A person hospitalized in Washington has tested positive for H5N1, pending confirmatory testing (because that's the system). First *KNOWN* case this year. Under the Trump admin, the CDC has barely tested any farmworkers for H5N1.

Our lab's first paper is out! Led by Jordan Ort, we developed NextClade datasets that enable rapid H5 clade assignment via NextClade. We deployed these during the start of the H5 cattle outbreak, and we finally published the paper in Virus Evolution academic.oup.com/ve/article/1...

The paradox of maternal antibodies; protection v interference. Our first paper in this fascinating field is out! www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....

What causes viral transmission bottlenecks? This study uses barcoded virions to show that in the case of #influenza A #virus, early within-host replication dynamics (rather than a reduced inoculum population) drive loss of diversity during transmission @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/4ngicDK

Characterization of the glycoproteins of fish and amphibian influenza B–like viruses www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

@vijayrathinam.bsky.social @vinnieviruses.bsky.social ‪@raflynn5.bsky.social‬ discovers why RNA undergoes glycosylation: N-glycans on glycoRNAs hide self-RNA from endosomal TLRs promoting ‘silent’ clearance of dead cells @nature.com www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Recently, we found out that our R01 funded through PAR-22-241 was withdrawn by NIAID as the NIH no longer prioritizes research programs related to DEI. This has been devastating news for our young research group, and we are now trying to scram together for a path forward 🧵1/12

I received a surprising and disturbing request from NIH on Friday. They wrote to cancel a subaward to Hong Kong on one of my grants. (This was disturbing but not surprising.) They also ordered us not to interact with our collaborators in Hong Kong on any work under the award:

Not an auspicious date: 1 year ago today #USDA confirmed #H5N1 #birdflu in dairy cows in Texas, a first. Since then nearly 1000 infected herds have been confirmed; lord knows how many others missed detection. 70 human cases were confirmed in the past year; again the true number is likely higher.

Cool germinal center acrobatics from Juhee Pae et al, check it out! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Le Monde reporting that a French scientist traveling to Houston to attend a conference was denied entry to US after a search of his phone & computer revealed messages critical of Trump's science cuts, "which [says CPB] conveyed hatred of Trump & could be qualified as terrorism". Computer confiscated

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...

I guess studying sex hormones equates to transgender mouse experiments… Tell that to the millions of people in the US alone that are medically receiving hormones for a multitude of reasons. Weird, anti-science times we are living in.

I love reading older papers, like Max Theiler's epic work from ~90 years ago when developing the 17D #vaccine for yellow fever. I was intrigued to find the likely answer to: who was the first person vaccinated with 17D? As it was the 1930's, it was Theiler: he tried it on himself. 1/4 🧪🦠🧫

A massive loss to the virology community. Ann was an amazing scientist and mentor, whose service to UW and the virology community in general will be sorely missed. www.cressfuneralservice.com/obituaries/a...

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No indication as to why these types of meeting are being canceled. There are serious repercussions to public health by canceling these meetings. We are in the worst flu season in over a decade and we cannot afford to not be prepared for next year.

State AGs are looking for federal workers who have just been illegally fired to stand as litigants in a new lawsuit trying to freeze further action by DOGE. DM me if that’s you and you’re interested and you’re live in one of the following states: NM, AZ, CA, CT, MD, MI, MN, NV, OR, WA, RI, or VT.

Because there's not enough going on: Arizona has found #H5N1 #birdflu in milk and it looks like yet another spillover from wild birds. www.statnews.com/2025/02/14/a...

#USDA posted an analysis of the D1.1 #H5N1 #birdflu viruses that infected Nevada cows — the new spillover event. They spotted a mutation in the PB2 gene that is associated with mammalian adaptation. What's this mean? Dunno. But 2 spillovers means more could come. www.aphis.usda.gov/sites/defaul...

Dairy cows in Nevada are infected with the D1.1 genotype of H5N1 indicating a second introduction of the virus into dairy cows. We still don't know how the initial outbreak started, but this indicates cows continue to be at risk of exposure to H5N1 www.aphis.usda.gov/news/program...

New development: this is the first detection of genotype D1.1 H5N1 virus in cattle. All cattle sequences to date were genotype B3.13 & were all descended from a single spillover. New genotype means new introduction to cows from birds. www.statnews.com/2025/02/05/u...

Want to read up on H5N1 ? A brief review out now from my group on where H5N1 came from, how it has or could evolve to better infect humans, and how the distribution of receptors for H5N1 can lead to varying symptoms, such as conjunctivitis. journals.plos.org/plospathogen...

🌟 #ESWI 🏆 are open for #EarlyCareerScientists! 🌟 ✨ Young Scientist Vaccine Innovation Award 📅 Deadline: 28 February 2025 ℹ️ eswiconference.org/eswi-awards#... 📽️ Hear from @guthmillerjenna.bsky.social our inspiring 2023 winner. Will you be next? Showcase your innovation!

Really proud to share our preprint describing early adaptation of H5N1 to US dairy cattle, and showing how these mutations enhance the ability of the virus to infect other mammals, such as pigs and humans. With @influenzal.bsky.social @vidhid.bsky.social @drclairesmith.bsky.social and many more!

Happy to share the first research article from my lab, now open access at Nature Communications! We report a single mutation (T199I) outside of the H5 receptor binding site (RBS) dramatically increases RBS flexibility and allows for broader binding to its receptor. www.nature.com/articles/s41...