Gytis Dudas

Controversial Danish vaccine research group faces new allegations Researchers say they couldn’t find complete data for 10 trials that together enrolled tens of thousands of children in Guinea-Bissau

Have I ever mentioned how surreal it is to be an Editor-in-Chief of a journal called Vaccine right now?

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

It’s pretty wild, at least by typical academic journal editorial office standards.

A woman by a flipchart during a course. Text highlighting the EMBO Lab Leadership for #Postdocs course on 10 - 12 March 2026 in Leimen, Germany still has places available

Take time to focus on your interpersonal skills, discover tools to support your development and tune up your interpersonal and communication skills at the @embo.org Lab Leadership course for #Postdocs: 10 - 12 March 2026. Places still available: www.embolableadership.org/course/embol... #EMBOLabLead

University of Helsinki to recruit top international researchers with €10 million in funding from the Research Council of Finland | University of Helsinki The University is strengthening its research in environmental policy, international law, sustainable fisheries and aquaculture, and zoonotic virology through new international recruitments.

The University of Helsinki is strengthening its research in environmental policy, international law, sustainable fisheries and aquaculture, and zoonotic virology through new international recruitments.
www.helsinki.fi/en/news/univ...

📢Join us for the next ECR #Viromics Webinar
"How viral evolution is shaped during long-term infections of immune-compromised hosts"
‍🎙️Jonas Fuchs, University Hospital Freiburg, Germany
🗓️11 Feb 2026, 4 PM CET
📍Online/Zoom (register for login details)
👉 evbc.uni-jena.de/events/ecr-v...

Our paper on the mysterious Devonian organism Prototaxites has now finally been published! See the paper here (www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...) and our explainer thread below!
Prototaxites reconstruction by Matt Humpage

Really excited our paper about how H5N1 rapidly adapted to cattle (and how these adaptations also increased its ability to infect cells from the human respiratory tract) is now published! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Our paper on the Genomic Epidemiology of DENV2/3 in Colombia and the Americas is finally out @cp-cellreports.bsky.social, check it out: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Big thanks to my collaborators @lambod50.bsky.social, @viralverity.bsky.social, @nathangrubaugh.bsky.social, and many others!

Global solidarity in genomic surveillance improves early detection of acute respiratory virus threats. "Importantly, these benefits cannot be attained by siloed expansion in countries that already possess strong capacity." Well done to the team! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

The Story behind the Science: Preprints of pandemic potential—how bioRxiv and medRxiv brought preprints to the life sciences | mBio When we launched medRxiv in mid-2019, we never could have anticipated that just a few months later, New York would be at the epicenter of a rapidly escalating global pandemic, and we would be handling...

Terrific origin story, history, and future of bioRxiv and medRxiv by @richardsever.bsky.social in @mbio.bsky.social

journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

Controversial US study on hepatitis B vaccines in Africa is cancelled $1.6m project drew outrage over ethical questions about withholding vaccines proven to prevent disease

✨Africa CDC shuts down RFK's attempt to conduct a Tuskegee-like vaccine trial on children in Guinea-Bissau.

The study exploited “the scarcity of a proven beneficial vaccine in a context where that vaccine is needed,” said Boghuma Titanji.

@melodyschreiber.com www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

It's the best I could find, unfortunately 😅 Will you join?

Remember? RNA virus journal club is already this Thursday! 🤩
Join us and join our (RdRp summit) slack (link in the comment):

calendar.app.google/K2fwcsL78K1E...

RNA Virus Journal ClubJoin Zoom Meeting us02web.zoom.us/j/8109697228...
Meeting ID: 810 9697 2281
Passcode: 174610

Come join my group as a postdoc on a fun wildepi.ca project looking at the evolution of endemic alpha- and betacoronaviruses in Canadian wildlife. Computational work will inform concurrent experimental work in the @banerjeelab.ca and @smubareka.bsky.social groups!

bioinformatics.ca/jobs/postdoc...

Welcome! You are invited to join a meeting: Genomic Surveillance & Pathogen Data Sharing: A New Era for Scientific Diplomacy. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the... Welcome! You are invited to join a meeting: Genomic Surveillance & Pathogen Data Sharing: A New Era for Scientific Diplomacy. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the...

Very much looking forward to my fireside chat with @syramadad.bsky.social next Thursday at 1pm PST at the Belfer Center @harvardkennedy.bsky.social on "Genomic Surveillance & Pathogen Data Sharing: A New Era for Scientific Diplomacy".

Virtual, so come join us!

harvard.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

Check out our new print that combines dense sequencing and phylodynamics to uncover a bunch of 😎 things about an understudied virus.

- Doesn't evolve for 10 months a year ✅
- Uses some mossies for maintenance, others for spread ✅
- Established in Northeast for ~300 years ✅

Evolutionary history of Jamestown Canyon virus disentangles complex multi-vector ecology Jamestown Canyon virus (JCV) is a re-emerging mosquito-borne virus of increasing concern in North America. It has been historically understudied, leading to significant gaps in our understanding of it...

🦟📄 New preprint! Our first large-scale phylodynamic study of Jamestown Canyon virus (JCV) reveals how mosquito ecology shapes the evolution, persistence, and spread of this understudied arbovirus in North America.

Read it here! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Unravelling the epidemiological and dispersal dynamics of the 2024-2025 chikungunya virus outbreak on Reunion island Reunion island just experienced a massive chikungunya virus outbreak in 2024-2025, with more than 54,000 confirmed cases. This is the second major chikungunya outbreak on the island, following the fir...

I am very glad to share the preprint for our latest study on the 2024-2025 chikungunya virus outbreak on Réunion island, with primary data produced thanks to the massive efforts performed by Marie-C Jaffar and Etienne Frumence and analyses led by Simon Dellicour. www.medrxiv.org/content/10.6...

A new path to spillover: MHC-II entry of influenza A viruses Spillover of influenza A viruses from animals to humans represents a threat to our health. This Perspective discusses emerging research that suggests some influenza A viruses can enter host cells via ...

'But what if IAVs could use a different receptor? Our previous work revealed that the IAV subtypes H17N10 and H18N11, which have so far been detected exclusively in bats, use MHC-II molecules as entry receptors instead of the conventional sialic acid receptors'

We've a computational PhD project available AI-DRIVEN DISCOVERY OF VIRUS–HOST MOLECULAR INTERACTIONS www.gla.ac.uk/colleges/mvl... as part of the University of Glasgow's MVLS Futures Themes PhD Programme. Deadline for applications is this Monday, 12th Jan 2026. Please apply!

I wrote about this claim forever ago when he made it on Joe Rogan's show:

The ruling coalition of social democrats & antisemitic/pro-kremlin party want this done so fast they approved the opposition's fillibuster addendum that LRT's director can only be fired before their term runs out if one particular **cat** issues a motion of no confidence. We need attention on this.

This isn't in international media yet but Lithuania is in crisis. The ruling coalition is trying to seize control of our public broadcaster LRT using expedited parliamentary procedures. European & Venice Commissions are aware & we've been protesting for the last two weeks. Things are looking grim.

Donate to Help Augustine Goba battle Progressive Supranuclear Palsy, organized by Michelle McGraw Mr. Augustine Goba is the Emeritus Director of the Kenema Gov… Michelle McGraw needs your support for Help Augustine Goba battle Progressive Supranuclear Palsy

I rarely ask for things, but I will make an exception for my colleague and friend, Augustine Goba, who dedicated his life to saving others.

Augustine was Director of the hemorrhagic fever lab in Kenema, Salone, and is struggling with PSP.

Please consider donating.

www.gofundme.com/f/augustine-...

The genetic architecture of HIV-1 virulence Abstract. The virulence of HIV-1 is partly determined by viral genetic variation. Finding individual genetic variants affecting virulence is important for

François Blanquart et al. dive into the genetic basis of HIV virulence with very cool statistical methods. They show that viral load is shaped by host-dependent HLA escape variants with large effects, alongside many additional variants whose effects are too subtle to reach genome-wide significance.

Excellent news:

Amazing example of influenza cheat/cooperator cycles in this recent paper - the repeatability of the oscillatory cycles is so striking

Congrats to @alnajifg.bsky.social , @christopherbrooke.bsky.social , @vignuzzilab.bsky.social & friends

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

🧪 #socialviruses

Bats and Viruses: Rumour, Intrigue, Deception, and Spectacle Bats as Hyperreal Reservoirs of Viral Disease

"The hyperreal bat: more vivid, more coherent, and more narratively satisfying than any bat in nature."

Why does the idea of bats as special viral reservoirs endure?

New Substack post:

robertjgifford.substack.com/p/bats-and-v...

All A-to-Gs, could easily be an ADAR hit to the (+) genome.

Original Article | Nov. 20, 2025 Efficacy, Immunogenicity, and Safety of Modified mRNA Influenza Vaccine Figure 1A. Laboratory-Confirmed Cases of Influenza The NEJM identity sits at the bottom.

Influenza remains an important cause of illness and death. In a phase 3 trial, a nucleoside-modified mRNA (modRNA) quadrivalent vaccine was found to be superior to a standard quadrivalent vaccine in preventing influenza illness. Full trial results: nej.md/43udoTG

#MedSky #IDSky

RFK Jr.’s Miasma Theory of Health Is Spreading The NIH is picking up Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s argument that a healthy immune system can keep even pandemic germs at bay.

It doesn’t matter how much you exercise or how many veggies you eat when it comes to a pandemic.

These things will not stop it, and the shitbirds that Trump has installed in leading public health positions should be fired for even suggesting it would.