Rhys Parry
@rhyshparry.bsky.social
Virologist at the University of Queensland. #virology #virusevolution #rnavirology
Reposted by Rhys Parry
Yup, Colin is right & that NYT piece is infuriating, painting an unreal picture of Kennedy & his band of extreme anti-vaccine activists & conspiracy theorists—who cause suffering & death—as a group of compassionate folks trying to give grieving parents meaning when their unvaxxed kids die of measles
No pundit is doing more work today to launder attacks on public health than Rachael Bedard, who has constructed a parallel world where vaccine hesitancy is best understood as a rational response to elitism; money and social media algorithms don’t exist to her www.nytimes.com/2025/11/25/o...
Opinion | I Went to an Anti-Vaccine Conference. Medicine Is in Trouble.
www.nytimes.com
November 26, 2025 at 10:40 AM
Yup, Colin is right & that NYT piece is infuriating, painting an unreal picture of Kennedy & his band of extreme anti-vaccine activists & conspiracy theorists—who cause suffering & death—as a group of compassionate folks trying to give grieving parents meaning when their unvaxxed kids die of measles
Out now in Microbial Genomics @microbiologysociety.org MCMV-infected dendritic cells switch off MHC-II (via Ciita) while turning on migration via viral GPCR M33 – converting DCs into stealth couriers for viral spread. Work with Helen Farrell lab and @chrismcmillan.bsky.social doi.org/10.1099/mgen...
November 26, 2025 at 9:25 AM
Out now in Microbial Genomics @microbiologysociety.org MCMV-infected dendritic cells switch off MHC-II (via Ciita) while turning on migration via viral GPCR M33 – converting DCs into stealth couriers for viral spread. Work with Helen Farrell lab and @chrismcmillan.bsky.social doi.org/10.1099/mgen...
Reposted by Rhys Parry
SMBE Australasian Protein Structural Phylogenetics Meeting
📄 Abstract submission deadline: Nov 28
Please submit your abstracts by Friday! Registration is free, but limited to 50 in-person attendees.
✈️ Travel grant applications deadline: Nov 28
🔗 biosig.lab.uq.edu.au/strphy26/str...
📄 Abstract submission deadline: Nov 28
Please submit your abstracts by Friday! Registration is free, but limited to 50 in-person attendees.
✈️ Travel grant applications deadline: Nov 28
🔗 biosig.lab.uq.edu.au/strphy26/str...
APSPM 2026: Structural Phylogenetics Meeting
A pivotal SMBE regional meeting in Brisbane on the interface of protein structure, function, and evolution.
biosig.lab.uq.edu.au
November 24, 2025 at 6:09 AM
SMBE Australasian Protein Structural Phylogenetics Meeting
📄 Abstract submission deadline: Nov 28
Please submit your abstracts by Friday! Registration is free, but limited to 50 in-person attendees.
✈️ Travel grant applications deadline: Nov 28
🔗 biosig.lab.uq.edu.au/strphy26/str...
📄 Abstract submission deadline: Nov 28
Please submit your abstracts by Friday! Registration is free, but limited to 50 in-person attendees.
✈️ Travel grant applications deadline: Nov 28
🔗 biosig.lab.uq.edu.au/strphy26/str...
Are influenza B viruses really “human only”? New review synthesises evidence from serology & metagenomics for #IBV / IBV-like viruses in animals and aquatic hosts. One Health gaps remain. With @marioskoutsakos.viralvaxlab.com @duckswabber.bsky.social www.mdpi.com/1999-4915/17...
November 25, 2025 at 4:46 AM
Are influenza B viruses really “human only”? New review synthesises evidence from serology & metagenomics for #IBV / IBV-like viruses in animals and aquatic hosts. One Health gaps remain. With @marioskoutsakos.viralvaxlab.com @duckswabber.bsky.social www.mdpi.com/1999-4915/17...
Starting to say “publish or perish” less fatalistically and more threateningly.
November 22, 2025 at 9:33 AM
Starting to say “publish or perish” less fatalistically and more threateningly.
Reposted by Rhys Parry
Was my pleasure to present our brain organoid model of flavivirus infection at Organoid Nexus symposium in sunny Melbourne.
November 21, 2025 at 5:19 AM
Was my pleasure to present our brain organoid model of flavivirus infection at Organoid Nexus symposium in sunny Melbourne.
New preprint from the Khromykh/ @slonchak.bsky.social /Short lab 👇
In primary human nasal epithelia, #Omicron BA.5 & XBB show enhanced ciliated-cell tropism and a striking cilia-gene shutdown plus apoptosis/inflammation, unlike ancestral virus or BA.1.
Preprint:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
In primary human nasal epithelia, #Omicron BA.5 & XBB show enhanced ciliated-cell tropism and a striking cilia-gene shutdown plus apoptosis/inflammation, unlike ancestral virus or BA.1.
Preprint:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
November 21, 2025 at 3:51 AM
New preprint from the Khromykh/ @slonchak.bsky.social /Short lab 👇
In primary human nasal epithelia, #Omicron BA.5 & XBB show enhanced ciliated-cell tropism and a striking cilia-gene shutdown plus apoptosis/inflammation, unlike ancestral virus or BA.1.
Preprint:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
In primary human nasal epithelia, #Omicron BA.5 & XBB show enhanced ciliated-cell tropism and a striking cilia-gene shutdown plus apoptosis/inflammation, unlike ancestral virus or BA.1.
Preprint:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Rhys Parry
Where to start, with a statement like this?
"Tim Ayres said the cuts were aimed at refocusing … CSIRO towards research priorities, such as critical minerals, iron & steel production in Australia."
From some rando down the bus stop, one would brush it off.
But this is from our Science Minister 🤯
"Tim Ayres said the cuts were aimed at refocusing … CSIRO towards research priorities, such as critical minerals, iron & steel production in Australia."
From some rando down the bus stop, one would brush it off.
But this is from our Science Minister 🤯
CSIRO to cut up to 350 research jobs in major overhaul
After 440 positions were slashed last year, the CSIRO has announced more staff cuts across the country in a bid to remain financially viable.
www.abc.net.au
November 19, 2025 at 12:10 AM
Where to start, with a statement like this?
"Tim Ayres said the cuts were aimed at refocusing … CSIRO towards research priorities, such as critical minerals, iron & steel production in Australia."
From some rando down the bus stop, one would brush it off.
But this is from our Science Minister 🤯
"Tim Ayres said the cuts were aimed at refocusing … CSIRO towards research priorities, such as critical minerals, iron & steel production in Australia."
From some rando down the bus stop, one would brush it off.
But this is from our Science Minister 🤯
Reposted by Rhys Parry
If you'd like to celebrate the biology of viruses - or the fight against viral diseases - this winter, try out our free and updated #VirusSnowflake designs.
Please share, and if you have any photos of Virus Snowflakes in your area it would be lovely to see them!
cvr-engagement.co.uk/virus-snowfl...
Please share, and if you have any photos of Virus Snowflakes in your area it would be lovely to see them!
cvr-engagement.co.uk/virus-snowfl...
November 17, 2025 at 5:39 PM
If you'd like to celebrate the biology of viruses - or the fight against viral diseases - this winter, try out our free and updated #VirusSnowflake designs.
Please share, and if you have any photos of Virus Snowflakes in your area it would be lovely to see them!
cvr-engagement.co.uk/virus-snowfl...
Please share, and if you have any photos of Virus Snowflakes in your area it would be lovely to see them!
cvr-engagement.co.uk/virus-snowfl...
Reposted by Rhys Parry
🚨 NEW: The majority holder of the world's genetic sequence data is a bad actor who can cut off access to critics and competing services. We've tolerated this for years, and now it threatens the pandemic treaty. Time for WHO to step in. With @ctrlalttim.com: www.thinkglobalhealth.org/article/to-f...
To Finish the Pandemic Agreement, WHO Needs a Trustworthy Viral Database | Think Global Health
Online platforms for sharing virus sequences are in disarray. The World Health Organization has a chance to build something new
www.thinkglobalhealth.org
November 5, 2025 at 3:31 PM
🚨 NEW: The majority holder of the world's genetic sequence data is a bad actor who can cut off access to critics and competing services. We've tolerated this for years, and now it threatens the pandemic treaty. Time for WHO to step in. With @ctrlalttim.com: www.thinkglobalhealth.org/article/to-f...
Reposted by Rhys Parry
I want to spell this out in case the implications aren't clear:
This means all public tools/webapps of GISAID data (all the ones you've been used to seeing thru the pandemic, as far as we can tell) are prohibited.
The file allowed this. Cut that - cut off all tools the public & others were using.
This means all public tools/webapps of GISAID data (all the ones you've been used to seeing thru the pandemic, as far as we can tell) are prohibited.
The file allowed this. Cut that - cut off all tools the public & others were using.
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 7, 2025 at 2:41 PM
I want to spell this out in case the implications aren't clear:
This means all public tools/webapps of GISAID data (all the ones you've been used to seeing thru the pandemic, as far as we can tell) are prohibited.
The file allowed this. Cut that - cut off all tools the public & others were using.
This means all public tools/webapps of GISAID data (all the ones you've been used to seeing thru the pandemic, as far as we can tell) are prohibited.
The file allowed this. Cut that - cut off all tools the public & others were using.
Reposted by Rhys Parry
🧬 MiM2025 — ASM Queensland Annual Meeting
Join us for a full day of microbiology at Griffith Uni, Gold Coast!
📅 Sat 22 Nov 2025 | Free for members
🎙 Featuring keynote speakers Greg Cook, @duckswabber.bsky.social Michelle Wille & Subir Sarker.
🔗 Register: www.trybooking.com/DGRHL
#ASM #Micro #MiM2025
Join us for a full day of microbiology at Griffith Uni, Gold Coast!
📅 Sat 22 Nov 2025 | Free for members
🎙 Featuring keynote speakers Greg Cook, @duckswabber.bsky.social Michelle Wille & Subir Sarker.
🔗 Register: www.trybooking.com/DGRHL
#ASM #Micro #MiM2025
October 23, 2025 at 12:49 AM
🧬 MiM2025 — ASM Queensland Annual Meeting
Join us for a full day of microbiology at Griffith Uni, Gold Coast!
📅 Sat 22 Nov 2025 | Free for members
🎙 Featuring keynote speakers Greg Cook, @duckswabber.bsky.social Michelle Wille & Subir Sarker.
🔗 Register: www.trybooking.com/DGRHL
#ASM #Micro #MiM2025
Join us for a full day of microbiology at Griffith Uni, Gold Coast!
📅 Sat 22 Nov 2025 | Free for members
🎙 Featuring keynote speakers Greg Cook, @duckswabber.bsky.social Michelle Wille & Subir Sarker.
🔗 Register: www.trybooking.com/DGRHL
#ASM #Micro #MiM2025
Had a wonderful time at #HCVFLAVI2025 in Singapore presenting our Flavi ncRNA work from the Khromykh lab and was chuffed to pick up a short talk award. Here I am with other awardees demonstrating a normal distribution. Hope to see you again at #HCVFLAVI2026
October 18, 2025 at 6:05 AM
Had a wonderful time at #HCVFLAVI2025 in Singapore presenting our Flavi ncRNA work from the Khromykh lab and was chuffed to pick up a short talk award. Here I am with other awardees demonstrating a normal distribution. Hope to see you again at #HCVFLAVI2026
Final day of #HCFLAVI2025 with a great talk from @maringerlab.bsky.social on 3D models of dengue microvascular dysfunction, using gorgeous liver microvascular spheroids, to unpack #dengue vascular pathology.
October 16, 2025 at 2:07 AM
Final day of #HCFLAVI2025 with a great talk from @maringerlab.bsky.social on 3D models of dengue microvascular dysfunction, using gorgeous liver microvascular spheroids, to unpack #dengue vascular pathology.
Reposted by Rhys Parry
🚨 SAVE THE DATE 🚨
MiM2025 — ASM QLD’s annual microbiology meeting 🧫✨
📍 Gold Coast | 🗓️ 22 Nov 2025
🧪 Talks & 5-min #Microbites for students
📨 Abstracts due 20 Oct — send to [email protected]
@aussocmic.bsky.social
#MiM2025 #microbiology
MiM2025 — ASM QLD’s annual microbiology meeting 🧫✨
📍 Gold Coast | 🗓️ 22 Nov 2025
🧪 Talks & 5-min #Microbites for students
📨 Abstracts due 20 Oct — send to [email protected]
@aussocmic.bsky.social
#MiM2025 #microbiology
October 2, 2025 at 5:40 AM
🚨 SAVE THE DATE 🚨
MiM2025 — ASM QLD’s annual microbiology meeting 🧫✨
📍 Gold Coast | 🗓️ 22 Nov 2025
🧪 Talks & 5-min #Microbites for students
📨 Abstracts due 20 Oct — send to [email protected]
@aussocmic.bsky.social
#MiM2025 #microbiology
MiM2025 — ASM QLD’s annual microbiology meeting 🧫✨
📍 Gold Coast | 🗓️ 22 Nov 2025
🧪 Talks & 5-min #Microbites for students
📨 Abstracts due 20 Oct — send to [email protected]
@aussocmic.bsky.social
#MiM2025 #microbiology
Haunted lately by @galaxyproject.bsky.social CO₂e estimates for jobs. This one MEGAHIT assembly: ~450g CO2e. I've run this ~150k times on HPC, ~75 tonnes of CO2e 😬. Perhaps ARC/NHMRC would accept Australian Carbon Credit Units as part of the grant cost for offset? What others are doing in AUS/INT?
October 6, 2025 at 3:55 AM
Haunted lately by @galaxyproject.bsky.social CO₂e estimates for jobs. This one MEGAHIT assembly: ~450g CO2e. I've run this ~150k times on HPC, ~75 tonnes of CO2e 😬. Perhaps ARC/NHMRC would accept Australian Carbon Credit Units as part of the grant cost for offset? What others are doing in AUS/INT?
Reposted by Rhys Parry
🌟 Thrilled to share that my lab’s first publication is now out in @natmetabolism.nature.com. Congrats to the team 🎉
🧠 We discovered that neurons use endogenous fatty acids as an energy fuel, challenging long-standing models of sugars being the exclusive energy source for neurons. 1/3
🧠 We discovered that neurons use endogenous fatty acids as an energy fuel, challenging long-standing models of sugars being the exclusive energy source for neurons. 1/3
October 1, 2025 at 4:11 AM
🌟 Thrilled to share that my lab’s first publication is now out in @natmetabolism.nature.com. Congrats to the team 🎉
🧠 We discovered that neurons use endogenous fatty acids as an energy fuel, challenging long-standing models of sugars being the exclusive energy source for neurons. 1/3
🧠 We discovered that neurons use endogenous fatty acids as an energy fuel, challenging long-standing models of sugars being the exclusive energy source for neurons. 1/3
Reposted by Rhys Parry
New preprint alert! 🦟 <-> 🦠 <-> 🧑
I am thrilled to share our latest study on alphavirus host adaptation. More specifically, on how a single codon helps blunt alphavirus-induced host innate immune responses in mosquito and human cells. Continue reading for more!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
I am thrilled to share our latest study on alphavirus host adaptation. More specifically, on how a single codon helps blunt alphavirus-induced host innate immune responses in mosquito and human cells. Continue reading for more!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
The Sindbis virus nsP3 opal codon protects viral RNA and fitness by maintaining replication spherule integrity
Most alphaviruses encode an in-frame opal stop codon between nsP3 and nsP4 in their nsP ORF. This opal stop codon mediates a temperature-dependent balance between viral polymerase production and prote...
www.biorxiv.org
September 29, 2025 at 11:23 AM
New preprint alert! 🦟 <-> 🦠 <-> 🧑
I am thrilled to share our latest study on alphavirus host adaptation. More specifically, on how a single codon helps blunt alphavirus-induced host innate immune responses in mosquito and human cells. Continue reading for more!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
I am thrilled to share our latest study on alphavirus host adaptation. More specifically, on how a single codon helps blunt alphavirus-induced host innate immune responses in mosquito and human cells. Continue reading for more!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Rhys Parry
🚨 New Web Resource Alert! 🚨 We're delighted to share Viro3D a database of >85000 viral protein structure predictions from >4400 human & animal viruses.
🔗 viro3d.cvr.gla.ac.uk
📄 www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....
@molsystbiol.org @cvrinfo.bsky.social @uofgmvls.bsky.social #Virology #AlphaFold 🧪 🦠
🔗 viro3d.cvr.gla.ac.uk
📄 www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....
@molsystbiol.org @cvrinfo.bsky.social @uofgmvls.bsky.social #Virology #AlphaFold 🧪 🦠
Viro3D
viro3d.cvr.gla.ac.uk
September 26, 2025 at 11:36 AM
🚨 New Web Resource Alert! 🚨 We're delighted to share Viro3D a database of >85000 viral protein structure predictions from >4400 human & animal viruses.
🔗 viro3d.cvr.gla.ac.uk
📄 www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....
@molsystbiol.org @cvrinfo.bsky.social @uofgmvls.bsky.social #Virology #AlphaFold 🧪 🦠
🔗 viro3d.cvr.gla.ac.uk
📄 www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....
@molsystbiol.org @cvrinfo.bsky.social @uofgmvls.bsky.social #Virology #AlphaFold 🧪 🦠
Congrats to @summabibby.bsky.social @naphakm.bsky.social Daniel Watterson et al. here at SCMB on the first high-res cryo-EM structures of yellow fever virus! Striking vaccine vs virulent particle differences and a single R380 residue shaping antigenicity & neutralisation. doi.org/10.1038/s414...
September 27, 2025 at 3:31 AM
Congrats to @summabibby.bsky.social @naphakm.bsky.social Daniel Watterson et al. here at SCMB on the first high-res cryo-EM structures of yellow fever virus! Striking vaccine vs virulent particle differences and a single R380 residue shaping antigenicity & neutralisation. doi.org/10.1038/s414...
The use of attenuated SC2 JN.1 as a bivalent vaccine vector. Mutate (D130A) in nsp16, delete FCS in spike, delete accessory ORFs, and/or modify transcription regulatory sequences, then add prefusion RSV F. Successfully protects, although modified TRS seem to over-attenuate. doi.org/10.1126/scia...
September 27, 2025 at 3:22 AM
The use of attenuated SC2 JN.1 as a bivalent vaccine vector. Mutate (D130A) in nsp16, delete FCS in spike, delete accessory ORFs, and/or modify transcription regulatory sequences, then add prefusion RSV F. Successfully protects, although modified TRS seem to over-attenuate. doi.org/10.1126/scia...
Reposted by Rhys Parry
🧪🦠🖥️🧬🧫🔬 The Roadmap for equitable use of public microbiome data -including the Data Reuse Information Tag (DRI)- by the #DataReuseConsortium.
Must read if you use or produce microbiome data!
Kudos to the Data Reuse Core Team for their hard work!
doi.org/10.1038/s415...
Must read if you use or produce microbiome data!
Kudos to the Data Reuse Core Team for their hard work!
doi.org/10.1038/s415...
September 26, 2025 at 11:24 AM
🧪🦠🖥️🧬🧫🔬 The Roadmap for equitable use of public microbiome data -including the Data Reuse Information Tag (DRI)- by the #DataReuseConsortium.
Must read if you use or produce microbiome data!
Kudos to the Data Reuse Core Team for their hard work!
doi.org/10.1038/s415...
Must read if you use or produce microbiome data!
Kudos to the Data Reuse Core Team for their hard work!
doi.org/10.1038/s415...
Establishment of reverse genetics systems for Colorado tick fever virus. Remind me never to complain about monopartite reverse genetics systems.
journals.plos.org/plospathogen...
journals.plos.org/plospathogen...
September 25, 2025 at 6:34 AM
Establishment of reverse genetics systems for Colorado tick fever virus. Remind me never to complain about monopartite reverse genetics systems.
journals.plos.org/plospathogen...
journals.plos.org/plospathogen...
Impressive work on the effect of #Wolbachia in 60! strains of DENV. Like earlier reports, DENV-1,2,4 was strongly inhibited. DENV-3 isolates had more variable & weaker inhibition.
Given the range of genotypes, this is a strong foundation to examine viral genetic determinants of susceptibility.
Given the range of genotypes, this is a strong foundation to examine viral genetic determinants of susceptibility.
September 22, 2025 at 1:43 AM
Impressive work on the effect of #Wolbachia in 60! strains of DENV. Like earlier reports, DENV-1,2,4 was strongly inhibited. DENV-3 isolates had more variable & weaker inhibition.
Given the range of genotypes, this is a strong foundation to examine viral genetic determinants of susceptibility.
Given the range of genotypes, this is a strong foundation to examine viral genetic determinants of susceptibility.
Reposted by Rhys Parry
Transcriptomic response of mosquitoes to Japanese encephalitis virus and identification of its potential entry factors
www.nature.com/articles/s44...
www.nature.com/articles/s44...
Transcriptomic response of mosquitoes to Japanese encephalitis virus and identification of its potential entry factors - npj Viruses
npj Viruses - Transcriptomic response of mosquitoes to Japanese encephalitis virus and identification of its potential entry factors
www.nature.com
September 12, 2025 at 2:54 PM
Transcriptomic response of mosquitoes to Japanese encephalitis virus and identification of its potential entry factors
www.nature.com/articles/s44...
www.nature.com/articles/s44...