Walther Mothes's Avatar

Walther Mothes

@wmothes.bsky.social

Virologist, Yale University https://medicine.yale.edu/lab/mothes/ Opinions are my own.

324 Followers  |  428 Following  |  27 Posts  |  Joined: 14.11.2024  |  2.2011

Latest posts by wmothes.bsky.social on Bluesky

this seems specifically designed to break mail-in voting (where deadlines are defined by postmark)

29.12.2025 21:51 β€” πŸ‘ 6273    πŸ” 2771    πŸ’¬ 180    πŸ“Œ 153
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Republicans just blocked an amendment to require the release of the Epstein files.

Wonder why.

24.07.2025 21:35 β€” πŸ‘ 1959    πŸ” 738    πŸ’¬ 194    πŸ“Œ 46
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Tour of the Architecture of Minoru Yamasaki at Wayne State University All About Architect Minoru Yamasaki The Seattle born and educated Yamasaki moved to Detroit in 1945. By 1949, the young architect had started his own architectural practice in the city. Among other no...

www.trystcraft.com/single-post/...

17.07.2025 04:54 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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first time at Wayne State University in Detroit, great meeting, learning a lot about SNAREs, and takes place at an amazing place, building by Minoru Yamasaki

17.07.2025 04:53 β€” πŸ‘ 17    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0
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Thanks! Thanks to Shan-Lu Liu for featuring this! We like to get back into.

16.07.2025 21:37 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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There is currently an NWS flash flood warning in effect for all five boroughs of NYC.

But no City agency has posted it on this platform.

Please help spread the word.

β€œIf you live in a basement apartment or low-lying area, be ready to move to higher ground.”

14.07.2025 23:33 β€” πŸ‘ 6609    πŸ” 4877    πŸ’¬ 118    πŸ“Œ 235
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The 1 train on the NYC subway tonight

15.07.2025 02:30 β€” πŸ‘ 2483    πŸ” 835    πŸ’¬ 211    πŸ“Œ 321
Laura Loomerβ€˜s tweet: Alligator lives matter. The good news is, alligators are guaranteed at least 65 million meals if we get started now.

Laura Loomerβ€˜s tweet: Alligator lives matter. The good news is, alligators are guaranteed at least 65 million meals if we get started now.

The entire Latino population in the U.S. is 65 million. She means all of us.

02.07.2025 17:49 β€” πŸ‘ 38786    πŸ” 13932    πŸ’¬ 3338    πŸ“Œ 2709

strokes can change the personality

01.07.2025 16:52 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Always β€˜one atom away’: The long, rocky journey to an HIV prevention breakthrough Developing lenacapavir, the drug newly approved to protect against HIV for six months in one shot, took basic science, sophisticated chemistry, and perseverance

To many, it is the next best thing to an HIV vaccine. The FDA approved a new way to prevent HIV infection: the antiretroviral drug lenacapavir, which provides almost complete protection for 6 months with a single injection in the abdomen.
www.science.org/content/arti...

23.06.2025 02:56 β€” πŸ‘ 43    πŸ” 23    πŸ’¬ 3    πŸ“Œ 1
Q&A with Michael Grunst PhD ’25 Grunst received the university's John Addison Porter Prize for his dissertation on viral Spike proteins.

Congratulations Michael Grunst for receiving the John Addison Porter Prize, considered to be one of Yale University’s most prestigious awards. I am proud of what you accomplished! Wish you all the best for your next steps! gsas.yale.edu/qa-michael-g...

10.06.2025 02:55 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Department of Defense Security for the Protection of Department of Homeland Security Functions MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β  THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

(🚨) MAJOR BREAKING NEWS: TRUMP DECLARES L.A. RESIDENTS TO BE IN β€œREBELLION AGAINST THE AUTHORITY OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES”

This declaration may well be a prelude to martial law. He’s illegally federalized the Guard in California and this looks very like the pretext he was waiting for.

08.06.2025 03:15 β€” πŸ‘ 2183    πŸ” 1080    πŸ’¬ 206    πŸ“Œ 193
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Hundreds of rural hospitals are at risk of closing, threatening critical care Hospital officials told CBS News the closure was driven by the same factors that have closed other rural hospitals: low reimbursement rates.

We should be investing in rural communities and making them better places to build a life & raise a family - not shutting down rural hospitals by choking off their funding.

Saving rural hospitals is one more reason to call your Representative and speak out against this GOP attempt to cut Medicaid.

21.05.2025 17:16 β€” πŸ‘ 20612    πŸ” 5993    πŸ’¬ 718    πŸ“Œ 292

When RFK Jr says that β€œonly really sick kids should die from measles” if unvaccinated, this is eugenics. Not only is that completely untrue since we had eradicated the virus thanks to the vaccine, but he’s saying that sick and high risk kids are expendable. This is eugenics, plain and simple.

12.05.2025 18:45 β€” πŸ‘ 2260    πŸ” 696    πŸ’¬ 45    πŸ“Œ 26

the moment you use BPL, you aggregate Spike and trigger post fusion conformation, which is not what you want

02.05.2025 17:57 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

This is the first β€œvetted” announcement and it speaks of incompetence and corruption

02.05.2025 15:04 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

bad idea to make vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 and RSV with BPL. Post fusion is the wrong conformational state. Then you get non-neutralizing antibodies too that have more side effects, can enhance infection. Maybe flu is better

02.05.2025 14:58 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Beta-propiolactone (BPL) inactivated virus is no "gold-standard" vaccine. BPL inactivated SARS-CoV-2 causes aggregation and its Spike protein is largely in the post fusion. This will not give you a good vaccine. It is scary how incompetent this is

02.05.2025 05:20 β€” πŸ‘ 8    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0
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Inactivation of SARS-CoV-2 by Ξ²-propiolactone causes aggregation of viral particles and loss of antigenic potential Inactivated viral preparations are important resources in vaccine and antisera industry. Of the many vaccines that are being developed against COVID-19, inactivated whole-virus vaccines are also consi...

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...

02.05.2025 03:44 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Nanometer-resolution in situ structure of the SARS-CoV-2 postfusion spike protein | PNAS The spike protein of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) mediates membrane fusion to allow entry of the viral genome into ...

www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

02.05.2025 03:41 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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HHS, NIH launch next-generation universal vaccine platform for pandemic-prone viruses These vaccines aim to provide broad-spectrum protection against multiple strains of multiple viruses.

Beta-propiolactone (BPL) inactivated virus is no "gold-standard" vaccine. BPL inactivated SARS-CoV-2 causes aggregation and its Spike protein is largely in the post fusion. This will not give you a good vaccine. www.nih.gov/news-events/...

02.05.2025 03:40 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0

"... American institutions of higher learning have in common the essential freedom to determine, on academic grounds, whom to admit and what is taught, how, and by whom." 2/2

22.04.2025 14:53 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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A Call for Constructive Engagement | AAC&U A Call for Constructive Engagement

"... we must oppose undue government intrusion in the lives of those who learn, live, and work on our campuses. We will always seek effective and fair financial practices, but we must reject the coercive use of public research funding.” www.aacu.org/newsroom/a-c... 1/2

22.04.2025 14:52 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Spring in CT

20.04.2025 01:03 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
A beeswarm chart of canceled NIH grants showing the years into each project when the funding was pulled. Each dot represents a terminated grant and is colored by the number of publications associated with the project: none, one to four or five or more. The grants are separated into thee rows based on the award type (R01, U01, U54). RO1 research projects had the most terminations, which occurred at all stages of research, from the project onset to 7+ years in. Most grants were canceled short of the 4-5 year lifespan of a typical grant, and 40% of R01s had no publications at the time of termination. Projects that had been active for longer had more publications, suggesting that more findings are disseminated in the later stages of these grants.

A beeswarm chart of canceled NIH grants showing the years into each project when the funding was pulled. Each dot represents a terminated grant and is colored by the number of publications associated with the project: none, one to four or five or more. The grants are separated into thee rows based on the award type (R01, U01, U54). RO1 research projects had the most terminations, which occurred at all stages of research, from the project onset to 7+ years in. Most grants were canceled short of the 4-5 year lifespan of a typical grant, and 40% of R01s had no publications at the time of termination. Projects that had been active for longer had more publications, suggesting that more findings are disseminated in the later stages of these grants.

In terminating hundreds of NIH grants, the Trump administration dumped years of investment down the drain. In my latest @opinion.bloomberg.com column, we analyzed the cancelled projects & talked to scientists to understand just how much the public loses out. It's a lot: tinyurl.com/bdey86su

17.04.2025 15:19 β€” πŸ‘ 372    πŸ” 235    πŸ’¬ 7    πŸ“Œ 12
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Yale faculty urge administrators to defend academic freedom Around 900 faculty signed a letter to President Maurie McInnis and Provost Scott Strobel calling for β€œcourageous leadership” in the face of attacks on higher education.

900 of us signed this letter to the leadership at Yale. yaledailynews.com/blog/2025/04...

15.04.2025 11:40 β€” πŸ‘ 288    πŸ” 58    πŸ’¬ 4    πŸ“Œ 5
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Trump administration’s attack on university research accelerates With billions in grants put on hold, targeted universities will see research crippled.

Columbia University capitulated to Trump to get $400M in science funding released.

What happened? Not only has the funding NOT been released, but all NIH funding ($700M last year) has been frozen.

Giving in to bullies just makes them take more.

arstechnica.com/science/2025...

10.04.2025 21:33 β€” πŸ‘ 1429    πŸ” 485    πŸ’¬ 64    πŸ“Œ 33
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We are witnessing the destruction of science in America | Paul Darren Bieniasz If we stay on this administration’s course, future life-saving medicines may never be invented

Thanks to Paul Bieansz for speaking up! www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

09.04.2025 20:49 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Given the low average vaccination rates in a number of states, and the existence of numerous pockets of very low rates, it's pretty much a given that this outbreak get quite a bit bigger.

08.04.2025 02:00 β€” πŸ‘ 86    πŸ” 30    πŸ’¬ 6    πŸ“Œ 2
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Our work on HIV-1 matrix, led by James Stacey and @dhrebik.bsky.social, is in this week's @nature.com. Extended explanatory video from @margotriggi.bsky.social.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

04.04.2025 13:03 β€” πŸ‘ 64    πŸ” 19    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 2

@wmothes is following 19 prominent accounts