Rhys Parry

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?

🌟 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

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...

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...

🚨 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 🧪 🦠

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...

A Roadmap for equitable use of public microbiome data published in Nature Microbiology by The Data Reuse Core team @alexjprobst.bsky.social @lhug.bsky.social @environmicrobio.bsky.social Cristina Moraru @geomicrosoares.bsky.social @folker.bsky.social Anke Heyder and a QR code that takes you to the webpage of the manuscript

🧪🦠🖥️🧬🧫🔬 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...

Establishment of reverse genetics systems for Colorado tick fever virus. Remind me never to complain about monopartite reverse genetics systems.
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.

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

Transcriptomic response of mosquitoes to Japanese encephalitis virus and identification of its potential entry factors

www.nature.com/articles/s44...

Metabolic homeostasis favors tolerance to persistent viral infection in Aedes aegypti mosquitoes The mosquito Aedes aegypti harbors a wide range of persistent viral infections, including both medically important arboviruses and insect-specific viruses (ISVs). However, the mechanisms underpinning ...

How can mosquitoes tolerate viral infections?

In our latest preprint we show that mosquitoes that can regulate their metabolism after infection can tolerate viral infections better.

Thanks to all the authors for all your ideas and contributions

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

🚨Call for abstracts

#OneHealth Aotearoa Symposium 2025

📍Wellington + online
🗓️2–3 Dec 2025

Submit an abstract by 30 Sept

Themes: #AMR, #Zoonoses, #HealthEquity, #TeAoMāori, #ClimateHealth & more

More info👉 onehealth.org.nz/one-health-a...

📩one.health@otago.ac.nz

🖥️🧬💻
#AcademicSky
#MicroSky
🧪🧫🦠

Until next year, @mozztacular.bsky.social, Asad, @royalfizzbin.bsky.social, Mozammel, @wytamma.bsky.social , Bec, and @rhyshparry.bsky.social out!
#MicroSeq2025

Novel Henipavirus, Salt Gully Virus, Isolated from Pteropid Bats, Australia Novel Henipavirus Isolated from Bats, Australia

Our research describing the isolation and characterisation of a novel henipavirus, Salt Gully virus, discovered in Australian bats has been published in the September edition of Emerging Infectious Diseases.

wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/...

Your #MicroSeq2025 committee - @mozztacular.bsky.social , Asad Prodhan, @royalfizzbin.bsky.social , Mozammel Hoque, @wytamma.bsky.social , Rebecca Roach, and @rhyshparry.bsky.social - are all here and ready to go! 🫡

Please feel free to reach out to any of us w/ questions or concerns at any time ♥️

Photograph of Dr Jackie Mahar, a researcher based at Agriculture Victoria Research. Her portrait is decorated with cartoons of microbes. Dr Jackie Mahar is an invited plenary speaker for MicroSeq2025.

✨ #MicroSeq2025 Plenary Highlight! ✨
Dr Jackie Mahar is an evolutionary virologist & bioinformatician based at CSIRO, managing projects on NGS-based phylogenomics of zoonotic & animal viruses for pathogen discovery, surveillance & viral ecology.
Register👇
trybooking.com/events/landing/1424679

RNAi is a powerful tool for mosquito control, but delivery remains difficult.
Could symbiotic bacteria be the key? Mixed results so far highlight the complexity and the gaps in our understanding of RNAi, bacterial delivery, and host–symbiont interactions.

Read more in our recent review👇

MicroSeq2025 is an online meeting being held on September 3rd and 4th, focused on research being conducted on sequencing data generated from microbiological samples (bacteria, fungi, and viruses). MicroSeq2025 will feature four plenary speakers: Dr Peter Mee from Agriculture Victoria Research, Dr Leah Roberts from The University of Queensland's Centre for Clinical Research, Dr Rose Collis from the Hopkirk Research Institute, and Dr Jackie Mahar from the Australian Animal Health Laboratory & Health and Biosecurity, Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness, CSIRO. Their profile pictures are decorated with cartoons of microbes.

We are delighted to announce our plenary speakers for #MicroSeq2025! Dr Rose Collis, Dr Jackie Mahar, Dr Peter Mee, and Dr Leah Roberts! We’ll be treated to four excellent talks across September 3-4. We can’t wait! Register below👇
trybooking.com/events/landing/1424679

Interesting Rickettsia endosymbiont genome.

MP calls for transparency over Qld health head appointment Sources told the ABC an offer for the state's top health job was made and quickly scrapped.

What crap is this?

"The Queensland government says it wasn't "confident" a doctor was suitable to be the state's chief health officer"

-do they not know the last 2 two Qld CHOs were medical doctors (and so stand-ins)?? The need is in the title guys.

www.abc.net.au/news/2025-08...

SFTSV NSs protein is a novel tick antiviral RNAi response suppressor Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus (SFTSV) is an emerging tick-borne phenuivirus causing high mortality in humans. While the non-structural protein NSs is dispensable for replication in...

📢 Thrilled to share our NEW PREPRINT!
SFTSV NSs is a novel tick antiviral RNAi suppressor! 🦠
🧫 NSs essential for tick but not mammalian infection
🧬 Binds 22-nt viral siRNAs to block RNAi
🕷️ Reveals host-specific viral immune evasion
📖 doi.org/p2vf
#lovevirology #bunyavirus #tickborne

Eight bat researchers mostly from Asia and Africa refused entry into Australia to attend global scientific event Organisers say move will damage nation’s scientific standing as government refuses to comment on why group of scientists were refused entry

IBRC delegates protest visa denials of 8 researchers from Africa and Asia.
#ibrc2025 #batresearch

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Is bisegmentation cheating in the ssRNA length race?

How conspiracy theories about COVID’s origins are hampering our ability to prevent the next pandemic The COVID pandemic likely began when the virus jumped from animals to humans, and didn’t start in a lab. But false narratives continue to circulate.

You’ve been badly misled over COVID origins theconversation.com/how-conspira...

A pleasure to host A. Prof Aaron Irving @batresearch.bsky.social today at the SCMB Infection & Immunity seminar. Wild genetic diversification and antiviral immune adaptations in Chinese horseshoe bats. Great to see large-scale genomics paired with functional in vitro molecular #virology🦇🧬

Registration and abstract submission for MicroSeq2025 is open. Abstract submission closes August 8, 2025. Participants can register at microseqconference.com. MicroSeq2025 is an online meeting being held on September 3rd and 4th, focused on research being conducted on sequencing data generated from microbiological samples (bacteria, fungi, and viruses). MicroSeq2025 is supported by The Australian Society for Microbiology, the Australasian Virology Society, and Microbial Genomics.

🚨Abstract submission & registration for #MicroSeq2025 is OPEN! 🚨Get in quick! The first 50 registrations are FREE for PhD students and ECRs who are current ASM members, thanks to @aussocmic.bsky.social.

Head to our website to register now 👇
www.microseqconference.com/registration...

Interested in applying for a EU MSCA fellowship? Happy to discuss projects in the arbovirology/parasite virology fields. Get in touch and join the group in Liverpool!

The design, manufacture and LNP formulation of mRNA for research use Nature Protocols - This protocol describes simple, small-scale laboratory production of mRNA for research and preclinical use. This includes sequence design, DNA template production, mRNA synthesis...

To accelerate #mRNA vaccine and therapy research, we're excited to share our end-to-end protocol for mRNA design, synthesis and encapsulation in @natprot.nature.com.

Protocol development led by @laura-leighton.bsky.social, Natasha Chaudhary and Tim Mercer.@basemrna.bsky.social

rdcu.be/eqiF1

MicroSeq2025 is an ECR and PhD student-friendly online meeting focused on the interface between sequencing technology and microbiology. being held on 3rd and 4th September, 2025. Registration and abstract submission opens on July 21, 2025 and abstracts are due August 8, 2025. Participants can register at microseqconference.com.

📣Calling Australian/NZ ECRs and PhD Students 📣 Abstract submission and registration for MicroSeq2025 opens July 21! Abstracts for both medium-length and lightning talks will be welcome.

1-Here is the work under discussion www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...