People living with HIV have been disproportionately affected by Mpox. In 2025, CVR researchers uncovered the emergence of drug-resistant Mpox strains, highlighting growing challenge for global Mpox control and need for improved surveillance & alternate treatments. www.youtube.com/watch?v=54t8...

New News & Views out today in @natmicrobiol.nature.com with @mariekedoesscience.bsky.social — "When viral RNA lingers in joints" — on a new study by Zarrella et al. asking why chikungunya virus causes chronic arthralgia/arthritis. (1/3)

Non-neuronal sites of latency for alphaherpesviruses journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

Someday, with luck and hard work, she will have a name too.

I don’t post many personal issues here, ….but what Fresh Hell is this? Did no one inform the filmmakers that Hersheys chocolate smells and tastes of sick? youtu.be/H1nxODYzt-w?...

Submitting to the ERC with full confidence

WAT www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

🚨New pre-print!🚨 Because influenza virions are highly variable in form no single method can show their molecular architecture in detail. Here, we integrate multiple structural and compositional approaches to identify new features of these beautiful virus particles www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

UK and EU finalise agreement to bring UK into Erasmus+ in 2027 - Thousands across the UK set to benefit from re-opening of the historic Erasmus+ programme www.gov.uk/government/n...

Does anyone have serum/plasma from a cohort of (ambulatory) patients with herpes zoster (shingles) ? A small cohort would be fine. We will test if they have auto-Abs against type I IFNs, as the risk of zoster increases over 50 yo. Please RT or contact me !

Really excited to be able to share our latest preprint, describing how during its evolution in cattle, H5N1 has got better at using a type of alternative receptor that's abundant in cows, but not found in humans and birds. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

I’m amazed. It’s really true: BA.3.2 (new COVID lineage) is infecting children at a much higher rate than previous lineages. I’m late to this party, but I couldn’t really believe it was true until I did the analysis for myself. 1/

Proud of Louisa Iselin. Not the easiest PhD, covid, two supervisors (shabazlab.bsky.social) moving labs, but she pushed through and delivered a really solid piece of work on how interferon reshapes RNA-protein interactions post-translationally www.cell.com/cell-reports...

At a recent conference, a Senior Investigator sat next to me at dinner and asked who I was and what stage of my career I’m at 🙄🥳

Delighted to share our latest preprint describing an integrative model for influenza A virions. We combined proteomics, lipidomics and cryo-ET to build a comprehensive set of models, using subtomogram averaging we show that IAV filaments package cofilactin. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Since I'm getting a questions about the new data - a few _preliminary_ comments: 1️⃣ Are the outbreaks in the US connected? 👉 Very likely. 2️⃣ Does this mean US will lose elimination status? 👉 Yes, but that's been clear for a while. Data: nextstrain.org/measles/geno... A few details + caveats 🧵👇

Pleased to have written this with my @independentsage.bsky.social friends @sheencr.bsky.social, @duncanrobertson.bsky.social, and @helensalisbury.bsky.social We must reverse the decline in MMR and other vaccines, urgently... bmj.com/cgi/content/...

I’ve started working in Scotland during interesting times. Too cold? Not with climate breakdown and the relentless march of vectors and virus northwards.

Are you excited by virology? Would you like to do a PhD? Three fantastic opportunities are available to do joint PhDs between @cvrinfo.bsky.social and @pirbrightinst.bsky.social Details in the thread below - please share! Deadline 8th May 2026, fully funded for UK Home students (1/4)

Our newest piece of lab equipment: Bio-Rad’s “Buffer C dispenser”, developed in cooperation with De’Longhi. A discreet bench-top device that won’t raise suspicions with the lab safety officers.

You can now read the Society's full tribute to former President Professor Robin Weiss FRS. Robin was an Honorary Member and, in addition to serving as President from 2006 to 2009, was the winner of the Marjory Stephenson Prize Lecture in 2015: https://microb.io/4dRe7Ei

Lab Leakers: "SARS-CoV-2 can't infect bats, so it must have been made in a lab". Science: "Let's do the experiment". SARS-CoV-2 behaves exactly like one would expect in a reservoir species - low-level infection, no overt disease, etc. Elegant study from Sato Lab: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Imagine going to work for seven months and the bullet holes are still there

Nice coverage by @kakape.bsky.social in @science.org of our preprint, where we present data showing orthopoxviruses, including MPXV, infect duikers, which are popular bushmeat in many mpox endemic regions. Highlights lots more about orthopoxvirus ecology to explore: www.science.org/content/arti...

Wow. Black tree frogs and radiation-loving fungus?! A fascinating look at how wildlife has adapted in Chernobyl over the years. Worth a read: www.sciencefocus.com/nature/5-ser...

🔬 We’re hiring in Zürich🇨🇭! My lab is recruiting a new PhD student in molecular immunology (interferons, autoantibodies & viral disease). Position is fully-funded. Starting date anticipated to be late 2026/early 2027. Further details and how to apply: tinyurl.com/IMVPhD2026 Deadline 1st May 2026.

🚨 Postdoc position open - please repost! Join our lab in Lausanne🇨🇭to study KSHV, virus–host interactions & RNA decay + great quality of life right by Lake Leman and the Alps ⛰️ Apply here 👉 sites.google.com/view/muller-...

Bye bye ambitious multi-center scientific collaborations 👋. grants.nih.gov/news-events/... Sounds reasonable at face value? It's not - because it makes planning completely impossible. And for complex, collaborative, and ambitious research, planning is everything. A few thoughts 👇

Receptor clustering is a common theme in viral detection, but whether detection directly hinders genome replication is less clear. Excited to share the Z in RZ-type E3s: ZNFX1 is an RNA helicase that builds ubiquitin chains leading to aggregates that ensnare viral RNA. www.cell.com/molecular-ce...

Thread👇

Thread👇

Recent measles virus infection increased the severity of infectious disease in WWI with the exception of pandemic influenza https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.03.16.26348545v1

Chemotherapy that makes cancer cells look like they’re infected with a virus: ROS>ER stress>UPR>increased MAVS>Type I IFN/CXCL10

Have you ever wondered why children starting nursery/daycare pick up so many germs? I certainly did, and with a crack team of parent-scientists/clinicians, we set out to answer that question. Is childcare a germ factory or an immune bootcamp? journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

🚨 Job alert! two post-doc positions are open in our lab 🤩 to work either on CCHFV or on HDV 🦠

Polymerase trapping as the mechanism of H5 highly pathogenic avian influenza virus genesis www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Annual Conference is the UK's largest annual gathering of microbiologists. Register now to secure your spot: https://microb.io/AC26Register #Microbio26

Please share with junior faculty working on HIV/AIDS cure topics: researchscholars.gilead.com/hiv_us/about

We found a viral Trojan Horse: a virus can hide inside another virus.This one surprised us: deltaviruses don’t just borrow a helper virus. They can travel inside it. A literal Trojan Horse “virus-in-a-virus” route into cells. 🤯 Kudos to 1st author @viroscope.bsky.social and co-authors !

Pls re-post: My department @oxfordbiochemistry.bsky.social are recruiting for several new faculty positions (links below). Broad search in molecular biology/biochemistry, across prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Interested in understanding life at the molecular level, this job might be for you! 1/n

🚨New Influenza Tool🚨 Interested in IAV mutations? Looking for markers of mammalian adaptation? Frustrated by converting between IAV numbering systems? The #Flu-MutationExplorer, a new tool from @cvrbioinfo.bsky.social and @royalvetcollege.bsky.social, is here to help: flu-gdb.cvr.gla.ac.uk (1/n)

Very sad to hear of the death of Robin Weiss FRS - a great virologist, research leader and mentor in whose lab I learned molecular biology. A wonderfully kind and morally attuned man. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_W...

@helenbranswell.bsky.social celebrates the one-and-only Stanley Plotkin, godfather of vaccines, wise elder, spark plug that's still firing. www.statnews.com/2026/03/02/s...

Microbiology Horizons has collaboration at its heart, bringing together researchers across disciplines to share ideas, methods and solutions for real-world challenges. Read more about the journal: https://microb.io/MhrzJournal

After nearly 3.5 years of deliberations, researchers concluded their independent assessment of the origin of the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 go.nature.com/4rEfsCJ

Registration and abstract submission for the international Meeting on Arboviruses and their Vectors (a UK Microbiology Society event), Liverpool 1-2 September 2026, are now open! Link: microbiologysociety.org/event/full-e...

COVID-19 vaccination status during pregnancy and preeclampsia risk: the pandemic-era cohort of the INTERCOVID consortium - eClinicalMedicine www.thelancet.com/journals/ecl...

Vaccination with two doses of recombinant zoster vaccine is associated with a 51 percent reduction in the risk of dementia in adults over 65 years, reports a study published in Nature Communications. go.nature.com/4aHg6rM 🧪

Virus classification and nomenclature: getting it right journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...