Mustafa Karatas
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karatasmustafa.bsky.social
Mustafa Karatas
@karatasmustafa.bsky.social
37 followers 60 following 10 posts
PhD student and #FWO fellow at Laboratory of Metagenomics, Rega Institute, KU Leuven, Belgium.

Working on environmental surveillance of viruses using #metagenomics #viralmetagenomics
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karatasmustafa.bsky.social
Mustafa Karatas @karatasmustafa.bsky.social · Sep 26
New paper out!

We sampled indoor air for a year in a Belgian daycare and used shotgun metagenomics to track viruses. We recovered many viral genomes of interest.

What would you sample next?

Read at @eurosurveillance.org
@emmanuel-microb.bsky.social, @jellematthijnssens.bsky.social
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Figure 3. (A–N) Sequencing coverage plots of genetic sequences of viruses detected in indoor air samples of a daycare and phylogenetic analyses of sequences of (O) two human bocaviruses and (P) one RSV identified in some samples, Belgium, January–December 2022
Reposted by Mustafa Karatas
jellematthijnssens.bsky.social
🚨 New paper in Eurosurveillance - @karatasmustafa.bsky.social
We used shotgun metagenomics on indoor air in a Belgian daycare to track respiratory, enteric & skin viruses.
👉 40/42 samples contained human viruses—even when kids seemed healthy!
📄 Read here: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41000028/
September 30, 2025 at 7:43 AM
karatasmustafa.bsky.social
New paper out!

We sampled indoor air for a year in a Belgian daycare and used shotgun metagenomics to track viruses. We recovered many viral genomes of interest.

What would you sample next?

Read at @eurosurveillance.org
@emmanuel-microb.bsky.social, @jellematthijnssens.bsky.social
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Figure 3. (A–N) Sequencing coverage plots of genetic sequences of viruses detected in indoor air samples of a daycare and phylogenetic analyses of sequences of (O) two human bocaviruses and (P) one RSV identified in some samples, Belgium, January–December 2022
September 26, 2025 at 1:18 PM
Reposted by Mustafa Karatas
bcmfromthelabs.bsky.social
An innovative outbreak detection program that tracks viruses in #wastewater identified the #measles virus in #Houston in early January 2025, before cases were reported. #TailorLabs #saracregeen @miketisza.bsky.social @bcmhouston.bsky.social #TEPHITexas #RiceU @apha.org www.bcm.edu/news/measles...
May 13, 2025 at 3:46 PM
Reposted by Mustafa Karatas
tailor-labs.bsky.social
Another example of how wastewater sequencing is going to positively impact Public Health. TEPHI's Outbreak Detection program shows once more the sensitivity and specificity of agnostic sequencing .... ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/abs/10.2...
May 9, 2025 at 12:12 AM
Reposted by Mustafa Karatas
jellematthijnssens.bsky.social
Check out our latest paper on how #wastewater can be used to track animal and #zoonotic #viruses in urban settings!
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40318358/
Great work by @karatasmustafa.bsky.social in collaboration with @marcvanranst.bsky.social @wollants.bsky.social @stevenvangucht.bsky.social
May 5, 2025 at 7:18 PM
karatasmustafa.bsky.social
🎉🎉 Happy to share our new paper! 🎉🎉

Have you ever wondered about the animal viruses living right alongside us in our cities?

Between our pets at home, rats in the sewers, pigeons on the streets, insects everywhere, and even farm animals nearby, it’s no surprise +++
April 29, 2025 at 6:30 PM
Reposted by Mustafa Karatas
moorejh.bsky.social
Clinical translation of microbiome research www.nature.com/articles/s41... #microbiome
Clinical translation of microbiome research - Nature Medicine
This Review summarizes recent and compelling examples of microbiome-based interventions that are ripe for clinical adoption while also discussing the challenges and opportunities facing the field.
www.nature.com
April 20, 2025 at 4:10 PM
Reposted by Mustafa Karatas
eurosurveillance.org
To answer their study question on the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on rotavirus infections in Belgium, @karatasmustafa.bsky.social et al. used data collected 10 years before, 2 years during, and 2 years after the pandemic

#IDsky #EpiSky 🦠

👇🏽
March 27, 2025 at 5:25 PM
karatasmustafa.bsky.social
📢 Excited to share the first paper of my PhD: 14 years of rotavirus epidemiology in Belgium!

Read the full story on Eurosurveillance: @eurosurveillance.org

👉 www.eurosurveillance.org/content/10.2...

#Rotavirus #Virology #PublicHealth #Epidemiology #EpiSky #IDsky

Key messages -->
eurosurveillance.org Eurosurveillance journal @eurosurveillance.org · Mar 27
To answer their study question on the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on rotavirus infections in Belgium, @karatasmustafa.bsky.social et al. used data collected 10 years before, 2 years during, and 2 years after the pandemic

#IDsky #EpiSky 🦠

👇🏽
jellematthijnssens.bsky.social Jelle Matthijnssens @jellematthijnssens.bsky.social · Mar 27
🚨 New paper alert! 🚨 How did the #COVID_19 pandemic impact #rotavirus epidemiology in Belgium? Read all about it in our latest paper in @Eurosurveillanc:
eurosurveillance.org/content/10.2...
@karatasmustafa.bsky.social @vanranstmarc.bsky.social @wollants.bsky.social
March 27, 2025 at 6:43 PM
Reposted by Mustafa Karatas
jellematthijnssens.bsky.social
🚨 New paper alert! 🚨 How did the #COVID_19 pandemic impact #rotavirus epidemiology in Belgium? Read all about it in our latest paper in @Eurosurveillanc:
eurosurveillance.org/content/10.2...
@karatasmustafa.bsky.social @vanranstmarc.bsky.social @wollants.bsky.social
14 years of rotavirus A surveillance: unusual dominance of equine-like G3P[8] genotype with DS-1-like genotype constellation after the pandemic, Belgium, 2009 to 2023
Introduction Despite vaccine availability, rotavirus persists as a leading cause of gastroenteritis in children younger than 5 years. Aim We aimed to evaluate temporal changes in rotavirus epidemiolog...
eurosurveillance.org
March 27, 2025 at 4:04 PM
Reposted by Mustafa Karatas
caspargeenen.bsky.social
New study: analysing indoor air to detect outbreaks.

“… Air sampling could provide sensitive, responsive #epidemiology indicators for surveillance of respiratory pathogens…”

See thread for details and previous air sampling work with @emmanuel-microb.bsky.social…

#IDEpi #IDsky #PedsID #KULeuven 🛟
Heatmap chart showing the detection of various pathogens over different sampling weeks (W9 to W30). Pathogens are listed on the y-axis, including viruses and bacteria such as Streptococcus pneumoniae, human coronaviruses, influenza viruses, and others. The x-axis represents the sampling weeks. Black dots indicate detection of the pathogen in the air. The colour gradient, ranging from white to dark red, represents the proportion of positive paper tissue samples, with darker shades indicating higher proportions. This alt text was generated by ChatGPT. A chart showing the relative detection of pathogens in air versus paper tissues, with pathogens listed on the y-axis (e.g., Pneumocystis jirovecii, herpes simplex virus type 1, SARS-CoV-2). The x-axis represents ∆Ct values, where negative values indicate higher detection in air and positive values indicate higher detection in paper tissues. Red dots represent the mean ∆Ct for each pathogen, and horizontal red error bars represent the 95% confidence intervals. Individual grey dots indicate data points for each sample. Pathogens are arranged by their relative prevalence in air and paper tissues. This alt text was generated by ChatGPT.
January 30, 2025 at 10:55 AM
Reposted by Mustafa Karatas
ebiomedicine.bsky.social
New #kuleuven study: indoor air sampling to monitor respiratory infections in childcare settings. 🧒🏽🏫 Key findings: 🔬 Sensitive pathogen detection 🌬️ Correlation with CO2 & infection rates 📈 Early outbreak warnings
👇 www.thelancet.com/journals/ebi...
#PublicHealth #Epidemiology #RespiratoryInfections
Interpretation of indoor air surveillance for respiratory infections: a prospective longitudinal observational study in a childcare setting
Our results suggest that air sampling could provide sensitive, responsive epidemiological indicators for the surveillance of respiratory pathogens. Using air CO2 concentrations to normalise such signa...
www.thelancet.com
February 19, 2025 at 9:00 PM
Reposted by Mustafa Karatas
caspargeenen.bsky.social
2️⃣ Metagenomics can find unexpected viruses in air. Also viruses associated with skin infections or gastroenteritis.

More in this preprint with the Rega Institute’s Viral Metagenomics Lab:
@karatasmustafa.bsky.social , @jellematthijnssens.bsky.social

www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...
Untargeted viral metagenomics of indoor air as a novel surveillance tool for respiratory, enteric and skin viruses
Conventional hospital-based infectious disease surveillance struggles to detect mild or asymptomatic infections and incurs high costs for large-scale testing during outbreaks. In contrast, environment...
www.medrxiv.org
January 30, 2025 at 11:06 AM
karatasmustafa.bsky.social
Happy to share my first post here!

Feel free to look at our preprint, which is currently under review (with constructive and encouraging comments from reviewers!).
We performed viral metagenomics to track viruses in the indoor air of a daycare center:
Our findings... (see the next post!)-->
December 24, 2024 at 3:29 PM