Sebastian Lequime 🟥

📣 I'm recruiting a postdoc researcher to join my team for a project on mosquito-specific viruses and host interactions. Peep the job description & how to apply below. Perfect for soon-to-be or recent PhD graduates in mosquito vector biology 🦟 or arbovirology 🦠
🗓️ Application deadline 31 August 2025

Virussen zijn geniaal, maar er zitten natuurlijk ook bad guys tussen Sebastian Lequime | viroloog: Sommige virussen besmetten mensen na een beet van een mug of een teek. „Jezelf repliceren in een mug én een mens? Dat is, als je erover nadenkt, mindblowing.”

Very happy to have had time to sit with Gemma Venhuizen from NRC to chat about viruses! (if you are a Dutch speaker) www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2025/...

EVE Meeting Expression of Interest

I'm thinking of organising a meeting on endogenous viral elements (RNA, DNA and retroviral) - if you'd potentially be interested, please fill out the form here - forms.gle/wrCiWMw4yXZe... - so I can gauge interest. Please RT or share with anyone maybe interested! 🧪🧬🖥️🦠 #virology #bioinformatics

If you already have a C. maenas nimavirus sequence, I could try to extract relevant reads it if you want a Dutch sequence.

Most of the viral reads were retroviruses (likely retrotransposons). Some of the contigs corresponding to viruses have a taxonomic assignment to Nimavirus indeed, somewhat related to Hemigrapsus takanoi nimavirus.

It all starts with an ‘how it should be easy enough right’ on a Friday evening drink with colleagues. About two years later we finally have a genome, but it wasn’t as easy as thought (it never is, right?). Happy to see the preprint out!

Assistant professor Arbovirology We are looking for a passionate researcher interested in basic arbovirology to join our team!

Please share with people interested in arbovirology. We are looking for an enthusiastic colleague to strengthen our team please share if you know of scientists interested in arbovirology, ready to make a move to Rotterdam! www.academictransfer.com/en/jobs/3508...

We're looking for a PhD student to join us at Vilnius University in Lithuania. We work on RNA virus evolution computationally but we'd like to generate more mosquito RNA virus sequence data. Official ad: www.gmc.vu.lt/en/doctoral-.... Please share & continue reading if interested.

Comparative performance of novel viral landscape phylogeography approaches The fast rate of evolution in RNA viruses implies that their evolutionary and ecological processes occur on the same time scale. Genome sequences of these pathogens can therefore contain information a...

Check out our latest study "Comparative performance of novel viral landscape phylogeography approaches", which is now available as a preprint on bioRxiv: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1.... @ulbruxelles.bsky.social @ulbrecherche.bsky.social - 1/8

detectEVE: Fast, Sensitive and Precise Detection of Endogenous Viral Elements in Genomic Data Endogenous viral elements (EVEs) are fragments of viral genomic material embedded within the host genome. Retroviruses contribute to the majority of EVEs because of their genomic integration during t....

Very happy to see our Endogenous Viral Element workflow detectEVE published today in Molecular Ecology Resources. Open for all to read, and use of course! Led by @nbrait.bsky.social doi.org/10.1111/1755...

We are looking for a #postdoc to discover cell-autonomous innate immune antiviral factors in mammals, based on newly-identified defense of prokaryotes!
#EvoCure #comparativeImmunology #virology
Please share
@inserm.fr @ciri-lyon.bsky.social @cnrsbiologie.bsky.social
ciri.ens-lyon.fr/teams/lp2l/j...

Just over week until the deadline👇

Dengue Virus Effects on Aedes aegypti Mosquitoes: Genetic Manipulation or Byproduct? A new research review examines how carrying dengue virus affects Aedes aegypti mosquitoes' life cycle and behavior and whether the virus manipulates its mosquito host—or if changes are byproducts of…

A new research review examines how carrying dengue virus affects Aedes aegypti mosquitoes' life cycle and behavior and whether the virus manipulates its mosquito host—or if changes are byproducts of other factors.

I meant no negative effect (sorry)

Except if I completely missed that discussion it in the manuscript, but there is likely a major (and probably massive) reporting bias in the literature against negative results (ie no negative results) for virus-insect interactions outcome.

Applications for MEME are open! It's a research- and mobility-oriented Evolutionary Biology Master's Programme, where students have the opportunity to visit 4(+2) different universities in two years. Please spread the word! www.evobio.eu #EvoBio

Post-Doc Protist Viruses

Looking for a postdoc in environmental virology? Fascinated by giant viruses and their glycobiology?
We have a position available at the MPI for Marine Microbiology!
@mpimarinemicrobio.bsky.social @maxplanck.de
career.mpi-bremen.de/jobposting/8...

Improved availability/accessibility could help us improve that, such as correcting the databases and continuing to build up our knowledge on EVEs.

Hence, it is also good for the taxonomy of viruses! How many EVEs are hidden in NCBI, posing as exogenous viral sequences from meta(transcriptomic/genomic) studies? Some even might have a binomial name! (😛)

A tale of caution: How endogenous viral elements affect virus discovery in transcriptomic data Abstract. Large-scale metagenomic and -transcriptomic studies have revolutionized our understanding of viral diversity and abundance. In contrast, endogeno

Also to help virus discovery projects and avoid misclassification of endogenous elements as exogenous viruses, as we have previously discussed doi.org/10.1093/ve/v...

My guess would be that it is not, but we could do better with some little tricks we discuss there. There are so many insights that we could gain on viral evolution and diversity from endogenous viral elements in the genomes of their (former) hosts...

Endogenous viral elements: insights into data availability and accessibility Abstract. Endogenous viral elements (EVEs) are remnants of viral genetic material endogenized into the host genome. They have, in the last decades, attract

Happy to see @nbrait.bsky.social and Muriel Ritsch-led paper on data accessibility and availability of endogenous viral elements (EVEs) published in Virus Evolution doi.org/10.1093/ve/v...

I really think this is holding back EVE research at the moment: is it easy to solve?

We are looking for new editors at @jevbio.bsky.social! If you would like to get involved in publishing and support your society and its journal, then please apply. The deadline is January 20. We will aim for a quick turn-around for a start in early 2025.

Further information via the post below:

An image with text describing the jobs, and the logo of the Royal Veterinary College. The text says: Title: Hiring two postdoctoral researchers. What? Improve identification and response to emerging and endemic virus threats. Where? Royal Veterinary College. How? Genomics, metagenomics, phylogenetics. Who: Working with Prof Oliver Pybus, Dr Sarah Hill, Dr Jayna Rahgwani, and GAP DC. When? Apply by 27th January 2025. Underneath this, there are two boxes describing the two roles: Role 1: Phylodynamics: Introduction, emergence and spread of viruses in farmed and wild animals. Role 2: Detect and understand threats to/from wildlife and their environments.

🦠 We are recruiting two 2-year postdocs to work at the intersection of virus genomics and infectious disease. jobs.rvc.ac.uk/vacancy.aspx... Please share widely!

EastBio: What makes a super-spreader? Unravelling the genetics of host infectiousness. at University of Edinburgh on FindAPhD.com PhD Project - EastBio: What makes a super-spreader? Unravelling the genetics of host infectiousness. at University of Edinburgh, listed on FindAPhD.com

"What makes a super-spreader? Unravelling the genetics of host infectiousness"

Funded #PhD position in my lab exploring the drivers of host heterogeneity in pathogen transmission. Get in touch if interested. Deadline 17 Jan 2025.

#HostPathogen #DiseaseEcology

www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

Opportunity! We are looking for new editors - application deadline is Monday 20th January. Positions available:

Associate Editors
Handling Editor
Commissioning Editor

Details here: jevbio.net/call-for-edi...

Guess it's finally time to move on; here I am! Some Endogenous viral elements/RNA virus evolution/ecology in arthropods are to come (hopefully) soon! 🦠