Sam J Wilson

This is a huge loss for UK virology, and for the whole scientific community

It is a great sadness to hear of Robin’s passing.

He was one of the finest virologists of all time and contributed immeasurably to the field of HIV/retrovirology.

He was a key mentor for a vast number of leading virologists and cancer researchers. And great fun!

So many of us owe him our careers

Sad news. My thoughts are with his family. You're so right. Robin was a UK virology legend who helped and influenced so many scientists (myself included).

With Eugene Koonin, we propose a concept of “the selfish ribosome”, under which evolution of life is viewed as a ribosomal takeover, where the ribosome evolved to consume most of the cell’s resources, while other cellular componentry ensures the propagation of the ribosome. arxiv.org/abs/2602.23268

IMAV: International meeting on arboviruses and their vectors

Registration and abstract submission for the international Meeting on Arboviruses and their Vectors (a UK Microbiology Society event), Liverpool 1-2 September 2026, are now open!

Link:

microbiologysociety.org/event/full-e...

Two great 4y positions up for grabs with us and Ross working on his BBSRC MosquitoNI project, with collaborators in GB. Deadlines in a week (research fellow) and 2 weeks (RA). Lots of vector ecology and modelling but also looking at what viruses can we find in our 🦟!

Vacature: Postdoc Researcher in Molecular Virology of Herpesviruses Herpesviruses are an important cause of severe diseases. Once infected, the virus establishes a lifelong latent infection, which allows it to reactivate later in life. Our team aims to elucidate the v...

We are looking for a postdoc to join our team! Interested in herpesvirus latency? Apply here:

www.werkenbijerasmusmc.nl/en/vacancy/1...

☹️ no pictures ☹️

Very cool work. So often it's hard to see the infection events that don't work out (for the virus).

Live-cell single-vRNP imaging identifies viral gene expression signatures that shape influenza infection heterogeneity In this study, an imaging technology, “VISUN,” is developed that allows live-cell visualization of unmodified influenza virus during infection with single-vRNP resolution. Combining VISUN with multipl...

Out now in Cell Systems: We develop a technique to visualize influenza A virus in live cells with single viral RNA resolution. Combined with precise readouts of viral transcription, we map the whole influenza A viral life cycle and identify key bottlenecks in infection.

www.cell.com/cell-systems...

You pop in for a meal deal and leave immunised......

Such a good example of cross-species transmission. Very cool story (apart from the poor mangabeys).

🤔

Flexibility and modulation of translation initiation in enterovirus genomes Author summary Enteroviruses cause over a billion infections annually, leading to serious conditions such as hand, foot, and mouth disease and viral meningitis. While these viruses are known to encode...

🚨 New paper from the lab! 🚀 We explore flexibility and modulation of IRES-dependent translation in enterovirus genomes through upstream ORFs. Many thanks to all co-authors from the @campathology.bsky.social, CIMR and Cambridge Stem Cell Institute!
dx.plos.org/10.1371/jour...

I feel the same way and don't use the box.

I thought it was because medieval folk could "share-eth betwixt each other"

In a new article with Kevin Groen, we review the most recent scientific developments relating to autoantibodies targeting type I interferons and their impacts on severe viral disease:
doi.org/10.1016/j.co...

I am looking for a PhD student to join my new Socio-Eco-Evo group, hosted in Katie Peichel's Evolutionary Ecology Division @ University of Bern. We're offering a fully funded 4-year position, studying social plasticity and behavioral adaptation among stickleback in Greenland. Please share around!

Research Fellow at University of Birmingham Discover Research Fellow jobs and more in higher education on jobs.ac.uk. Apply for further details on the top job board.

Only 2 more days to apply for this post as Research Fellow in the Health Protection Research Unit - Public Health Genomics at the University of Birmingham.

Come and join us to exciting, cutting-edge genomics and metagenomics work to deliver public health benefits

www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DQE112/r...

Antibody escape drives emergence of diverse spike haplotypes resembling variants of concern in persistent SARS-CoV-2 infections Snell et al. develop sequencing methodology to identify full-length spike haplotypes and show that persistent SARS-CoV-2 infections drive divergent haplotype emergence, accelerating viral evolution an...

This is finally out.

Very short take home. All the variation in spike that produced the immune escape characteristics of Omicron can occur in one single persistently infected individual over the period of a year.

This is why persistent infections matter

www.cell.com/cell-reports...

Research Group Leader Do you want to lead groundbreaking research in computational biology? Join us at EMBL-EBI! EMBL's European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI) is seeking talented and highly-motivated scientists to jo...

We are hiring for group leaders again — EBI is a great place to start your research group!

embl.wd103.myworkdayjobs.com/EMBL/job/Hin...

Great evidence for the importance of public health measures.

Update bsky.app/profile/resp...

Uppsala in late autumn

Join us at the Evolutionary Biology Centre at Uppsala University. We’re searching for an Assistant Professor in Biology. www.uu.se/en/about-uu/...

Another cool example of how retroviral elements have influenced the evolution of the brain..in this case resulting in a chimp specific change in gene expression in the brain. Nice story and summary by Siddhant!

Check out these tools to detect co-evolution in protein-protein interactions developed by postdoc @chrislbgraham.bsky.social

Very useful as a hypothesis generator, complementing protein interaction prediction from Alphafold.

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Pretty interesting. Thanks for sharing this.

Nice piece. Many people could tell a similar tale that doesn't end in a top tier paper. The pressure drives a lot of scientists away from science (likely selecting for resilience over brilliance over time).

We have a fantastic opportunity for a PhD studentship in collaboration with @jesuscollegecam.bsky.social and Cambridge Children’s Research Institute, part of the new Cambridge Children’s Hospital. Closing date 20th Feb; all the details here: www.cimr.cam.ac.uk/postgraduate...

UK loses measles elimination status Decision made after outbreaks in 2024, when there were nearly 3,000 cases in England and Wales.

Such strange times.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...