Cheri Sirois

Graphic from The Sick Times sharing the latest COVID-19 trends for February 3, 2026. The graphic presents trends for three metrics: WastewaterSCAN category for SARS-CoV-2, which is "high" (represented with an orange color) and reports a slight decrease (represented with a diagonal down arrow); CDC wastewater viral activity level for SARS-Cov-2, which is "moderate*" (orange) and reports a slight decrease; and CDC COVID-19 test positivity, which is moderate (darker yellow) and stable (side to side arrow). Text below these metrics reads: "*CDC wastewater viral activity levels are calculated based on measurements in the last two years only. They do not account for the lower spread that could be possible with more widespread precautions." The middle text reads, “COVID-19 levels are going up in parts of the South, West, and possibly the Midwest, while continuing to decline elsewhere. Trends suggest we may be in for a second round of this winter’s COVID-19 wave after the initial peak in early January. Flu levels increased this week, too, likely due to more influenza B spread. — Betsy Ladyzhets.”

Trends suggest we may be in for a second round of this winter’s COVID-19 wave after the initial peak in early January. Flu levels increased this week, too, likely due to more influenza B spread. Read this week's full COVID-19 trends report: bit.ly/4tgFVqY

I remain a tremendous fan of @cp-cell.bsky.social and @cp-cellreports.bsky.social, where I spent 7+ exciting years reading immunology, vaccine and infectious disease work, and lots of other things. Big thanks for all I learned there and pride for all we accomplished together. 🤓🫶

I’ve joined the editorial team at the journal Science, handling papers in infectious diseases, microbiology, host-microbe interactions, and related topics. I’ll be delighted to hear from you (by email) about exciting research studies. 🦠 #microsky #immunosky #virosky www.science.org/content/page...

#WeAreHiring!
New year, new career opportunities at #ECDC!

We are looking for:
➡️ Scientific Officer Food-, Water-borne & Zoonotic Diseases
➡️ Principal Expert Vector-borne & Zoonotic Diseases/ Group Leader Scientific Advice & Outbreak Response
➡️ Training Support Specialist
➡️ Data Scientist

CELL MIGRATION LAB We study cell migration in health and disease

🚨 We are hiring TWO postdocs to join the Cell Migration Lab (cellmig.org) 🇫🇮 as part of the new Centre of Excellence in Immune–Endothelial Interfaces (IMMENs).
Join us to decode immune regulation & develop next-gen imaging tools! 🧪🔬
Details in thread 🧵👇
#ScienceSky #Postdoc #AcademicJobs Please RT🫶

The science behind gender-affirming care has been endorsed by every major medical organization. This isn't about science or medicine. It's about the discomfort many non-trans people feel over the *existence* of trans people.

Traveling for the holidays? Stay well on your way by wearing a high-quality mask like an N95 in crowded indoor spaces like airports and planes. Also wash your hands frequently, cover your cough or sneeze, and avoid traveling if you’re sick.

📲 Learn more: go.cdph.ca.gov/respiratory-viruses

Activation-induced cytidine deaminase: The missing piece of many puzzles Twenty-five years ago, two Cell papers reported the key missing functional piece in three molecular puzzles. The genetic swapping of immunoglobulin constant regions, the mutational fine-tuning of anti...

In a @cp-cell.bsky.social Benchmarks article, Masamichi Muramatsu, Sidonia Fagarasan et al tell the story of the discovery of AID in the Honjo lab, solving the decades long mystery of the molecular effector of Ig class switch recombination and somatic hypermutation.
#Immunology

Activation-induced cytidine deaminase: The missing piece of many puzzles Twenty-five years ago, two Cell papers reported the key missing functional piece in three molecular puzzles. The genetic swapping of immunoglobulin co…

AID, happy 25th: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

I laughed out loud *a lot* while reading this

Baby raccoons just because

I'm excited to announce that I've accepted a comics co-editor position at @therumpus.net

We're looking for original literary fiction and non-fiction comics that feel personal. Bonus if it's hand-lettered (the path to my heart) 😘

No AI

Pays $100

therumpus.submittable.com/submit

Pass it on!

Media Training - SciLine You know the science, but conveying it effectively to a print, radio, or television journalist — and ultimately to that journalist’s audience — takes training and practice. SciLine’s team of scientist...

If you are a scientist and want media training to learn skills for effectively speaking with journalists, there are some opportunities for that next week:

www.sciline.org/services/med...

my five year old had RSV when he was six months old and when we brought him to the pediatrician they were like yeah go directly to the hospital we’re calling ahead

scariest few days of our lives

from the bottom of my heart: all these people can go to hell

Immunotherapy researcher Miriam Merad from Icahn Mount Sinai says the reason that cancer research has slowed is because of funding issues, which is something taxpayers don’t have to accept.

“We fight for patients, we fight for science, and we have to fight for progress.”
#STATSummit

Taxpayers should not accept cuts in funding for cancer research. Bravo 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾 @miriammerad.bsky.social

👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼Sign up to show New York State law makers that you want your tax dollars to fund life saving research www.nycures.org

😀😀😀😀😀

Just imagining how much better it would be if ALL news stories about vaccine-preventable illnesses were illustrated with pictures of people with the disease, not pictures of needle injections. If you must show something that people will find scary & unpleasant, make it the disease, not the cure.

Lab’s first paper is out!! We show the first structures of #Asgard #chromatin by #cryo-EM 🧬❄️
Asgard histones form closed and open hypernucleosomes. Closed are conserved across #Archaea, while open resemble eukaryotic H3–H4 octasomes and are Asgard-specific. More here: www.cell.com/molecular-ce...

Scientists: have you been the target of an online harassment campaign, doxxing, or weaponized FOIA requests? I'd like to talk to you about steps you had to take to protect your digital security for an upcoming Nature story. (You can be anonymous if necessary.)

RTs appreciated.

Congratulations! It’s wonderful to see your excellent work recognized so publicly

We're hiring for tenure-track faculty! Please apply if you have interests in immune responses to microbes and/or cancer, immune regulation, microbial infections (bacteria, viruses, parasites, fungi), the microbiota, and/or interests that span these disciplines.

arizona.csod.com/ux/ats/caree...

If you’re a voter in New York state, you have an opportunity to help ensure local institutions remain worldwide leaders in biomedical research. See below, and follow NY-CURES!

Both Mattie and Andie are so spot-on with this one! Loved this thought-provoking and entertaining masterpiece (even though I’m not usually a connoisseur of graphic novels). Beautiful hardcover is a fresh choice for holiday gifts…

In agreement with my friend @kkjetelina.bsky.social who writes today: "I suggest the general public avoid the CDC website."
yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com/p/cdc-false-...

www.wsj.com/health/healt...

One of CDC’s final blows. And what it means for you. Where to find trusted health information now?

"At this time, I suggest the general public avoid the CDC website." --epidemiologist @kkjetelina.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/yourloca...

The ~velocity~ with which I found the link for the quiz to learn what antibiotic I am…! (moxifloxacin 🤩)

UMass Chan scientists show how the non-neuronal brain cells communicate to coordinate rewiring of brain A study by Dorothy P. Schafer, PhD, and Travis E. Faust, PhD, explains how two different cell types in the brain communicate in response to changes in sensory input.

A study by Dorothy P. Schafer, PhD, and Travis E. Faust, PhD, in Cell explains how cell types in the brain communicate in response to changes in sensory input to remodel synapses: direc.to/nJHH

Alzheimer’s and ALS patients have synaptic damage.

@travisfaust.bsky.social @cp-cell.bsky.social

Check out our new RAEFISH spatial transcriptomics technology published in Cell! This work represents the first time that transcripts from more than 20,000 genes were directly imaged in situ with any technology, and the first time numerous gRNAs were directly probed in an image-based CRISPR screen.

The editorial team at Cell extends warm congratulations to Drs. Shimon Sakaguchi, Mary Brunkow, and Fred Ramsdell for their discoveries that defined regulatory T cells as the basis for peripheral immune tolerance. “Tregs” are at the heart of immunity, and the foundational work of the laureates has set up fascinating questions that remain active areas for understanding how our bodies work and for leveraging the immune system to treat disease. We can’t wait to see how their legacy and humanity’s knowledge of peripheral tolerance grow from here. -Cheri Sirois, Scientific Editor, Cell.

The editorial team at #Cell wishes heartfelt congratulations to the winners of the 2025 #NobelPrize in Physiology or Medicine, Drs. Mary Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell, & Shimon Sakaguchi!

View their related research published in Cell Press journals: spkl.io/6013AVK2P
@cherisirois.bsky.social