how to approach the meeting, so I thought I’d share some thoughts on scientific networking

🚨Second study from the lab. @CellReports SARS-CoV- and SARS-CoV-2-like viruses are found in insectivorous bats, but the antiviral responses in these bats remain less studied. Here we show how bat cells respond to SARS-CoV-2 and shed light on virus entry. www.cell.com/cell-reports... #LZCI

A short thread about the people in my lab who will present posters and give rapid talks at #ASMmicrobe: 🧵

Excited for the recipient of the @ASM Elizabeth O. King Lecturer Award at this year’s #ASMMicrobe.

2 in a row in the Journal of Virology. A new paper from our group & the new Johnson lab at UTMB. Here, we find multiple variant mutations in the SR rich domain of N facilitate improved infection with #SARS2. A brief thread since this didn't get preprinted journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

Our new paper on SARS-CoV-2 furin cleavage site is now out at JVI. Study examines disruption (rather than deletion) of the FCS & maintains the longer S1/S2 loop found in #SARS2. FCS disruption attenuates pathogenesis, but not required (but helps) transmission. journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

Non-spike protein mutations in #SARSCoV2, likely to impact viral properties, are understudied. @brucelab.bsky.social show that a #nucleocapsid protein mutation in Delta variant enhances viral growth in vitro & in vivo by increasing viral genome #encapsidation @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/4iBYsaI

I have exhorted others to share positive news even in these uncertain times for US science. I am really excited that @tamanash.bsky.social’s first paper on the remarkable evolutionary gymnastics of dual-host viruses (even in single codons) is now online. Follow along here 🧪🧵

Absolutely. The work by @tamanash.bsky.social is a tour de force and an example of clever, beautiful science towards better understanding of alphavirus biology. Based on what I heard, an example of a great post-doc & future star in virology. Read his preprint: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39229031/

Really interesting talk from @harmitmalik.bsky.social on alpha virus evolution and the opal codon. A little rusty and just barely got #bingo. Need to get back to it.

It these trying time, we need to lean on what we do best. For me, that means #bingo for MMG seminar with @harmitmalik.bsky.social A good speaker to start this back up at Emory.

Excited to share @joelrc.bsky.social 's new paper examining the factors underlying cell-to-cell heterogeneity in interferon induction during flu infection: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

A new preprint from our group about the importance of the SARS-CoV-2 spike furin cleavage site (FCS) for pathogenesis and possibly transmission. tinyurl.com/2dya48ky

After an uneasy start to 2025 some good news to start the week: 1) I received tenure once again, now at Emory. A real honor & recognition of the work we have done over the past 8 years. 2) We celebrated the 3 year anniversary of my kidney transplant. Time flies when you aren't on dialysis.

Hi everyone, to counter the doomscrolling, I would like to put out there that I am looking to recruit a postdoc to start this spring/summer- preferably someone with prior virology experience. Please forward. Thank you! #virologysky #lovevirology #sciencesky umd.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/UMCP/job/Uni...

Everything is shit but I give you the Joe and Essie Smith Chair in the Joe and Essie Smith Chair!

Come be our colleague at the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Cornell! It is a highly supportive environment with exciting science. I am extremely inspired by the extraordinary people here. We are located in beautiful Ithaca, NY.

Kendrick Lamar deserves to win the very first Nobel Hate Prize

On changes to #NIH indirect rates, there is a law in place that prohibits NIH from making such changes without the approval of Congress. See Division D, Title II Section 224 of The Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024 (Public Law No: 118-47) grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...