The Sato Lab (Kei Sato)

Systems virology as a cornerstone for pandemic responsiveness: A G2P-Japan perspective Pandemic preparedness is critical as we face potential threats of infectious diseases. Systems virology and collaborative/responsive science are key infrastructures that facilitated scientific advance...

Happy to share my review in Cell Host & Microbe @cp-cellhostmicrobe.bsky.social!

Wrote about systems virology, G2P-Japan, pandemic preparedness & responsive science in pandemic. It covers about G2P-Japan from its inception to its role in pandemic & my future perspective
www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...

Should be amazing🤩 Thanks Karim for leading this. See you so soon in Montpellier😚

Frontiers | The spike S2 substitution, P804L, drives the adaptation of BANAL-20–236 to a broad range of Rhinolophus bat ACE2 Understanding how bat coronaviruses circulate in wildlife, including bats in nature, can help assess the risks of cross-species transmission of potentially p...

Our new study is out at Frontiers in Virology! We conducted passaging experiments and demonstrated that the spike S2 substitution, P804L, drives the adaptation of BANAL-20–236 to a broad range of Rhinolophus bat ACE2. Congrats Bill🎊!
www.frontiersin.org/journals/vir...

Great reunion of COVID gangsters in my lab!! Welcome back, Ralph🇺🇸 and Angie🇨🇦😎

Also thanks for coming, Yvonne🇸🇬, Peter🇸🇬 and Daniel🇦🇺🍷🦇‼️

Virological characteristics of the SARS-CoV-2 NB.1.8.1 variant After the spread of SARS-CoV-2 JN.1, its subvariants, such as KP.3 (JN.1.11.1.3)1 and KP.3.1.1 (JN.1.11.1.3.1.1),2 and XEC (a recombinant lineage of two JN.1 subvariants),3 emerged and rapidly spread ...

BREAKING🔔 The 53th paper from G2P-Japan🇯🇵 is out at Lancet Infectious Diseases @thelancetinfdis.bsky.social. We elucidated the virological characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 NB.1.8.1. Please repost🔥
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

The end of US leadership in science, technology, and innovation.

All in one little table.

A tremendous gift to China, courtesy of the GOP.

nsf-gov-resources.nsf.gov/files/00-NSF...

Univ. of Tokyo mulls accepting Harvard foreign students if barred The University of Tokyo. (Mainichi) TOKYO (Kyodo) -- The University of Tokyo said Monday it is considering temporarily accepting international students from Harvard University if they are affected ...

PLEASE REPOST🔈
If The University of Tokyo officially accepts the students from Harvard University, our lab would be happy to consider this opportunity💪🏻 Work together with us🔥 Please send DM if you have any interests📩
www.alojapan.com/1283049/univ...

We demonstrated that SARS-CoV-2 JN.1 recombinant protein vaccine induces the neutralizing antibodies effective not only against JN.1 but also against a variety of variants including XEC. 2/2

Antiviral humoral immunity against SARS-CoV-2 omicron JN.1 subvariants induced by JN.1 recombinant protein vaccine

BREAKING🔔 The 51st paper from G2P-Japan🇯🇵 is out at Vaccine. We evaluated the antiviral activity of neutralizing antibodies induced by SARS-CoV-2 JN.1 recombinant protein vaccine against SARS-CoV-2. Please repost🔥 1/
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Compared to 2024: 33→36
23🇯🇵 + 13🌏: 5🇨🇳 3🇹🇭 1🇵🇭 1🇬🇷 1🇮🇩 1🇰🇷 1🇨🇭
18♂ + 18♀ = 50% male!!

cf. 2024:
21🇯🇵 4🇨🇳 2🇵🇭 2🇹🇭 1🇺🇸 1🇬🇷 1🇮🇩 1🇦🇺

Here is the Sato Lab, 2025😎!
🇨🇳🇯🇵🇨🇳🇯🇵🇯🇵🇯🇵🇯🇵🇰🇷🇯🇵🇯🇵🇯🇵🇨🇳🇬🇷🇯🇵🇯🇵🇯🇵🇯🇵🇹🇭🇨🇭🇹🇭🇯🇵🇯🇵🇹🇭🇯🇵🇯🇵🇵🇭🇯🇵🇯🇵🇯🇵🇮🇩🇯🇵🇨🇳🇨🇳

Beyond MERS: Merbecovirus receptor plasticity calls for emergence preparedness Three studies recently published in Cell reveal distinct ACE2 binding interactions across the merbecoviruses, uncovering how HKU5 can use ACE2s of many non-human hosts and identifying a novel HKU5 lin...

A new preview article is out at Cell Host & Microbe @cp-cellhostmicrobe.bsky.social! We summarized the 3 Cell papers focused on the characteristics of HKU5, a #merbecovirus. Great job Jarel @jarelelgin.bsky.social, Spyros @spyroslytras.bsky.social , and Jumpei!!

www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...

A new preprint is out at @biorxivpreprint! Here we demonstrated that some pangolin coronaviruses are more sensitive to SARS-CoV-2 vaccine sera than SARS-CoV-2 itself, and interestingly, this was determined by only one amino acid residue positioned at 519 in spike🦠
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

All of which are American dreams🇺🇸

Sadly this person seems to be a virologist as well

What a shame. I am just taking about the possibility for scientific collaboration with US scientists. Why the conspiracy theory people in X simplistically talk about “GOF” experiments? I have never talked about such topics before.

Thanks Angie for your flattering😁

Yes let’s make it better together💪🏻

Thanks Niema for kind words.
I just hope/wish it would get better, and it would be great if I can do something for it.

Let us do it together💪🏻 Science saves the world!!

For US🇺🇸 scientists/virologists🦠 - if you want to find better ways for your science and career, please let me know. Let us find better ways. Please do repost/retweet

Thanks for your kind introduction😁
But what does ‘another’ mean🤔??

Molecular basis of sarbecovirus evolution and receptor tropism in natural hosts, potential intermediate hosts, and humans The spike protein of many sarbecoviruses binds to the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor and facilitates viral entry. The diversification of the sarbecovirus spike gene and the mammalian ACE2 gene suggests that sarbecoviruses and their hosts have co-evolved, and the genetic diversity in these genes affects the host tropism of sarbecoviruses. Better comprehending the evolutionary potential of sarbecoviruses can lead to preparedness for the next pandemic. However, the host tropism of sarbecoviruses is not fully understood. Here, we performed round-robin pseudovirus infection assays using 53 sarbecoviruses and ACE2s from 17 mammals to elucidate the ACE2 tropism of sarbecoviruses in natural hosts, potential intermediate hosts and humans. We determined the factors responsible for the ACE2 tropism of sarbecoviruses through structural, phylogenetic analyses, and infection experiments, revealing which substitutions can expand the host range of sarbecoviruses. These results highlight the mechanisms modulating host tropism throughout sarbecovirus evolution. ### Competing Interest Statement Spyros Lytras has received consulting fees from EcoHealth Alliance. Jumpei Ito has consulting fees from Moderna Japan Co., Ltd. Kei Sato has consulting fees from Moderna Japan Co., Ltd. and Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., and honoraria for lectures from Moderna Japan Co., Ltd. and Shionogi & Co., Ltd. The other authors declare no competing interests. All authors have submitted the ICMJE Form for Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest. Conflicts that the editors consider relevant to the content of the manuscript have been disclosed.

A new preprint is out at biorxiv!

Here we performed round-robin pseudovirus experiments using 53 sarbecoviruses🦠 and ACE2s from 17 mammals to elucidate the ACE2 tropism of sarbecoviruses in natural hosts🦇, potential intermediate hosts🦫 and humans👤

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

Here's the latest variant picture with a global scope.

The big news this week was the emergence of BA.3.2, a saltation evolving for around 3 years in a chronic case and now transmitting in South Africa.

Here’s my thread on BA.3.2:
bsky.app/profile/mike...
🧵

💪🏻

Appreciated Eddie. Will keep doing it💪🏻!!

Four ways COVID changed virology: lessons from the most sequenced virus of all time After 150,000 articles and 17 million genome sequences, what has science taught us about SARS-CoV-2?

So honored to be introduced in a news feature article in Nature @nature.com with a series of COVID gangsters😎!!
www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Virological characteristics of the SARS-CoV-2 LP.8.1 variant After the rapid spread of the SARS-CoV-2 JN.1 (BA.2.86.1.1) variant,1 several descendant lineages of JN.1, including KP.2 (JN.1.11.1.2),2 KP.3 (JN.1.11.1.3),2 and KP.3.1.1 (JN.1.11.1.3.1.1),3 have eme...

BREAKING🔔 The 50th🎉 paper from G2P-Japan🇯🇵 is out at Lancet Infectious Diseases
@TheLancetInfDis. We elucidated the virological characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 LP.8.1. Please repost🔥
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

🤩

Huge thanks for your participation in #CSHApandemic! I hope you enjoyed the time in the conference in Awaji island as well as your visit in my lab😁

COVID 5 years later: Learning from a pandemic many are forgetting Five years after SARS-CoV-2 surfaced, scientists reflect and look ahead to the next threat

Five years after #SARSCoV2 surfaced, scientists reflect and look ahead to the next threat. scim.ag/4j4CZsn

COVID 5 years later: Learning from a pandemic many are forgetting Five years after SARS-CoV-2 surfaced, scientists reflect and look ahead to the next threat

COVID 5 years later: Learning from a pandemic many are forgetting @science.org written by @cohenjon.bsky.social

www.science.org/content/arti...