PabloPeMac

VLPs may resemble the real virus, but they are not necessarily more effective than vaccines expressing just the GP.

Interesting paper from Subramani et al. showing that Marburg vaccines are more effective when they incorporate GP only. Seems like "GP-immunofocusing" is critical, particularly at low vaccine doses.

Doing more with less in vaccine protection against Marburg virus

Bukreyev & team compare mRNA vaccines encoding MARV full length glycoprotein alone or as a virus-like particle, finding low-dose GP-only mRNA conferred 100% protection guinea pigs.

buff.ly/y6LTOo3

Behind the Scenes with principal contributors from the Mani and Castrillon labs at UT Southwestern. Left to right, Ram Mani, Diego H. Castrillon, Susmita Ramanand, and Subhransu Sahoo.

ICYMI:
What are the mechanisms underlying variable expressivity in monogenetic disorders?

@bloodgenes.bsky.social and team show polygenetic modifiers affect penetrance and expressivity in telomere biology disorders: buff.ly/syMkr6z

IFITM3-deficient mice as a model for testing influenza virus vaccines via the intramuscular route Influenza virus infections remain a significant global health concern. Development of a universal influenza vaccine has been met with challenges, in p…

Our new paper in collab with @hemannlab.bsky.social.
Shows IFITM3 KO mice that are more easily infected with most, if not all, influenza strains can be used for preclinical challenge studies to test vaccine candidates. 🫁🦠🥼💉https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264410X25007558

Mucosal delivery and gene-based vaccines can both enhance boost responses for influenza vaccination in cynomolgus macaques over available vaccines
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Evaluating the impact of two decades of USAID interventions and projecting the effects of defunding on mortality up to 2030: a retrospective impact evaluation and forecasting analysis USAID funding has significantly contributed to the reduction in adult and child mortality across low-income and middle-income countries over the past two decades. Our estimates show that, unless the a...

Elon Musk casually, and illegally, dismantled USAID. According to a new study in the Lancet, that action will lead to *14 million* premature deaths between 2025 and 2030.

Again: Elon Musk is directly responsible for 14 million coming deaths. 4.5 million will be children.

Someone should be systemically tracking the deaths caused by Musk/Trump policies. USAID cuts alone has led to 300,000 deaths. Cuts in basic science also will result in many more deaths.

This is accurate. COVID-19 also predisposes to blood clots even in mild cases and pregnancy itself has a heightened risk of blood clots because of the massive estrogen levels involved. These risks are drastically reduced with vaccination.

jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

Viral evolution itself offers a powerful lens to understand how antigen structure affects immunogenicity

FDA will limit Covid vaccines to people over 65 or at high risk of serious illness, leaders say The FDA announced it will limit access to Covid-19 vaccines going forward to people 65 and older and others at high risk of serious illness

GUYS. The comment period for this ends in THREE DAYS. PLEASE if you have even a little bit of time, submit a comment here: www.regulations.gov/commenton/FD...

Let them know EVERYONE should be able to get COVID vaccines. They BACK DOWN when WE PUSH BACK. www.statnews.com/2025/05/20/f...

The 80-year recipe stoking America’s Prosperity:

1) Free-market capital investments in brilliant ideas…
2) enabled by Engineering Innovations…
3) based on Science Research in Universities…
4) funded by Grants from the US Government.

It’s time more people understood this.

Forbes 30 Under 30 2025: Healthcare & Science Discovering new worlds, in our cells and outer space.

Congrats Ninaad!
@ninaadlasrado.bsky.social

www.forbes.com/30-under-30/...

My ongoing request:

If your NSF or NIH grant was terminated--whether at Harvard or elsewhere--please report it here.

NSF: grant-watch.us/submit-nsf.h...

NIH: grant-watch.us/submit-nih.h...

Our trackers are actively used in lawsuits and are often the only record that terminations ever occurred.

Opinion | I Came to Study Aging. Now I’m Trapped in ICE Detention.

America is intentionally squandering our global scientific advantage by persecuting academics and researchers. There is beauty and wonder in the quest for scientific understanding, and we should be helping that curiosity bloom, not crushing it under jackboots.

www.nytimes.com/2025/05/13/o...

This is the opposite of affirmative action

My upcoming weekend read

"Hungary passes constitutional amendment to ban LGBTQ+ public events, seen as a major blow to rights."

Little coverage of this.

But Katy Perry's few minutes in space got endless coverage.

There’s a thin line between cutting a deal and succumbing to the regime.

This is PhD student Rümeysa Öztürk. She was disappeared for 24 hours by ICE for writing an op-ed.

Now in ICE custody, she's being denied her asthma inhaler. She's suffered at least 3 asthma attacks.

The denial of medical care in custody can amount to torture under intl law.

They are arresting people on the streets, terminating their visas, and disappearing them for writing things they disagree with. This is where we are. Two months in. Right now. If you think they won’t begin coming after citizens soon, you are mistaken.

Flu is the most ageist virus I know

A hero in immunology visits NU and gets to meet Melvin

Standing up for science

The use of transgenic mice (expressing human ACE2) was indispensable for the development of COVID vaccines. Without transgenic mice (aka “transgender” according to Trump) we would still be in a major pandemic.

That's the dude talking the US and India and other countries into Tegnell's "herd immunity".

Libertarian right journalists in Austria like this.

It is not a matter of interpretation! Listen to J.D. Vance's words: “If any of us want to do the things that we want to for our country, and for the people who live in it, we have to honestly and aggressively attack the universities of this country.”