Cara Pager

It is worth paying close attention to the new bill "Dangerous Viral Gain of Function Research Moratorium Act" introduced by Senator Roger Marshall.

If enacted, it will effectively stop all of virological research, including for vaccines.

www.marshall.senate.gov/wp-content/u...

🧵👇

The first thing to understand is that the proposed bill targets *institutions*, not individual grants.

So if an institution is deemed to be performing "gain-of-function research" (very broadly defined, more on that), then that institution can't receive *any* grants, not just *GoF* grants.

So what constitutes "gain-of-function research"? According to the bill, work involving influenza viruses, coronaviruses, and "Select Agents" that may be "reasonably anticipated" (whatever that means) to "enhanced infectivity, pathogenicity, or transmissibility [+'threat']".

But, there's more.

First off, such enhanced 'function' is not just based on human infectivity - it also includes animals.

Want to understand which mutations in H5N1 confer cattle vs bird vs human infectivity? Can't do that.

Want to understand how SARS-CoV-2 escapes immunity? Can't do that.

But there's more..

Celebrating 10 Years at the ‘Interface of Science and Engineering’ The 2025 installment of the ‘Life at the Interface of Science and Engineering’ endowed lecture series will examine the convergence of medical, physical and engineering sciences, empowered by AI.

www.albany.edu/news-center/...

This is what I expected of you @asm.org. Way to go SICB.
mailchi.mp/sicb.org/sic...

The statement reads: We are disappointed in the rapid capitulation by some U.S. institutions and organizations to recent attacks on diversity, equity, inclusion, and access. At their core, these weak arguments are fueled by the familiar underlying assumption that people from Black, Indigenous, and other marginalized identities cannot be excellent and therefore have not ‘earned’ our place in public intellectual life. However, we have always been competent, hardworking, and creative people who have contributed positively to society at large, across sectors but especially in science. We reject these attempts at silencing and erasure and will continue to be a place of respite and community in these turbulent times. To our members, your talent, skills, and safety are important! To our friends and allies, you may be feeling like everything happening is out of your control, but we want you to know that your voice and actions can make a difference. We want to point you towards some immediate actions that you can take. These are the top 3 issues we are concerned about and what you can do about it if you mirror our concerns. Freezing of federal funding and cutting grant programs for scientific research that have any connotation of being “DEI.” The potential confirmation of RFK Jr., a vocal anti-vaccination proponent, as the head of HHS. The American Society for Microbiology (ASM) removed their ABRCMS and IDEAAS webpages in addition to some scientist spotlights and written articles highlighting the current and historic contributions of microbiologists who are a part of marginalized communities including LGBTQIA+, Women, Indigenous and Black, as well as others page that could be considered “‘DEI”. Many have now been reinstated with changes to language (i.e. removing terms like “equity” and “marginalized”), and the statements released by ASM did not acknowledge the harm that they have caused to their members and showed no remorse for their actions.

A statement from the BMA Board Members to the BMA Community and Beyond.

Additional alt text to follow due to the character limit.

Uganda Ebola Sudan outbreak total rises to 2, with more cases suspected

The index patient's wife is the second confirmed case, and three close contacts are isolated for treatment and testing.

www.cidrap.umn.edu/e...

Photo: NIAID/Flickr cc

Removal of DEI content from a microbiology group’s website shows reach of Trump executive orders The professional society for microbiologists stripped content about Black, female, and LGBTQ scientists from its website

Removal of DEI content from a microbiology group’s website shows reach of Trump executive orders www.statnews.com/2025/02/03/t... via @statnews.com

SLC35A2 modulates paramyxovirus fusion events during infection Author summary Paramyxovirus entry, the first step in establishing an infection, involves two key processes: attachment and virus-cell fusion. Paramyxoviruses use their attachment protein to bind to s...

SLC35A2 modulates paramyxovirus fusion events during infection

journals.plos.org/plospathogen...

Completely awesome and deserved! Congratulations.

Screenshot of White House announcement that reads in part: President Biden Honors More Than 300 Americans with Nation’s Highest Award for Science and Mathematics Teachers and Mentors

List of names from announcement "President Biden Honors More Than 300 Americans with Nation’s Highest Award for Science and Mathematics Teachers and Mentors"

List of names continued from announcement "President Biden Honors More Than 300 Americans with Nation’s Highest Award for Science and Mathematics Teachers and Mentors" with Beronda Montgomery highlighted

So this was announced today: "President Biden Honors More Than 300 Americans with Nation’s Highest Award for Science and Mathematics Teachers and Mentors"

www.whitehouse.gov/ostp/news-up...

Happy #NationalMenteringMonth2025
#NationalMenteringMonth

Among nearly 35,000 biological scientists who authored their first paper in 2000, women were more likely than men to have stopped publishing after 5, 10 or 20 years. The size of this gender gap varies between disciplines.

Disappointing new study showing - once again - that women are leaving research careers at far higher levels than men

If you're interested to read about strategies to reverse these types of curves, check out our recent #Cell perspective- link below ⤵️

#WomeninSTEM 👩‍🔬👩🏾‍🔬🧪

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

World’s first fully 3D-printed microscope made in under 3 hours The microscope cost less than £50 to build using an open-source design and a common 3D printer

Our fully 3D-printed microscope is featured in @newscientist.bsky.social www.newscientist.com/article/2462...

Development of avian influenza A(H5) virus datasets for Nextclade enables rapid and accurate clade assignment The ongoing panzootic of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) A(H5) viruses is the largest in history, with unprecedented transmission to multiple mammalian species. Avian influenza A viruses of t...

Our lab's 2nd preprint is now on bioRxiv! Led by Jordan Ort, we made H5 datasets that enable rapid clade assignment with Nextclade. We released these builds in the spring (due to cow flu) & finally wrote the paper! TLDR: it's fast, easy, accurate, and we hope, useful www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Polymerase mutations underlie adaptation of H5N1 influenza virus to dairy cattle and other mammals. In early 2024, an unprecedented outbreak of H5N1 high pathogenicity avian influenza was detected in dairy cattle in the USA. The epidemic remains uncontrolled, with spillbacks into poultry, wild birds...

Really proud to share our preprint describing early adaptation of H5N1 to US dairy cattle, and showing how these mutations enhance the ability of the virus to infect other mammals, such as pigs and humans.

With @influenzal.bsky.social @vidhid.bsky.social @drclairesmith.bsky.social and many more!

ModiDeC: a multi-RNA modification classifier for direct nanopore sequencing RNA modifications play a crucial role in various cellular functions. Here, we present ModiDeC, a deep-learning-based classifier able to identify and distinguish multiple RNA modifications (N6-methylad...

ModiDeC: a multi-RNA modification classifier for direct nanopore sequencing www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

www.albany.edu/rna/reu-in-rna

Alphavirus infection triggers selective cytoplasmic translocation of nuclear RBPs with moonlighting antiviral roles Kamel et al. apply complementary approaches to elucidate the composition of Sindbis virus ribonucleoproteins. They identified a subset of nuclear proteins that selectively translocate to the cytoplasm, interact with viral RNA, and suppress virus infection. Among them, U2 snRNP emerges as a ribonucleoprotein complex with moonlighting antiviral activity.

Super happy to have this as my first post"It is finally OUT!! After a pandemic, lab moving across the country!, 1+year under review and >120 panels later. 🧵"
www.cell.com/molecular-ce...

Postdoctoral Research Associate at King's College London Discover an exciting academic career path as a Postdoctoral Research Associate at jobs.ac.uk. Don't miss out on this job opportunity - apply today!

I am looking for 2 postdoctoral researchers to join my lab to work on the role of HIV-1 accessory proteins in the pathogenesis of HIV/AIDS and viral latency.

Please contact me informally or ‘re-sky’ to anyone you think may be interested. Closing Dec 10th

www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DKV639/p...

Open position: young group leader in the infection area preferably in virology for the Nordic EMBL node MIMS (Laboratory for Molecular Infection Sweden) in Umea, Sweden
See also www.umu.se/en/mims/ or the QR code provided below

Open-rank tenure track positions in computational biology! Come work with a gaggle of great colleagues in the CMSE department at Michigan State! #msu #cmse #compbio #bioinformatics #genomics #BioSky

careers.msu.edu/cw/en-us/job...

The Antiviral Immunity team at Burnet consists of 5 female scientists who are in the photo.

A whole new world over here @bluesky! I am based at the Burnet Institute and my team study the impact of viral infections on health, immune responses to infections and vaccines in variety of vulnerable populations. #WomenInSTEM

Join us! Collaborative project between 3 labs at
Institut Pasteur on tick-borne flaviviruses
research.pasteur.fr/en/job/post-...

Excellent virtual seminar series!

We have an open faculty search for TWO positions in microbiology and virology at the University of Illinois! We have world class core facilities and a fantastic collaborative group of young faculty...you could be next!
Please re-post/skeet!

Are you attending #ASV2024 next week? Please join us and show your support for Black virologists at the DEI workshop during Monday's welcome reception! See you there!

@amersocvirology.bsky.social @blackinmicro.bsky.social

Berlin Science Week

Morgen Mittwoch beginnt die Berlin Science Week! Auch das @mdc-berlin.bsky.social ist dabei, u.a. zeigen wir Virus-Abwasseranalysen und Herpes in Mini-Hirnen: www.mdc-berlin.de/de/science-w...

Ganzes Programm: berlinscienceweek.com/programme/

I don't see enough Black voices on this platform -- maybe I haven't found them yet? Let's try something together, if y'all feel like it:

- If you're a Black scientist on Bluesky, feel free to respond here and I'll follow you

- If you're not, please share the responses (and/or this post) to amplify