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...

This looks v cool.

*Congratulations* to former Darwin Trust-funded PhD student Arun Prakash for being awarded the Alfred Russel Wallace award from @royentsoc.bsky.social for his PhD on #immune regulation of disease #tolerance and immune #priming in #Drosophila! @edinburghbiology.bsky.social @uoe-eid.bsky.social

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...

Excited to say we’re hiring 😊. We’re looking for a post-doc in ancient pathogen genomics to join our friendly supportive team in London at @ugiatucl.bsky.social. Start date January 2026. www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...

With #eseb2025 coming to a close, it is time to start making plans for 2026. Interested in the interface of evolution 🧬 and ecology 🌳? Come to our #ExE conference hosted by @uniexecec.bsky.social in beautiful #Cornwall. Leave your email address at tinyurl.com/EvolxEcol to join our mailing list!

It's a bumper-wasp year: here are my top tips on how to dine alongside wasps, without getting stung. GET INVOLVED! Tell us what wasps want at YOUR picnic: www.sumnerlab.co.uk/wasp-picnic-... theconversation.com/what-to-do-w... @uclcber.bsky.social @uclnews.bsky.social @uk.theconversation.com

🧵 Dengue is no longer just a tropical disease - it's showing up in Europe. This season, France, Italy, and Portugal (Madeira) have already reported locally acquired dengue cases. Check the latest #CDTR on #dengue here: bit.ly/3TQpDVu #IdSky #EpiSky #MosquitoBorne #Prevention #PublicHealth

This is a huge mistake. My experience on NERC panels is that resubmissions score higher and are more likely to be funded: the review process improves good proposals that should not be lost (along with the time spent on them).

NERC: We need to open up environmental science! Why is it not diverse? Also NERC: We're scrapping Independent Research Fellowships, New Investigator Grants, Small Grants, are limiting applications from institutions based on past success rates and will only allow you to submit your proposal once.

Removing the ability to resubmit, when funding success is so low, and PtF includes an actual lottery element, seems very short sighted decision. www.ukri.org/councils/ner...

First, find the papers here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... And the attached crowdsourced and community annotation website here: reprosci.epfl.ch ^^ what's neat about the website is that it offers a platform for any field to attempt our approach organically. 2/n

The "reproducibility crisis" in science constantly makes headlines. Repro efforts are often limited. What if you could assess reproducibility of an entire field? That's what @brunolemaitre.bsky.social et al. have done. Fly immunity is highly replicable & offers lessons for #metascience A 🧵 1/n

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

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.

This is really cool work on the role mosquito hemocytes in arbovirus infections. Check it out in Nature Communucations @vectorimmunity.bsky.social @brackneylab.bsky.social congrats all!

What determines who a phage can infect? We tackled this question for temperate phages of Klebsiella — a bacterial pathogen — using a genome-wide association study (GWAS) and a massive protein testing effort. 👇 A thread!

In about a week we (Biological Sciences @ Monash Uni in Melbourne, Australia) will be opening a search for 3 (!!!) permanent academic positions (40% research, 40% teaching, 20% service) at Lecturer/Senior Lecturer. 1 Genomics, 2 Ecology. Please share, email me, DM, follow, send carrier pigeons…

New phage therapy publication!🦠 #phagesky We analysed an MRSA phage therapy case study, assessing how predictions made in vitro differed when using one (standard practice) or multiple bacteria isolates from the patient. Collaborative work: Exeter and Queen Astrid hospital doi.org/10.1093/jamb...

I'd not read this PLoS medicine article before - rather eye opening! Although its from 2006, so now need to see if how its calculated has become any less arbitrary...

Our new AI approach for deciphering the virosphere. Led by Mang Shi and Zhao-Rong Li: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

How do multiple coexisting bacteria and phages (co)evolve? Well... they don't (or do so much less! In this paper we tracked bacteria-phage (co)evolution in monoculture (individual bacteria-phage pairs) or in polyculture (all three pairs) over 6 weeks. Read more here👇 doi.org/10.1099/mic....

Trying to wade through vast amount of SARS-CoV-2 literature on mutations increasing transmissibility - any recommendations (recent reviews would be great)? Have this doi.org/10.1038/s415... and doi.org/10.1038/s414... atm

Michael Ashburner FRS was an influential figure in the fields of Drosophila genomics and early sequencing database initiatives such as @ebi.embl.org. Read about their contributions across genetics and bioinformatics in the new biographical memoir: buff.ly/f01zNat @geneticscam.bsky.social‬

🧬🦠🌍 What are the big, cross-scale questions shaping the ecology and evolution of emerging viruses? @torrelavelle.bsky.social and I are building a list of 100 questions + want your input. Help map the future of EEID — fill out & share our short survey! 🔗 airtable.com/appTW4ZoSFjR...

Hello science fam! We have had a last-minute cancellation for our GRC on Ecological and Evolutionary Genomics and are looking for someone who studies EEG in the context of microbes who would be available to come to beautiful Tuscany in July! Message me!

@jpjhall.bsky.social your comic went down a treat with our 9 year old (enjoyed it so much he read it twice!) - was getting told facts about bacterial defenses this morning.

Fun morning playing our virus outreach game #VirusCraft with local school children as part of @uniexecec.bsky.social @exeter.ac.uk Festival of Science (organised by @cornishjackdaws.bsky.social) - game made by fantastic @thentrythis.social.thentrythis.org.ap.brid.gy

Phylogenetic insights into the transmission dynamics of arthropod-borne viruses www.nature.com/articles/s41... Great work by Verity Hill and team

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

We know how to save lives and make our city safer for everyone, especially children, older and disabled people, to walk, cycle and catch the bus. Rolling out 20mph speed limits everywhere people are using pavements and need to cross the road makes sense.

REFEREE 1: “I conclude with a simple, direct statement - this is the best paper I have read all year!” #TransparentPeerReview Co-evolving infectivity and expression patterns drive the diversification of endogenous retroviruses @juliusbrennecke.bsky.social et al www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....

The MHRA today released new guidance for #Phage therapy in the UK. This will provide direction for scientists and researchers working to make this treatment a reality for patients. 🔬 🧪 🔗 www.gov.uk/government/n...

Just a reminder to please fill out this form if you’d be interest in an EVE / ERV meeting 📋🥳

great work of Riccardo tracing the origin of D.melanogaster transposons

Oh wow. Starting grant 0-10 years post PhD from 2027, Consolidator 5-15

Looks neat: "Crop diversity induces trade-offs in microbial biopesticide susceptibility that could delay pest resistance evolution" with diet-mediated genetic trade-offs affecting pest survival. From Rosie Mangan et al journals.plos.org/plospathogen...

Massive piece of work by @pietropollo.bsky.social and colleagues! Really encouraging paper showing that many EcoEvo meta-analyses are largely reproducible and replicable! doi.org/10.1098/rspb...

First confirmation of #WestNileVirus in mosquitoes in the UK, in an Aedes species. Risk to public still very low, but highlights huge importance of having robust mosquito surveillance and response programmes in place. @mosquitoscotland.bsky.social submit.forms.service.gov.uk/form/3652/re...

Just out in PNAS! www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... "The evolution of thermal performance curves in response to rising temperatures across the model genus yeast". Beautiful work using experimental evolution forecasting climate impacts on biodiversity by Jennifer Molinet @jennifermolinet.bsky.social

Looks neat: 'Host replacement dynamics shape virulence and genome evolution in a plant RNA virus' @sfelena.bsky.social et al www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... Examines effect of speed of (host) env change, with beneficial mutations assoc w sudden host transitions having stronger fitness effects

A must read

Our latest preprint just dropped @paulturnerlab.bsky.social We evolved bacteria on swim plates, against a phage that attacks through the flagellum. Motility trades off AND trades up(!!) with phage-resistance! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

How to estimate the additive genetic variance for fitness, without measuring fitness. Work from Manas Geeta Arun and Jarrod Hadfield: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

This is such an important call from an early-career scientist. The current delays in decisions on publications are absolutely damaging to the careers of our junior colleagues. (1) 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Fantastic opportunity to join some excellent programmes to gain quantitative ecological training at the University of Glasgow 
 @sbohvm.gla.ac.uk 
@uofglasgow.bsky.social for full details see bsky.app/profile/uofg...

Providencia rettgeri is a commonly employed #Drosophila pathogen. It also has an extensive AMR profile causing opportunistic infections in hospital settings. I recently realised I know less about it than I should, so here is my homework. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... #Microsky #MEvosky

📣 Junior PI Opportunity Join CNRS Strasbourg to lead cutting-edge research on host-pathogen interactions in insects 🪰 450k€ package | Drosophila, RNA, immunity IBMC + Labex NetRNA network 📅 Apply by June 30, 2025 🔗 ibmc.cnrs.fr/en/laboratoi... #RNA #Insects #Drosophila #NetRNA #Immunity #JobAlert

🦟 Preprint Alert 🚨 Catherine Oke et al show the nutritional status of mosquitoes influences the time of day that they seek a human to bite. Poorly-fed mosquitoes are active in the early evening when the humans they bite are unlikely to be protected by bed nets. Read here: doi.org/10.1101/2025...

Excellent from @tanjabueltmann.net "I ask you not tell me that you do not mean me. I know that you do not— primarily—mean a white woman from Europe who has a PhD. But who do you mean? And, much more importantly, who do you think those racists who were engaged in riots last summer think you mean?"