PSA for people with NIH grant periods starting January 1st (including most NIGMS MIRAs): your RPPR is due Saturday, but they haven’t sent out the usual automated reminders, presumably due to the shutdown

It's been more than a decade (😱) since opening the lab here in La Jolla, so it was time for a website refresh! Want to see what kind of trouble we have been up to lately? Give our tools and data a spin? Maybe even provide some tips and feedback? Head on over to: andersen-lab.com

The new US official: in exchange for restarting foreign aid, the US gets other countries’ genomic data on diseases. No promise to share the benefits of that IP, though - in contrast to WHO agreements that are under negotiation. www.reuters.com/business/hea... 🛟🧪🩺

I want to spell this out in case the implications aren't clear: This means all public tools/webapps of GISAID data (all the ones you've been used to seeing thru the pandemic, as far as we can tell) are prohibited. The file allowed this. Cut that - cut off all tools the public & others were using.

On Oct 1, 2025, GISAID informed us that they had ended updates to the flat file of SARS-CoV-2 genomic sequences and associated metadata that we had used to update Nextstrain analyses since Feb 2020. GISAID's stated rationale was that their "resources are limited". 1/5

Twenty-nine sailors drowned when the Edmund Fitzgerald went down in the Great Lakes' icy waters on Nov. 10, 1975. The ship was immortalized in a surprise hit 1976 folk ballad by Gordon Lightfoot. n.pr/3JKj19D

🚨 NEW: The majority holder of the world's genetic sequence data is a bad actor who can cut off access to critics and competing services. We've tolerated this for years, and now it threatens the pandemic treaty. Time for WHO to step in. With @ctrlalttim.com: www.thinkglobalhealth.org/article/to-f...

CIDRAP joins global partners in the DeZi Network — uniting 15+ countries to strengthen dengue & Zika surveillance and response across Africa and Asia. 🔗 www.imperial.ac.uk/news/269973/... #GlobalHealth #Dengue #Zika

Between grants getting politically targeted and my lab’s building getting literally fucking bombed, 2025 is going great thanks

New in ‘Virus Evolution’ from #QVEU! PhD student Jack Dorman used deep mutational scanning to measure evolutionary constraints on the Envelope protein of West Nile Virus in human, mosquito, and bird cell lines, doing a lot of work to put it into a structural context #VirEvol

q: why did the outfielders raise their arms during this play? a: according to the ancient scrolls in which the rules of baseball were found, if a ball lands and doesn't bounce that ball is declared god. the players were worshipping god. i doubt there will be a game 7 or any further baseball seasons

1/5: Interested in basketball? Disease ecology? Epidemics? 5 years ago, the NBA embarked on a great experiment in infection control: "The NBA Bubble." In a new preprint led by Dr. Yun Tao + Dr. Nita Bharti, we examine it's underlying disease ecology principles. www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...

Virological.org is up and running, yes - and should remain so (I foot the monthly $25 bill for @arambaut.bsky.social 😆)! But as Duncan says, not for data sharing. @pathoplexus.org is the best alternative, although IMO we need data producer-driven focus first, not just data-consumers.

As expected, unfortunately. If ever you needed a reason for never using GISAID ever again (as a data producer or data user - we're both), look no further. Time to move on to more trusted and transparent solutions.

@andersonfbrito.bsky.social and I are seeking input from the community on hosting/sharing arbovirus sequencing data (DENV, CHIKV, OROV, ZIKV, & YFV) on @pathoplexus.org. Please consider filling out this VERY SHORT survey about your interest and/or concerns. docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Now out in @nejm.org : Between 2023–2024: Sixteen human infections with A/H5N1 in Cambodia. Six deaths. Most in children. All exposed to sick or dead poultry. www.nejm.org/doi/full/10....

UChicago Microbiology is searching for tenured or tenure-track faculty working in host-pathogens interactions, viral and bacterial pathogenesis, and emerging infectious diseases. Come join our vibrant Department! microbiology.uchicago.edu Apply here apply.interfolio.com/174404

Our paper on the phenomenon of persistence and latency in Ebola virus in an unobserved reservoir is finally out in preprint: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

There have been 12 players to hit 3+ HR in a Postseason game. There have been 16 pitchers to have a Postseason game with 6+ IP, 2 hits or fewer, 10+ K, and 0 runs allowed. Only one did both on the same night.

Top EV Top distance Top pitch velo Most whiffs SHOHEI IS SO SPECIAL

Interesting that there has been absolutely no communication with submitters/users of the system, and no statements from the scientific governance or compliance boards on what would seem to be a fairly significant change to GISAID data access policy and platform operations. gisaid.org/about-us/gov...

Wahl is also expanding interdisciplinary research at Yale, linking public health, architecture, and language studies to strengthen impact. 👉 Read more: macmillan.yale.edu/southasia/st... #GlobalHealth #PublicHealth #CommunityEngagement @yalesph.bsky.social @brianwahl.bsky.social

And now NextStrain as well. Next up, will GISAID start charging open-source community tools to have access? That would completely shaft users who contributed to GISAID, where we never agreed to that and assumed GISAID would be good custodians of the data we contributed. They're not.

New for @undark.org In 1995, the "crime gene" conference generated a lot of news & controversy. 30 yrs later, I reflect on its legacy, & argue that we still have a long way to go in our attempts to study the basis of complex social traits. undark.org/2025/10/16/o...

Job alert ‼️ UChicago Micro is hiring! Open to tenured/tenure track faculty at all levels in any area of microbiology. Come join our amazing and growing department. apply.interfolio.com/174404

The role of climate variability in shaping the 2023/24 outbreak of Dengue in Brazil (📉 in north regions; 📈 in southern populous regions). Brazil recorded the largest outbreak on record which coincided with the warmest ever reported temperatures in the Americas. www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...

Implications of successive blood feeding on #dengue virus inhibition by Wolbachia in Aedes aegypti mosquitoes @entomososwin.bsky.social @mallerybreban.bsky.social @brackneylab.bsky.social @chantalvogels.bsky.social @yaleemd.bsky.social

🚨 New preprint alert! We have developed a targeted amplicon sequencing panel for Aedes aegypti. We believe it is a powerful and cost-effective tool for studying #mosquito #population #genetics. Curious how it matches up to WGS? Check out our preprint to find out! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

BREAKING: The director of the presidential library and museum in Abilene, Kansas, said he was suddenly told to resign or be fired. He refused to give the Trump administration a historic sword from the museum’s collection.

Huge congrats to @charleswhittaker.bsky.social and team on one of the most important modeling papers of the year - the investment case for a universal vaccine against SARS-like viruses (and an important blueprint for other similar studies!) www.nature.com/articles/s41...

What is the impact of the HHS decision to no longer recommend COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy? In our new research letter in @jamapediatrics.com, we provide estimates on the number of infant hospitalizations under different vaccine scenarios here. @mathewkiang.com, @peterhotezmdphd.bsky.social

This is probably someone's dream job, and could have some remote flexibility for the right person. We have a lot to do, and we're looking for someone with a really strong track record who can come here and build something big with us and @cchyale.bsky.social (and many great external collaborators).

This is the official communication from the FDA to physicians on acetaminophen use in pregnancy. - They acknowledge the lack of a causal link with autism - Essentially tell physicians to keep doing what we've been doing anyway It's very different from the press conference. Pass it on.

🚨 Microbiologists! We are recruiting Assistant / Associate Professors in 3 collaborative areas of our U. Pittsburgh School of Medicine. 1) MMG (my dept): fundamental research in med micro 2) Peds ID / I4Kids institute 3) Center for Vaccine Research 🔗 to all 3 w/info: www.linkedin.com/posts/vaughn...

📢New preprint on the impact of dengue virus genetic diversity on inhibition by Wolbachia 🦟🦠🧬 Project led by Afeez Sodeinde, @emiliefinch.bsky.social, and @keli5734.bsky.social! ✨ Key findings in thread below 👇 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

This commentary offers a clear, powerful statement of why freedom of speech is at the heart of democracy and must be defended, whether the speaker is Charlie Kirk or Jimmy Kimmel, MAGA supporters or MAGA opponents.

🚨 NEW: Climate change is already causing 30,000 deaths per year - a global annual economic loss of $100-350B USD - but the true damage is probably 10x higher. Out TODAY in Nature Climate Change: the first systematic look at the science of "health impact attribution" 🔓 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Though it’s traumatic for me to bring this up, I was targeted by a group allied with Turning Point USA in 2018, with the help of Tucker Carlson on Fox. My home address circulated online and I got death threats. 1/

New preprint! 🥳🎉 We looked at viral coinfection patterns at the largest scale ever in wildlife. We found a strong association among CoVs, PMVs, and influenza A, and higher coinfection rates in wildlife trade; plus, evidence that bats accumulate persistent infections. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

🎉✨👏 Welcome to a new academic year in the Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases at the Yale School of Public Health! We’re excited to continue learning, collaborating, and advancing public health together.

A new study led by @cambupenn.bsky.social Jordan Ort in my lab was posted on medRxiv. We found that humans infected with H1N1 viruses in childhood have high levels of Abs that cross-react to the NA of H5N1 viruses...decades after their childhood H1N1 infections. 1/ www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...

I'll keep saying it: RFK Jr. is a deadly threat to our public health and safety.   He is razing CDC, NIH, and other health agencies to the ground—putting politics and deranged conspiracy theories over science.   We need bipartisan oversight immediately, and he must be FIRED.

👏 Proud of my Yale colleagues Gregg Gonsalves and Jeff Wickersham for helping organize this important event. Grateful for their strong and consistent leadership in advancing HIV/AIDS research and public health! #EndHIV #PublicHealth #Research @gregggonsalves.bsky.social

#CDC directors going back to 1977 tell the truth about #RFKJr: he is endangering the health of every American. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/01/o...

I miss the old brand #CDC

Trump knew RFK Jr. would be a disastrous pick to lead health care in America, and he nominated him anyway. Trump made this mistake, and now he must fire RFK Jr. immediately.

Just spent my lunch with @nathangrubaugh.bsky.social getting some of his lab's old mouse coronavirus data up on Pharos. Super easy! Beautiful data! Do you have data you'd be willing to share? Reach out! pharos.viralemergence.org/projects/?pr...

All together now: DUMP RFK Jr.

🎉 New in August: Measles virus joins Pathoplexus! Following strong community support, we added MeV data submission (with Open & Restricted-Use options, as always) and powerful search & data access for MeV pathoplexus.org/measles/search 5/10

2 x Postdocs (Berkeley, CA, USA) Infectious-disease modelling & phylodynamics for pandemic preparedness with ‪@charleswhittaker.bsky.social‬ at @petal-team.bsky.social‬ @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social‬ ‪@berkeleypublichlth.bsky.social‬ More details: http://iddjobs.org/jobs/2351