Keith Durkin
@keithdurkin.bsky.social
Long read sequencing in human and animal genomics, also the odd bit of virology. Irish living in Belgium.
A viral clonality evenness score to predict progression to adult T-cell leukaemia in asymptomatic carriers of human T-lymphotropic virus type 1 in Japan: a retrospective longitudinal cohort study - The Lancet Microbe www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
A viral clonality evenness score to predict progression to adult T-cell leukaemia in asymptomatic carriers of human T-lymphotropic virus type 1 in Japan: a retrospective longitudinal cohort study
The implementation of VCE scoring in clinical practice could inform early pre-emptive
therapeutic interventions, exclusively targeting individuals with HTLV-1 at high risk
and aiming to prevent progre...
www.thelancet.com
November 8, 2025 at 10:32 AM
A viral clonality evenness score to predict progression to adult T-cell leukaemia in asymptomatic carriers of human T-lymphotropic virus type 1 in Japan: a retrospective longitudinal cohort study - The Lancet Microbe www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Reposted by Keith Durkin
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
November 6, 2025 at 9:46 PM
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
Reposted by Keith Durkin
Digital Artist: In my work I invented the Gowl Detector as a cautionary tale
Tech Company: At long last, we have created the Gowl Detector from classic art installation Don't Create The Gowl Detector
Tech Company: At long last, we have created the Gowl Detector from classic art installation Don't Create The Gowl Detector
November 6, 2025 at 9:36 PM
Digital Artist: In my work I invented the Gowl Detector as a cautionary tale
Tech Company: At long last, we have created the Gowl Detector from classic art installation Don't Create The Gowl Detector
Tech Company: At long last, we have created the Gowl Detector from classic art installation Don't Create The Gowl Detector
Reposted by Keith Durkin
When Clare Daly launched her re-election bid last year, Catherine Connolly sat at her right hand.
“I wish I could canvass every day for her on the streets,” Connolly said.
Will Connolly use the presidential platform in a similar way to how Daly used hers?
My piece:
www.irishtimes.com/politics/202...
“I wish I could canvass every day for her on the streets,” Connolly said.
Will Connolly use the presidential platform in a similar way to how Daly used hers?
My piece:
www.irishtimes.com/politics/202...
How is Catherine Connolly likely to approach foreign policy as president?
A precedent for outspokenness, set by Michael D Higgins, now seems to be a baseline minimum
www.irishtimes.com
October 28, 2025 at 8:13 AM
When Clare Daly launched her re-election bid last year, Catherine Connolly sat at her right hand.
“I wish I could canvass every day for her on the streets,” Connolly said.
Will Connolly use the presidential platform in a similar way to how Daly used hers?
My piece:
www.irishtimes.com/politics/202...
“I wish I could canvass every day for her on the streets,” Connolly said.
Will Connolly use the presidential platform in a similar way to how Daly used hers?
My piece:
www.irishtimes.com/politics/202...
Reposted by Keith Durkin
He must love infections and cancer.
A short list of what’s been achieved or is in active development with this tech:
– Seasonal flu (Phase 3)
– RSV (FDA-approved, 2024)
– CMV (Phase 3)
– HIV (early trials)
– Rapid-response design for emerging pathogens
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
A short list of what’s been achieved or is in active development with this tech:
– Seasonal flu (Phase 3)
– RSV (FDA-approved, 2024)
– CMV (Phase 3)
– HIV (early trials)
– Rapid-response design for emerging pathogens
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
RFK Jr’s health department to halt $500m in mRNA vaccine research
Agency to end 22 federal contracts, questioning safety of technology credited with helping end Covid pandemic
www.theguardian.com
August 6, 2025 at 11:30 AM
He must love infections and cancer.
A short list of what’s been achieved or is in active development with this tech:
– Seasonal flu (Phase 3)
– RSV (FDA-approved, 2024)
– CMV (Phase 3)
– HIV (early trials)
– Rapid-response design for emerging pathogens
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
A short list of what’s been achieved or is in active development with this tech:
– Seasonal flu (Phase 3)
– RSV (FDA-approved, 2024)
– CMV (Phase 3)
– HIV (early trials)
– Rapid-response design for emerging pathogens
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Reposted by Keith Durkin
Mass murderer.
(gift link)
(gift link)
Kennedy Withdraws U.S. Funding Pledge to International Vaccine Agency
www.nytimes.com
June 26, 2025 at 6:13 AM
Mass murderer.
(gift link)
(gift link)
Reposted by Keith Durkin
MUST SEE: Congresswoman Schrier nails conspiracy theorist and unfortunate HHS Secretary, RFK Jr., on the value of vaccines—and it’s glorious.
Schrier also happens to be the first pediatrician in Congress.
Schrier also happens to be the first pediatrician in Congress.
June 24, 2025 at 10:46 PM
MUST SEE: Congresswoman Schrier nails conspiracy theorist and unfortunate HHS Secretary, RFK Jr., on the value of vaccines—and it’s glorious.
Schrier also happens to be the first pediatrician in Congress.
Schrier also happens to be the first pediatrician in Congress.
Reposted by Keith Durkin
Reposted by Keith Durkin
New piece on why it’s unhelpful to characterise COVID debate as ‘lockdowns are bad’ vs ‘lockdowns are good’ when it was really about people who claimed that COVID was 100x less fatal than it was + optimal to have a massive epidemic immediately before vaccine… vs those who sense checked these claims.
Restrictions had unequal impacts, but the pandemic itself did too. - Boston Review
Adam Kucharski responds to Stephen Macedo and Frances Lee.
www.bostonreview.net
June 19, 2025 at 3:10 PM
New piece on why it’s unhelpful to characterise COVID debate as ‘lockdowns are bad’ vs ‘lockdowns are good’ when it was really about people who claimed that COVID was 100x less fatal than it was + optimal to have a massive epidemic immediately before vaccine… vs those who sense checked these claims.
Reposted by Keith Durkin
“This is an unmitigated public health disaster,” said Dr. Sean O’Leary, chair of the infectious disease committee for the American Academy of Pediatrics. Story by @apoorvanyt.bsky.social Gift link: nyti.ms/4mV37YK
RFK Jr. Removes All CDC Vaccine Panel Experts (Gift Article)
The U.S. health secretary chose to “retire” members of a committee that makes significant decisions about who receives immunizations, including the vaccines for children.
nyti.ms
June 10, 2025 at 2:24 AM
“This is an unmitigated public health disaster,” said Dr. Sean O’Leary, chair of the infectious disease committee for the American Academy of Pediatrics. Story by @apoorvanyt.bsky.social Gift link: nyti.ms/4mV37YK
Reposted by Keith Durkin
📣 Latest from the lab: Performance of deep-learning-based approaches to improve polygenic scores www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Its thought deep learning will substantially improve PGS but the reality is MANY have tried but no/little gain has been seen so far. Here we report our negative results.
Its thought deep learning will substantially improve PGS but the reality is MANY have tried but no/little gain has been seen so far. Here we report our negative results.
June 5, 2025 at 1:37 PM
📣 Latest from the lab: Performance of deep-learning-based approaches to improve polygenic scores www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Its thought deep learning will substantially improve PGS but the reality is MANY have tried but no/little gain has been seen so far. Here we report our negative results.
Its thought deep learning will substantially improve PGS but the reality is MANY have tried but no/little gain has been seen so far. Here we report our negative results.
Reposted by Keith Durkin
Absolutely thrilled to announce the launch of ARTIC2 - a £5.5M 5 year project funded by @wellcometrust.bsky.social to build on the ARTIC approach of low-cost, globally accessible genome sequencing for surveillance of outbreaks, epidemics and endemic diseases: www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/2025/am...
Ambitious project to develop low-cost genome sequencing for pathogens known and unknown - University of Birmingham
Project will build on research that helped diagnostic labs to adopt sequencing capacity for COVID-19 and permit characterisation of future infectious threats
www.birmingham.ac.uk
May 22, 2025 at 10:57 AM
Absolutely thrilled to announce the launch of ARTIC2 - a £5.5M 5 year project funded by @wellcometrust.bsky.social to build on the ARTIC approach of low-cost, globally accessible genome sequencing for surveillance of outbreaks, epidemics and endemic diseases: www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/2025/am...
www.microbe.tv/twiv/twiv-12...
Latest This week in virology has a nice discussion of the recent cell paper from @sdellicour.bsky.social and colleges on bat viruses ancestral to SARS-CoV-2
Latest This week in virology has a nice discussion of the recent cell paper from @sdellicour.bsky.social and colleges on bat viruses ancestral to SARS-CoV-2
TWiV 1217: Alternative vax and pandemic origins
TWiV reviews new CBER chief at FDA, ending of Gates Foundation in 2045, gain of function executive order, origins of bat viruses ancestral to SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2, and single dose Sudan virus repli...
www.microbe.tv
May 12, 2025 at 7:58 AM
www.microbe.tv/twiv/twiv-12...
Latest This week in virology has a nice discussion of the recent cell paper from @sdellicour.bsky.social and colleges on bat viruses ancestral to SARS-CoV-2
Latest This week in virology has a nice discussion of the recent cell paper from @sdellicour.bsky.social and colleges on bat viruses ancestral to SARS-CoV-2
Reposted by Keith Durkin
Just to be clear, this is a violation of the fundamental ethical principle in clinical trial design called "equipoise."
Equipoise means that no-one is exposed to excess risk just to test the therapy. That's specifically *why* vaccine trials don't use placebo arms.
Ethical violation as POLICY.
Equipoise means that no-one is exposed to excess risk just to test the therapy. That's specifically *why* vaccine trials don't use placebo arms.
Ethical violation as POLICY.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr will require all new vaccines to undergo placebo testing, WaPo reports
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr intends to shift the way vaccines are tested, The Washington Post reported on Wednesday, citing a spokesperson from the HHS.
www.reuters.com
May 1, 2025 at 12:17 PM
Just to be clear, this is a violation of the fundamental ethical principle in clinical trial design called "equipoise."
Equipoise means that no-one is exposed to excess risk just to test the therapy. That's specifically *why* vaccine trials don't use placebo arms.
Ethical violation as POLICY.
Equipoise means that no-one is exposed to excess risk just to test the therapy. That's specifically *why* vaccine trials don't use placebo arms.
Ethical violation as POLICY.
Reposted by Keith Durkin
Reposted by Keith Durkin
I can't believe we're still allowing completely inadequate and uninterpretable Epigenome-Wide Association Studies (EWAS) to be published.
I don't care that this study is probably well-intentioned, and probably trying to draw attention to awful events in Syria.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
I don't care that this study is probably well-intentioned, and probably trying to draw attention to awful events in Syria.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Epigenetic signatures of intergenerational exposure to violence in three generations of Syrian refugees - Scientific Reports
Scientific Reports - Epigenetic signatures of intergenerational exposure to violence in three generations of Syrian refugees
www.nature.com
March 1, 2025 at 4:51 PM
I can't believe we're still allowing completely inadequate and uninterpretable Epigenome-Wide Association Studies (EWAS) to be published.
I don't care that this study is probably well-intentioned, and probably trying to draw attention to awful events in Syria.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
I don't care that this study is probably well-intentioned, and probably trying to draw attention to awful events in Syria.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Keith Durkin
March 27, 2025 at 4:56 PM
Reposted by Keith Durkin
"Angry, disappointed, frustrated"--Scientists were making progress on vaccines and antivirals for the next pandemic--until this week, when the Trump administration abruptly told them to stop. Here's my story with @apoorvanyt.bsky.social Gift link: nyti.ms/43Xz77q
H.H.S. Scraps Studies of Vaccines and Treatments for Future Pandemics (Gift Article)
Federal officials cited the end of the Covid-19 pandemic in halting the research. But much of the work was focused on preventing outbreaks of other pathogens.
nyti.ms
March 26, 2025 at 9:57 PM
"Angry, disappointed, frustrated"--Scientists were making progress on vaccines and antivirals for the next pandemic--until this week, when the Trump administration abruptly told them to stop. Here's my story with @apoorvanyt.bsky.social Gift link: nyti.ms/43Xz77q
Reposted by Keith Durkin
The Trump administration’s Department of Health and Human Services terminated around 60 federal grants supporting HIV and HIV prevention-related research over the past five weeks www.notus.org/health-scien...
HHS Pulled Funds for HIV Research at 22 Universities
The Trump administration pulled around $34 million in HIV-related grants.
www.notus.org
March 25, 2025 at 3:42 PM
The Trump administration’s Department of Health and Human Services terminated around 60 federal grants supporting HIV and HIV prevention-related research over the past five weeks www.notus.org/health-scien...
Reposted by Keith Durkin
People do forget how common zoonotic exposure is. In this study 12% of people working in the guano industry in Myanmar were seropositive for sarbecoviruses: pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...
March 19, 2025 at 8:36 PM
People do forget how common zoonotic exposure is. In this study 12% of people working in the guano industry in Myanmar were seropositive for sarbecoviruses: pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...
Reposted by Keith Durkin
Do you remember BA.3—the weakling cousin of BA.1 & BA.2 that seemed to take the worst from each & had weaker ACE2 binding than even the ancestral Wuhan Virus?
After three years, BA.3 is back.
And it is transmitting.
Who saw this coming?
1/13
After three years, BA.3 is back.
And it is transmitting.
Who saw this coming?
1/13
March 12, 2025 at 10:46 AM
Do you remember BA.3—the weakling cousin of BA.1 & BA.2 that seemed to take the worst from each & had weaker ACE2 binding than even the ancestral Wuhan Virus?
After three years, BA.3 is back.
And it is transmitting.
Who saw this coming?
1/13
After three years, BA.3 is back.
And it is transmitting.
Who saw this coming?
1/13
Reposted by Keith Durkin
As you read this "Exclusive" on the lead FBI agent spilling the beans on their "SARS-CoV-2 came from a lab", the thing that sticks out is the fact that they have absolutely nothing suggesting it did. Bupkis.
It's the same ignorant misrepresentations and conspiracy theories, 👇 being but one example.
It's the same ignorant misrepresentations and conspiracy theories, 👇 being but one example.
A Vanity Fair paper on the origin of the pandemic details some of the reasoning behind the FBI's "Moderate confidence" assessment for a lab leak, via a retired FBI senior scientist.
It seems they were not aware of key information that rebuts their story 🤯 ▫️1/8
www.vanityfair.com/news/story/i...
It seems they were not aware of key information that rebuts their story 🤯 ▫️1/8
www.vanityfair.com/news/story/i...
![screenshot of the cover of the article:
VANITY FAIR
COVID ORIGINS
Exclusive: Inside the FBI’s Lab Leak Investigation
---
As bird flu spreads, and Team Trump begins dismantling America’s public health apparatus, a former FBI scientist and investigator speaks out about the evidence that led the bureau to suspect that COVID-19 was sparked by an incident at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
BY KATHERINE EBAN
FEBRUARY 27, 2025
[b&w image of people with masks]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:yqxcc5ayxllwkvel4narbha4/bafkreih75lj6bcv6e7j4iiwxyzlvhplylnpkjgik437hbg6lhkatrhnqoy@jpeg)
February 28, 2025 at 1:13 AM
As you read this "Exclusive" on the lead FBI agent spilling the beans on their "SARS-CoV-2 came from a lab", the thing that sticks out is the fact that they have absolutely nothing suggesting it did. Bupkis.
It's the same ignorant misrepresentations and conspiracy theories, 👇 being but one example.
It's the same ignorant misrepresentations and conspiracy theories, 👇 being but one example.
Reposted by Keith Durkin
RFK Jr. Vows To Make Measles Deaths So Common They Won’t Be Upsetting Anymore
RFK Jr. Vows To Make Measles Deaths So Common They Won’t Be Upsetting Anymore
WASHINGTON—Addressing the ongoing outbreak in Texas that has infected at least 124 state residents and killed one child, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. vowed Thursday to mak...
theonion.com
February 27, 2025 at 8:00 PM
RFK Jr. Vows To Make Measles Deaths So Common They Won’t Be Upsetting Anymore
Reposted by Keith Durkin
"Every $100 million in investment leads to 78 patents and $598 million in further research, according to N.I.H. calculations"
Or $100 million will get the taxpayer one Falcon 9 launch with SpaceX
www.nytimes.com/2025/02/11/o...
Or $100 million will get the taxpayer one Falcon 9 launch with SpaceX
www.nytimes.com/2025/02/11/o...
Opinion | The Pharmaceutical Industry Heads Into Elon Musk’s Wood Chipper (Gift Article)
Who needs N.I.H. grants? A lot of red-state universities, for one.
www.nytimes.com
February 11, 2025 at 12:34 PM
"Every $100 million in investment leads to 78 patents and $598 million in further research, according to N.I.H. calculations"
Or $100 million will get the taxpayer one Falcon 9 launch with SpaceX
www.nytimes.com/2025/02/11/o...
Or $100 million will get the taxpayer one Falcon 9 launch with SpaceX
www.nytimes.com/2025/02/11/o...
Reposted by Keith Durkin
American science and medicine has been thrown into chaos and uncertainty over the past week. Here are some stories to get up to speed. 1/12
January 28, 2025 at 3:58 AM
American science and medicine has been thrown into chaos and uncertainty over the past week. Here are some stories to get up to speed. 1/12