Develop expertise in microbiome #metagenomics for understanding child health in Africa! 🦠 🗓️12-17 April 2026 + post-course mentoring and #SciComms skills development for #PublicHealth. 📍 @kemriwellcome.bsky.social 🧬 #GutMetagenomics26 Apply by 3 November📩 Find out more 👉🏾 bit.ly/4n00owP

A new analysis of individuals living with HIV reveals key sex differences in innate immune profiles and the complexity of the HIV proviral reservoir. Read more in #ScienceTranslationalMedicine: https://scim.ag/4mridnp

📢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...

Key finding #5: Potential for dengue virus strain selection following Wolbachia interventions, with selection for few strains with a high average relative dissemination 📈

The yellow fever mosquito has conquered the world—and that's kind of our fault. That story and more of the best in @science.org and science in this edition of #ScienceAdviser: www.science.org/content/arti... 🧪

our paper on the population genomics of An. funestus, one of the major (yet less studied) human malaria vectors in Africa, is now out in @science.org 🦟 read @mariloumercedes.bsky.social's original preprint thread to find out more! bsky.app/profile/mari...

Love RNA biology? Join us to explore the piRNA pathway with structural and genetic approaches (see 👇👇). PhD student/postdoc position co-supervised by Clemens Plaschka & myself. DM or email us if you’d like to know more! @vbcscitraining.bsky.social @imbavienna.bsky.social @impvienna.bsky.social

Forum @cp-trendspharma.bsky.social @harvardmed.bsky.social Multivalent decoy receptor therapeutics to combat viral pandemics and evolution www.cell.com/trends/pharm...

Transcriptomic response of mosquitoes to Japanese encephalitis virus and identification of its potential entry factors www.nature.com/articles/s44...

Mystery of dancing spiders' 'dark DNA' could explain how they develop into new species. Scientists think non-coding regions of the spiders' DNA might enable them to adapt rapidly to changing environmental circumstances by developing into new species. 🧪🕷️🧬 www.bbc.com/news/article...

<sigh> Again, a warming climate helps disease spread. Example this time - Dengue Fever. 🧪 Link: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

The 1st session in our Catalyst Seminar Series focuses on Long-COVID, with an emphasis on impacts to racialized and marginalized communities. Join us on October 17th to hear from Kathi Wilson (UTM) and Joseph Munn (Sunnybrook). Registration details here: bit.ly/4gcs13f #SeminarSeries #LongCOVID

New paper by our Plaschka lab with Brennecke’s lab at IMBA! Researchers at the Vienna BioCenter have solved a 20-year-old mystery in genome biology, revealing how PIWI proteins engage partner molecules to silence “jumping genes” that threaten genetic stability.

David Baltimore, Nobel-Winning Molecular Biologist, Dies at 87 www.nytimes.com/2025/09/07/s...

How can we understand the earliest events in evolution of eukaryotic immunity? @yao-li.bsky.social reports incredible molecular fossils of complete bacterial-like operons in eukaryotes that illuminate how animal immunity was first acquired from anti-phage defense www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

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...

journals.plos.org/plosone/arti... 🧪

Sequence data from the new Ebola outbreak in DRC suggests it is indeed a new spillover. And just incredible to see the virus sequenced and the data publicly shared less than 24 hours after confirmation of the outbreak. #IDsky 🧪 virological.org/t/the-16th-e...

Dengue disease severity in humans is augmented by waning Japanese encephalitis virus immunity www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

You may have missed this #ant poster at #ESEB2025, but be sure not to miss the article just published in #openacess in @nature.com: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Our work on the function of miR-51/miR-100 is out! miR-100 is widely conserved across eumetazoans but its function has been mysterious. Emilio Santillán found in worms it regulates signaling and extracellular matrix genes, some of which seem to be conserved targets! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

✨ Applying for fellowships? Check out 40+ successful sample applications from: NSF-GRFP, PD Soros, HHMI Gilliam, Ford, NIH F31 …and more! Get inspired and strengthen your own application by learning from winners in your field. 🔗 cientificolatino.com/writing-center

Dengue has strong synchrony across the Americas, indicating that a mix of intrinsic and extrinsic factors drives epidemic transmission dynamics www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

ICYMI: New online! Clinical metagenomics for diagnosis and surveillance of viral pathogens

New online! Respiratory viral coinfections: interactions, mechanisms and clinical implications

the history describing the discovery of flamenco is nicely summarized here: www.frontiersin.org/journals/gen...

The challenges of immunobridging without established correlates of vaccine-induced protection - The Lancet Infectious Diseases www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

Dengue, Zika, chikungunya & yellow fever are on the rise, putting 5.6B+ people at risk. Once limited to tropical & subtropical climates, Aedes mosquitoes are spreading to new regions, increasing the risk of outbreaks. New WHO guidelines covering all four mosquito-borne diseases 🔗 bit.ly/3Tu6BnJ

In this study, Mimoso et al. show that Restrictor serves as a transcriptional safeguard that suppresses the spurious transcription of non-coding RNAs, while preserving mRNA transcription. Learn more here: ➡️ tinyurl.com/gd352654

134/250 is Within-host genetic diversity of SARS-CoV-2 across animal species This fits with what we know about infection in deer vs other species

🦟New paper out in Evolutionary Applications🦟 The Australian mosquito Aedes vigilax is panmictic across one city (Newcastle) but has strong structure in another (Sydney). The structure was stable across years and may be due to industrial barriers doi.org/10.1111/eva.... @evolappjournal.bsky.social

@harmitmalik.bsky.social and I had a lot of fun sharing our science with intrepid science spotlight reporter David Sokolov (not on blue sky)! I should hire him as my writing coach. Check out his excellent write-up describing our recent study here: www.fredhutch.org/en/news/spot....

#NewResearch out now! Amino acid changes in two viral proteins drive attenuation of the yellow fever 17D vaccine #microsky www.nature.com/articles/s41...

🪰"Detection of Novel #Orthobunyavirus Reassortants in Fatal Neurologic Case in Horse and #Culicoides Biting Midges, #SouthAfrica 🇿🇦" by Matshepo Elizabeth Rakaki et al. in #CDC Emerging Infectious Diseases #arbovirus wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/...

ICYMI: New online! Phylogenetics and molecular evolution to understand and curb the HIV pandemic

Excited to share our paper on viral load dynamics of West Nile virus in mosquitoes! Key findings: 1. Variation in pooled Ct values from mosquito traps reflect underlying biological and epidemiological mechanisms. 2. WNV prevalence estimates are improved by using Cts rather than +ve/-ve pool status.

new from the lab -- we investigate 100% ethanol, DMSO salt solution (DESS), EDTA, RNAlater, and AllProtect as possible approaches for short term room temperature preservation of mosquito HMW DNA, nuclei for Hi-C, and RNA towards high quality reference genome creation. the key findings/tips are ....

ICYMI: New online! A genomic perspective on fungal diversity and evolution

ICYMI: New online! Mycobacterium tuberculosis biology, pathogenicity and interaction with the host

Elon Musk casually, and illegally, dismantled USAID. According to a new study in the Lancet, that action will lead to *14 million* premature deaths between 2025 and 2030. Again: Elon Musk is directly responsible for 14 million coming deaths. 4.5 million will be children.

Got a great idea for a metagenomic virus discovery project but not sure what to do next? We are running a 5 day hands on workshop in beautiful Stellenbosch, South Africa with experts from around the world. Applications are open until 31st July. climade.health/2025/06/22/m...

BEAST X v10.5.0 finally released – you can't just do beta releases forever. github.com/beast-dev/be... Details and instructions for installing on the BEAST website: beast.community

This is a very good review but it’s insane that this is a disease we have to worry about in 2025

This was supposed to be a breakthrough year in the 44-year-long struggle against H.I.V. It's turned into something very different. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/25/h...

If you have not yet, it is so worth reading (and re-reading) this post by medical historian @honigsbaum.bsky.social because it is so hauntingly realistic and well researched it makes your nails curl. The Next Pandemic? A Scenario. open.substack.com/pub/markhoni...

2/9 🚨 Just published in GBE! We uncover extreme microRNA loss in parasitic rotifers—mirroring what we reported in parasitic flatworms back in 2013 (!!!) (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24025793/). 🧵 Let’s walk through the findings and figures: academic.oup.com/gbe/advance-... #EvoDevo #Parasitology

Clear and engaging scientific figures are crucial to communicate complex data. Here you find a checklist that can help to improve data visualization, by focusing on clarity, accessibility and design best practice principles. rdcu.be/eq2ex

In case you needed another reason to hate Epstein-Barr virus- it looks like it might cause primary sclerosing cholangitis: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Next paper from @pankajd.bsky.social ! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

I wrote a new thing about the conspiracy theory that helped kill the CREID network, and will kill other people as a result. open.substack.com/pub/rasmusse...