Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Ed Hutchinson

Jason McLellan @mclellanlab.bsky.social · 14h

I'm honored to receive a MacArthur Fellowship. As always, I extend my sincerest thanks to all my wonderful mentors, colleagues, collaborators, admins, and trainees who make this work possible. #MacFellow

Texas Science @texasscience.bsky.social · 15h

UT Austin has a new “genius grant” recipient!

Texas Science professor Jason McLellan has been awarded a MacArthur Fellowship — aka the “genius grant” — by The MacArthur Foundation.

#TexasScience @mclellanlab.bsky.social #MacArthurGenius @utaustin.bsky.social
cns.utexas.edu/news/accolad...

Virus Slayer Awarded ‘Genius Grant’ by MacArthur Foundation

The award recognizes Jason McLellan’s work to investigate how viruses infect our cells and to develop new treatments for infectious disease.

cns.utexas.edu

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Ulad Litvin @ulad-litvin.bsky.social · 12d

Viro3D paper is out! We predicted 85,000 protein structures from human & animal viruses. 1/5 🧵

📑 Paper doi.org/10.1038/s443...
🔭 Explore virosphere viro3d.cvr.gla.ac.uk

Viro3D: a comprehensive database of virus protein structure predictions | Molecular Systems Biology

imageimageViro3D provides proteome-level, high confidence AI-protein structure predictions for >4,400 viruses, allowing mapping of form and function across the human and animal virosphere. Viro3D i...

doi.org

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Reposted by Ed Hutchinson

Fletcher Lab @fletcherlab.bsky.social · 19h

🎉 Fletcher lab PhD student Emma Davies reflecting on her prize winning talk - we’re super proud of you Emma - many congrats! 🎉

@cvrinfo.bsky.social @uofgsii.bsky.social @uofgmvls.bsky.social

Microbiology Society @microbiologysociety.org · 1d

Huge congratulations to Emma Davis, the winner of 2025's Early Career Microbiologist of the Year prize! We agree with Emma that all of the finalists' talks were brilliant and a massive well done to everyone involved!

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MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology @mrclmb.bsky.social · 1d

John Gurdon, former Group Leader and Head of @cellbiol-mrclmb.bsky.social has died.
Despite calling himself a "total non-intellectual” his work to reprogramme somatic cells to pluripotent stem cells transformed the field of developmental biology.
More: www2.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk/john-gurdon-...
#LMBNews

Black and white portrait of John Gurdon, 1971

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Ed Hutchinson @socialinfluenza.bsky.social · 23h

Also brilliant to see @uofgsii.bsky.social's @phoebecrossley.bsky.social winning the third-place prize for a presentation on (remarkably) her undergraduate research project - incredibly impressive work!

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Freya Harrison @friendlymicrobe.bsky.social · 1d

The vaginal microbiome is super interesting - is there another body site where a healthy microbiome = a low-diversity microbiome? @phoebecrossley.bsky.social talk about her research at @microbiologysociety.org young microbiologist of the year finals microbiologysociety.org/blog/meet-ea... #MicroSky

Meet Early Career Microbiologist of the Year talk finalist: Phoebe Crossley

This year, the Microbiology Society is awarding <a href="https://microbiologysociety.org/grants-prizes/all-prizes-and-competitions-/early-career-microbiologist-year.html?_gl=1*1t02973*_up*MQ..*_g...

microbiologysociety.org

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Ainsley S @americanbeetles.bsky.social · 1d

Wow that’s like a plants level of chromosomal absurdity

Bryan White, MS Bio, MPH 🧬 @crvscience.com · 4d

Homie got 229 pairs of chromosomes

www.sciencedaily.com/releases/202...

This tiny butterfly has the most chromosomes of any animal on Earth

Scientists have confirmed that the Atlas blue butterfly carries the most chromosomes of any animal, with 229 pairs. Unlike duplication, its chromosomes split apart, reshaping its genome in surprising ...

www.sciencedaily.com

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Ed Hutchinson @socialinfluenza.bsky.social · 1d

Absolutely delighted for Emma Davies, who after a day of outstanding talks from across the UK and Ireland won the @microbiologysociety.org ECMoTY competition with a presentation on her PhD work @cvrinfo.bsky.social Well done Emma!

Microbiology Society @microbiologysociety.org · 1d

Huge congratulations to Emma Davis, the winner of 2025's Early Career Microbiologist of the Year prize! We agree with Emma that all of the finalists' talks were brilliant and a massive well done to everyone involved!

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Reposted by Ed Hutchinson

David Bhella @dbhella.bsky.social · 18d

I am delighted to share this preprint describing the structure and transcriptomics analysis of adenovirus D10 - a fantastic collaboration - and a lot of hard work by Kasim and Rosie.

bioRxiv Microbiology @biorxiv-microbiol.bsky.social · 18d

Identification of a novel structural motif and overexpression of key transcripts elucidated in Adenovirus 10 https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.09.20.677498v1

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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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Data Report @datareport.bsky.social · 1d

Netherlands to cull 71,000 chickens after bird flu detection www.reuters.com/business/hea...

www.reuters.com

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James Briscoe @jamesbriscoe.bsky.social · 1d

Very sad news, John Gurdon has died.

A developmental biologist's developmental biologist, Nobel prize winner

His work is the foundation of much of today's dev & stem cell bio.

An inspiration to many, including me. Always asking questions & wanting the answers

www.magd.cam.ac.uk/news/profess...

Professor Sir John Gurdon FRS (1933-2025) | Magdalene College

Magdalene College is deeply saddened to announce the death of Professor Sir John Gurdon FRS, who served as Master of the College from 1995 to 2002.

www.magd.cam.ac.uk

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BK. Titanji @boghuma.bsky.social · 2d

A new Nature Medicine study analyzing health records from >100 million people in the US offers compelling evidence that reactivation of varicella-zoster virus (VZV) ,the same virus that causes chickenpox and shingles may contribute to dementia risk.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Varicella-zoster virus reactivation and the risk of dementia - Nature Medicine

Large-scale longitudinal health records reveal consistent association of varicella-zoster virus reactivation with dementia.

www.nature.com

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Reposted by Ed Hutchinson

Kieran Healy @kjhealy.co · 2d

It's Nobel Prize Season! Here is a handy guide to the prizes that will be awarded this month.

NOBEL PRIZES TO BE AWARDED THIS MONTH
Physiology OR Medicine
Physiology AND Medicine
Physiology XOR Medicine
Physiology NOR Medicine Physiology NAND Medicine Physiology XNAND Medicine
@kjhealy.co

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Ed Hutchinson @socialinfluenza.bsky.social · 2d

This is incredibly beautiful, and the fact that the resolution is sufficient to follow the path of DNA spooling inside the virion head and through the tail is amazing

The Daum Lab @daumlab.bsky.social · 2d

Out in Science Advances: Our #cryoEM structure of HFTV1, a virus infecting the halophile #archaea. *First full atomic structure (containing all structural proteins) of any tailed virus!* Congrats and thanks to all co-authors and our fantastic collaborators! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Cryo-EM resolves the structure of the archaeal dsDNA virus HFTV1 from head to tail

This structure of an archaeal tailed virus (arTV) provides detailed insights into arTV assembly and infection mechanisms.

www.science.org

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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 5d

Conventional wisdom says motherhood should wait for tenure as before you land a permanent post, #academia is just not that family friendly🙁

@carersinstemm.bsky.social are calling for change and to celebrate their new report, a Saturday🧵on parenting & academia! 1/9 👩‍🔬🧪🔭⚛️

ℹ️: carersinstemm.co.uk

From 2006. A younger and shell-shocked looking Catherine on a balcony holding a very tiny baby with the mountains of Vancouver in the background. The baby is so new, Catherine still has the pregnant bump.

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Journal of Art in Society @artinsociety.bsky.social · 5d

Despite its name, the Bird-Dropping Beetle definitely does not drop any birds ~ instead, it looks just like a bird’s dropping (Excastra albopilosa). The disguise is so effective that no-one noticed it till 2024. Now it’s a finalist for Australian Insect of the Year
www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10...

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derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 7d

Jane Goodall was my first childhood hero, as I loved animals as a kid and was inspired by her story. I still remember the National Geographic specials about her. RIP.

Jane Goodall reaches out and touches a small monkey.

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Ed Hutchinson @socialinfluenza.bsky.social · 7d

That's encouraging to hear!

Ed Hutchinson @socialinfluenza.bsky.social · 8d

Really cool idea Clive! Do you know if vaccination would be likely to exacerbate (or suppress) the itch reaction to mosquito bites?

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Reposted by Ed Hutchinson

Clive McKimmie @clive-mckimmie.bsky.social · 8d

We all know vaccines target the pathogen, but can you also target the vector?
📢 in a new paper out today in Vaccines,
we show that a vaccine targeting mosquito salivary peptides, AGSv-PLUS, enhances human skin immune response to biting.
Open access: www.mdpi.com/2076-393X/13...
1/6

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Ed Hutchinson @socialinfluenza.bsky.social · 8d

[Googles 'how to make a laser cut lampshade']

Also, the OP is beautiful, thank you for sharing

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Ed Hutchinson @socialinfluenza.bsky.social · 8d

We should!

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Reposted by Ed Hutchinson

Natalia Jagielska @nataliajagielska.bsky.social · 8d

The spectacularly produced new art book, Mesozoic Art II, hit the shelves! I happen to be one of the artists featured in the line-up of fantastic people who bring the dead back to life! A great opportunity to talk about my creative journey 🧵

Selection of drawings of dinosaurs and pterosaurs and kin in a mosaic with cover of the Mesozic Art 2

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Ed Hutchinson @socialinfluenza.bsky.social · 9d

Even by arthropod standards this is completely nuts

Sabrina Imbler @sabs.bsky.social · 9d

a question for bug enthusiasts: are there any other examples of bugs doing crazy body horror (body envy!??!) stuff like this? www.science.org/content/arti...

Beetle grows ‘termite’ on back to steal food

Puppet helps insect trick real termites into feeding it

www.science.org

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