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Julie Pfeiffer @jkpfeiff.bsky.social · Aug 18

Faculty search announcement 2025: Tenure-Track Assistant Professor in Microbiology at UT Southwestern. We seek candidates working in microbial pathogenesis (some preference may be given to bacterial pathogens). Come join our community! (1/5) www.utsouthwestern.edu/departments/...

Department members sit at a very long table in the hallway eating a pre-Thanksgiving potluck feast.

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Reposted

Julie Pfeiffer @jkpfeiff.bsky.social · Jun 25

Valerie Rodriguez Irizarry’s tour de force paper on murine norovirus adaptation/egress is now out in peer-reviewed form ‪@plosbiology.org‬. It highlights the power of forward genetics in virology research. 🧵 1/10 journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

Drawing of a cell showing mitochondria in the cytoplasm, with murine norovirus virions exiting the cell through damage to the plasma membrane. Image credit: Valerie Rodriguez Irizarry

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orchardlab.bsky.social @orchardlab.bsky.social · May 27

For those interested, Mikayla elected to join UTSW Graduate school where I predict she will have an outstanding PhD!

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orchardlab.bsky.social @orchardlab.bsky.social · May 27

Mikayla did all of this while part of the UT Southwestern-Postbaccalaureate to PhD (PB2PHD) Program. I highly recommend those that want to go to graduate school but need more experience (both bench and coursework) to consider PB2PHD! Thanks @ajdiazphd.bsky.social for leadership on the PB2PHD

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orchardlab.bsky.social @orchardlab.bsky.social · May 27

We have found the MNV-HiBiT viruses excellent and faithful reporters of MNV replication. We highly recommend this system for its speed, fidelity, and robust readouts! We also have had great success generating other viruses with HiBiT insertions, so worth a try in your favorite virus as well.

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orchardlab.bsky.social @orchardlab.bsky.social · May 27

Mikayla inserted the small HiBiT tag into the MNV genome. The HiBiT fragment can complement with the LgBiT fragment and form a functional nanoluciferase. She showed that this works in cell lysates and tissue lysates with great dynamic range and sensitivity. No need for engineered cell lines!

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orchardlab.bsky.social @orchardlab.bsky.social · May 27

Excited to share the work of Mikayla Olson in the lab making a replication competent reporter virus for murine norovirus. journals.plos.org/plospathogen...

Development of a replication competent murine norovirus reporter system

Author summary Colloquially known as “the stomach bug,” human norovirus is a leading cause of foodborne illness worldwide. Despite its prevalence, there are no approved therapeutics or vaccines agains...

journals.plos.org

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Reposted

Nonia Pariente @npariente.bsky.social · May 21

Further reading to the great talk from @orchardlab.bsky.social just now at #GRCviruses

Membrane asymmetry facilitates MNV entry and persistent infection
@plosbiology.org
#Virosky 🧪
journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

Membrane asymmetry facilitates murine norovirus entry and persistent enteric infection

Norovirus tropism depends partly on entry receptors, but the role of cellular lipids in viral entry remains unclear. This study shows that TMEM30a-mediated lipid asymmetry is crucial for murine norovi...

journals.plos.org

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orchardlab.bsky.social @orchardlab.bsky.social · Apr 23

Excited to have this story published @plosbiology.org. We were surprised to find lipids are important for entry of a non-enveloped virus and that TMEM30a is important for enteric infection of murine norovirus!

PLOS Biology @plosbiology.org · Apr 23

Norovirus tropism depends partly on entry receptors, but what is the role of cellular #lipids? @orchardlab.bsky.social &co show that TMEM30a-mediated lipid asymmetry is crucial for murine #norovirus infection, influencing membrane fluidity, viral binding & entry @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/4409MtI

Left: Based on electron microscopic (EM) imagery, this three-dimensional (3D) illustration provides a graphical representation of a single norovirus virion, set against a beige background. The different colors represent different regions of the organism’s outer protein shell, or capsid (credit: Unsplash user CDC). Right: BV2 or BV2ΔTMEM30a cells were infected with MNVCR6-HiBiT at an MOI 0.5 in the presence of DMSO, 500 µM GCDCA, or 50 µM C2 ceramide. Sixteen hours post-infection cells were lysed and infection was measured using Nano-Glo HiBiT Lytic Detection System (Promega) post-lysis. Samples are normalized to BV2 cells treated with DMSO.

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