Max Renner

Demographic and genetic factors shape the epitope specificity of the human antibody repertoire against viruses - Nature Immunology Patin and colleagues present a mineable Resource database for identifying demographic and genetic factors that impact antiviral antibody repertoires in humans.

Happy to share our last study on how age, biological sex and genetics affect not only the extent of antibody responses against viruses but also the specific viral epitopes recognised. Thanks to Axel Olin @EtiennePatin @LabExMI @institutpasteur @cdf1530 @CNRS

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

This is SO good!!!

Image of a herpesvirus structure

I am excited to share our latest preprint - An evolutionarily divergent herpesvirus with a giant tail. Featuring symmetry breaking and genome annotation from structure using ModelAngelo. doi.org/10.64898/202...

Work by spearheaded by Mattia Bertinelli, @rupeshjayachandran.bsky.social, @jackwh18.bsky.social

Mosquitoes like Aedes aegypti spread viruses that cause major global diseases. We decided to have a closer look at a family of mosquito carbohydrate-binding proteins involved in infecting these vector species. We found some unexpected things 😁

Preprint out now 🦟🦟🦟

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

Caps lock button on an Apple keyboard, activated by a cat stepping on it

A cats lock key that lets you quickly disable the keyboard when a cat approaches it would be a lot more useful than the antiquated caps lock

Moderna mRNA flu vaccine ❌

Ivermectin as a potential cancer treatment ✅
Keto diet as a "cure" for schizophrenia ✅
Childhood immunization schedule dismantled ✅

Make America Healthy Again or not

xckd 1217

Any researcher who didn’t particularly care for the smell of a email yesterday asking them to evaluate scientific papers for the purpose of creating a ‘novelty indicator’ will find it a rewarding read.

Trapozoid cryo-FIB milling allows to prepare a lamella for dual-axis cryo-ET and assessment of different deep-learning missing-wedge restoration algorithms. rdcu.be/e2nXE

Endogenous retroviruses synthesize heterologous chimeric RNAs to reinforce human early embryo development Zygotic genome activation (ZGA) failure leads to developmental arrest and poses a clinical challenge to women’s fertility. We observed that human embryos arresting at the eight-cell ZGA stage exhibite...

Endogenous retroviruses synthesize heterologous chimeric RNAs to reinforce human early embryo development
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

What is very sad to me is that some people cannot tell how terribly this is "written".

We carried out a mechanistic study on how the PCBP1 protein destabilizes i-motifs. Understanding these interactions helps clarify fundamental mechanisms that control genome function.
Grateful for the long-term support we have received! @kawresearch.bsky.social @mbb-umu.bsky.social
rdcu.be/e2pIv

My quote of the day

Nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of mankind.

Albert Einstein

Am I the only one increasingly annoyed by cryo-EM papers not showing *any* experimental density in figures? Sometimes not even in the supplementary material??

How malicious AI swarms can threaten democracy The fusion of agentic AI and LLMs marks a new frontier in information warfare

The fusion of agentic AI and LLMs marks a new frontier in information warfare that threatens democracy

"Absent guardrails, LLM-driven swarms can transform sporadic mis- and disinformation into persistent, adaptive manipulation of democratic discourse"

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Exclusive: ‘Pink coat lady’ who recorded fatal encounter between federal officers and Alex Pretti speaks to Anderson Cooper | CNN Anderson speaks with Stella Carlson, the witness who captured crucial video showing exactly what happened when Alex Pretti was shot and killed by DHS officers.

This horrific, and it contains the graphic original video. But if you can stomach it, you should watch it.
edition.cnn.com/2026/01/27/u...

Check out our new preprint! We uncover the full molecular mechanism of rotavirus membrane penetration and cytosolic escape using cryo-ET, live-cell imaging, and single-molecule assays. (1/3)

🔗 biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Decoding influenza virus: From polymerase mechanisms to translational therapeutics
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Thailand Begins Airport Screening as Nipah Virus Outbreak Spreads in India Thailand’s Ministry of Public Health has begun screening air passengers arriving from India for signs of Nipah virus infection, following reports of a cluster of cases in India’s eastern state...

🦠 Nipah outbreak

Nipah virus outbreaks have high fatality rates, in the 40-70% range. The latest outbreak is in eastern India. Five cases are reported, and 100 people are under quarantine.

Several Asian countries are reported to be stepping up alertness.

1/2

Minneapolis live: Man shot dead by federal agents in Minneapolis named as US citizen Alex Pretti The shooting follows days of protests in the city over the Trump administration's immigration enforcement operation.

"Today, lawless and masked thugs masquerading as law enforcement officers brutally killed another American citizen on the streets of Minneapolis without justification”

A reminder to the news media: “conflicting accounts” is what you say BEFORE the incontrovertible video evidence appears. After that, your job is to ask why one side is lying, not to repeat the lie and pretend no one knows the truth.

Our paper is finally out!
I’m proud to share this collaborative work using FIB milling and cryo-electron tomography to study tick-borne flavivirus replication. Thanks to all co-authors and collaborators — great teamwork #CryoET #ElectronTomography #Virology #Flavivirus #Microscopy #StructuralBiology

Defund ICE or shut the government down. This is the moderate position.

Cryo-EM structure reveals how influenza A virus NEP binds the viral polymerase at a regulatory hotspot, coordinating RNA synthesis and nuclear export. Fantastic collaboration with @loiccarrique.bsky.social and Jon Grimes. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Regulatory hotspot on the influenza A virus polymerase revealed through the structure of the NEP-polymerase complex Structural studies reveal how influenza virus switches between making new RNA genomes and exporting them from the host nucleus.

Beautiful work from @efodor.bsky.social and Jonathan Grimes' labs - the first full structure of the influenza A virus NEP protein, and a clear indication that its role in viral replication is more nuanced that first thought
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Cryo-electron tomography reveals coupled flavivirus replication, budding and maturation - Nature Communications In this study, Dahmane et al use a method called cryo-electron tomography to uncover new details of how tick-borne flaviviruses transform cells into virus factories.

I am super happy to share this paper in its final form. We used FIB milling to "dig in to" cell lines and mouse brains infected with tick-borne flaviviruses, followed by cryo-ET to study the virus replication. It's open access, so have a look!
#virology #teamtomo
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Lonsdale's notebooks, showing incredibly neat and consistent handwriting

Lonsdale's notebooks, showing incredibly neat and consistent handwriting

We couldn't let World Handwriting Day go by without sharing Kathleen Lonsdale's penmanship ✍️

Lonsdale conducted pioneering research in X-ray crystallography and worked at the Ri. In 1929, she proved that the structure of benzene was flat—the chemical was also discovered here, by Michael Faraday.

When two years of academic work vanished with a single click After turning off ChatGPT’s ‘data consent’ option, Marcel Bucher lost the work behind grant applications, teaching materials and publication drafts. Here’s what happened next.

Everyone bring out your microest violins 🎻

As a suggestion, you know what tool doesn't have a "consent data sharing" button? Your BRAIN 🙄🙄

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

Spotlight on the Shingles Vaccine—Again! Two new studies add to a remarkable body of evidence for benefit

Excellent overview of the (mind-blowing) effects of the Shingles vaccine against dementia by @erictopol.bsky.social Ground Truth 🧪 "Two new studies add to a remarkable body of evidence for benefit" ⬇️

open.substack.com/pub/erictopo...