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Reposted by Tom Peacock

Caro Goujon @carogoujon.bsky.social · 1d

After years in the making, Joe McKellar @viroscope.bsky.social’s final PhD paper is finally out today in PNAS! 🎉 🎉🎉
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Human MX1 orchestrates the cytoplasmic sequestration of neosynthesized influenza A virus vRNPs | PNAS

Interferon-inducible Myxovirus resistance 1 (MX1) proteins are known to restrict influenza A virus (IAV) transcription/replication process. Herein,...

www.pnas.org

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Dalan Bailey @dalan-bailey.bsky.social · 20d

And the sister paper from collaborator and good friend Katie Doores ... A deeper dive into how some of these broadly neutralising #sarbecovirus #coronavirus #sars2 #covid antibodies actually work www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Mechanisms for cross–neutralisation of diverse bat sarbecoviruses

The continuing evolution of SARS–CoV–2 variants of concern, and the increasing spillover potential of sarbecoviruses into the human population presents an important and urgent need to discover cross-r...

www.biorxiv.org

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Dalan Bailey @dalan-bailey.bsky.social · 29d

Our first post on here and it's a doozy 😍🤩. Our epic piece on #sarbecovirus host range. #virology #sars2 #covid #vaccines. Enjoy and please repost. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Understanding the future risk of bat coronavirus spillover into humans: correlating sarbecovirus receptor usage, host range, and antigenicity.

Sarbecoviruses interact with their receptor, angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), via the receptor binding domain (RBD) of Spike, the immunodominant target for neutralising antibodies. Understandin...

www.biorxiv.org

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Tom Peacock @peacockflu.bsky.social · 29d

Really excited to have been a small part of this work investigating sarbecovirus host range, receptor usage and antigenicity!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.09.03.673949v1

Understanding the future risk of bat coronavirus spillover into humans: correlating sarbecovirus receptor usage, host range, and antigenicity.

Sarbecoviruses interact with their receptor, angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), via the receptor binding domain (RBD) of Spike, the immunodominant target for neutralising antibodies. Understandin...

www.biorxiv.org

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Reposted by Tom Peacock

Bloom lab @jbloomlab.bsky.social · 29d

In new study led by @ckikawa.bsky.social, we provide near real-time data on human neutralizing antibody landscape to influenza by measuring ~26,000 titers to >100 recent viral strains

Data can inform vaccine selection & evolutionary/epidemiological modeling
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Near real-time data on the human neutralizing antibody landscape to influenza virus to inform vaccine-strain selection in September 2025

The hemagglutinin of human influenza virus evolves rapidly to erode neutralizing antibody immunity. Twice per year, new vaccine strains are selected with the goal of providing maximum protection again...

www.biorxiv.org

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Laboratory of Functional Viromics (LETKO) @fviromics.bsky.social · Sep 4

New preprint! If some merbecoviruses use DPP4 and others use ACE2, what do those hedgehog merbecoviruses use?! As it turns out, neither! In our latest study, we uncover the "missing" receptor for the MERS-related viruses in hedgehogs. [These findings were first shared at ASV this year] (1/6)

Aminopeptidase N is a receptor for hedgehog merbecoviruses

Merbecoviruses, closely related to the highly pathogenetic Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV), circulate in hedgehogs throughout Europe and Asia, raising concerns about zoonotic t...

tinyurl.com

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Carl Zimmer @carlzimmer.com · Sep 2

The cow udder may be a mixing vessel where different strains of influenza can recombine--"underscoring its potential role in generating novel influenza viruses with pandemic risk." [Preprint] www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

The cow udder is a potential mixing vessel for influenza A viruses

The incursion of high pathogenicity avian influenza A virus (IAV) into US dairy cows is unprecedented in the era of molecular diagnosis and pathogen sequencing. This raises questions over the likeliho...

www.biorxiv.org

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Reposted by Tom Peacock

Saloni @scientificdiscovery.dev · Aug 29

Finally!

Children offered chickenpox vaccine on NHS

All young children in England and Wales will be offered a free chickenpox vaccine by the NHS from January 2026.

www.bbc.co.uk

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Tom Peacock @peacockflu.bsky.social · Aug 21

from a wildlife perspective its incredibly difficult to put the genie back in the bottle, but from a poultry perspective this work might help inform seasonal biosecurity recommendations - e.g. coastal farms need to consider minimising exposure to gulls in spring/summer due to risk of H5N1?

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Tom Peacock @peacockflu.bsky.social · Aug 21

Really excited to have been a part of this study, lead by @willharv.bsky.social on how reassortment of H5N1 in birds has lead to a 'specialist' genotype that thrives in seabirds and drives summer/spring (rather than winter) waves of poultry outbreaks www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Genetic reassortment and diversification of host specificity have driven evolutionary trajectories of lineages of panzootic H5N1 influenza

Since 2021, subclade 2.3.4.4b A(H5N1) high pathogenicity avian influenza (HPAI) viruses have undergone changes in ecology and epidemiology, causing a panzootic of unprecedented scale in wild and domes...

www.biorxiv.org

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Robertson Lab @davidlrobertson.bsky.social · Aug 16

Come work with us👇

MRC-UofG Centre for Virus Research @cvrinfo.bsky.social · Aug 11

📢 VACANCY | Computational Biologist/Bioinformatician 🦠

Join our brilliant team and contribute to the analysis of antiviral host-mechanisms and comparative virology datasets.

📆 Deadline: 25 August

Info: bit.ly/CVR-WorkWithUs Ref 178592
Apply: gla.ac.uk/explore/jobs/

University of Glasgow - Research - Research units A-Z - MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research - About Us - Work with us

bit.ly

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Jeremy Keown @jeremykeown.bsky.social · Aug 13

Very pleased to have our new work out where we perform a structure/function study on the bornavirus polymerase complex with fantastic coauthors. Have a read www.nature.com/articles/s41... @warwicklifesci.bsky.social @loiccarrique.bsky.social @franziskaguenl.bsky.social

The structure of the mammalian bornavirus polymerase complex - Nature Communications

Borna disease virus 1 replicates and transcribes its negative sense RNA genome in the nucleus of infected cells. Here, the authors present the cryoEM structures of the large polymerase protein in comp...

www.nature.com

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King Lab @kinglabipd.bsky.social · Aug 4

🚨 New paper alert! 🚨

Here we show that stabilized influenza hemagglutinin HPAI H5 immunogens improve the quality of elicited antibody responses. Thank you to @open_phil for funding this work! bit.ly/4lgr0rM

Stabilization of H5 highly pathogenic avian influenza hemagglutinin improves vaccine-elicited neutralizing antibody responses

Transmission of highly pathogenic avian influenza from H5 clade 2.3.4.4b has expanded in recent years to infect large populations of birds and mammals, heightening the risk of a human pandemic. Influe...

bit.ly

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The Ferrari Lab @theferrarilab.bsky.social · Jul 24

Exciting new work from my @ciddpsu.bsky.social colleagues showing that pandemic H1N1 immunity reduces susceptibility to H5N1 infection and disease in ferrets.

Preexisting immunity to the 2009 pandemic H1N1 virus reduces susceptibility to H5N1 infection and disease in ferrets

Prior infection with the 2009 pandemic H1N1 influenza virus confers protection against H5N1 infection and disease in ferrets.

www.science.org

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Dr Alison Peel @alibat.bsky.social · Jul 21

🦇 NEW RESEARCH: Our 3-year study of Australian flying foxes identified six co-circulating coronaviruses, with highest rates of infection and co-infection in young bats, and evidence of circulating recombinants 🧪🌏 🧵

Available open access in @natcomms.nature.com

📄 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Synchronized seasonal excretion of multiple coronaviruses coincides with high rates of coinfection in immature bats - Nature Communications

Bats harbor diverse coronaviruses but temporal dynamics are less well studied. Here, the authors analyzed coronaviruses in Australian flying foxes over 3 years showing peak shedding and co-infections ...

doi.org

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Robert de Vries @rpdevrieslab.bsky.social · Jul 18

Very happy that our paper on the receptor binding properties of contemporary H3N2 viruses is now published @CellReports # glycotime www.cell.com/cell-reports...

Epistasis in the receptor-binding domain of contemporary H3N2 viruses that reverted to bind sialylated di-LacNAc repeats

Liang et al. shows how contemporary H3N2 viruses reverted to bind sialylated di-LacNAc at the molecular level. Using complex symmetrical and asymmetric N-glycans, major epistatic interactions were rev...

www.cell.com

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Reposted by Tom Peacock

Gytis Dudas @evogytis.bsky.social · Jul 17

This is quite late but our lab has a preprint out about a SARS-CoV-2 situation we had in mink in Lithuania back in 2021. It's a doozy with re-emergence of extinct lineages, a country-wide test of all mink farms in Lithuania & some interesting dynamics in mink. www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1... 1/5🧵

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The Roslin Institute @roslininstitute.bsky.social · Jul 10

A hybrid coronavirus, formed of cat and dog coronaviruses, caused a severe outbreak of disease among cats in Cyprus, researchers found.

Their work, in Nature, showed how this new virus was able to cause widespread cases of Feline Infectious Peritonitis (FIP) among the island’s cats.

Coronavirus causes fatal disease outbreak in cats | The Roslin Institute | The Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies

A harmful strain of coronavirus has caused a fast-spreading outbreak of a harmful feline disease.

edin.ac

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Amanda Warr @amandatron89.bsky.social · Jul 9

I am paw-sitively thrilled to say that out latest work is out in Nature today!

#Virology #Genomics #Coronavirus #AnimalHealth #InfectiousDisease #Sequencing #FIP #FCoV23

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Feline infectious peritonitis epizootic caused by a recombinant coronavirus - Nature

Nature - Feline infectious peritonitis epizootic caused by a recombinant coronavirus

www.nature.com

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Veesler lab @veeslerlab.bsky.social · Jul 9

Our paper describing how in-host evolution of a recently emerged, highly pathogenic coronavirus modulates entry into cells, membrane fusion and likely pathogenicity has now been published in its peer-reviewed form!

Led by Ale Tortorici!

@hhmi.org

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Loss of FCoV-23 spike domain 0 enhances fusogenicity and entry kinetics - Nature

The molecular mechanisms of cell entry for the recently identified highly pathogenic feline coronavirus FCoV-23 are characterized in detail.

www.nature.com

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Caro Goujon @carogoujon.bsky.social · Jul 9

New job offer in the team! If you're an experienced virologist (with a PhD), join us to work on Horizon Europe-funded APPEAL project in the vibrant city of Montpellier, South of France! euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/359640

Research assistant (postdoc level) in molecular virology, EU-funded project APPEAL (Montpellier, France)

The research assistant with a PhD in molecular virology (RA, 'ingénieur de recherche' in French) will work on the Horizon Europe-funded APPEAL project involving 13 partners from 6 countries, including...

euraxess.ec.europa.eu

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Martha Nelson @martha-nelson.bsky.social · Jul 1

Rare postdoc opportunity to study the emergence and evolution of pandemic viruses in the lab of Dr. Martha Nelson in the Division of Intramural Research (DIR) at the National Library of Medicine (NLM).

www.training.nih.gov/jobs/pdf-cb-...

www.training.nih.gov

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The Menachery Lab @themenacherylab.bsky.social · Jun 12

Our new paper on SARS-CoV-2 furin cleavage site is now out at JVI.

Study examines disruption (rather than deletion) of the FCS & maintains the longer S1/S2 loop found in #SARS2.

FCS disruption attenuates pathogenesis, but not required (but helps) transmission.

journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

The furin cleavage site is required for pathogenesis, but not transmission, of SARS-CoV-2 | Journal of Virology

The presence of the furin cleavage site (FCS) within the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 distinguishes it from other sarbecoviruses found in nature. While prior works have deleted the FCS, these mutant viruses also shortened the S1/S2 loop, which is known to ...

journals.asm.org

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Daniel Goldhill @influenzal.bsky.social · Jun 10

Excited to present the first review from my lab!
Which mutations allow H5 influenza to jump into humans or other mammals? How close is H5 to a pandemic? This review has the answers and explains the molecular mechanism behind the mutations.
Led by @fcapelastegui.bsky.social.
doi.org/10.1099/jgv....

A beautiful figure.
Global detections of A(H5N1) clade 2.3.4.4b in mammalian species, split by sporadic detections (black) and detections which are associated with an outbreak (orange) alongside key mammalian adaptive mutations.
Taken from Capelastegui & Goldhill 2025.

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Influenza Update Meetings @influenzaupdate.bsky.social · Jun 4

SAVE THE DATE!
The 2025 Influenza Update Meeting will be held ‪@uni-of-warwick.bsky.social on the 15th and 16th December - ‪@nicolerobb.bsky.social‬ is leading the organisation for this year's event.
We hope you'll join us there - please repost!
www.gla.ac.uk/research/az/...

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