Helen Lazear

asm.org/press-releas...

Scientists are Learning to Rewrite the Code of Life In a giant feat of genetic engineering, scientists have created bacteria that make proteins in a radically different way than all natural species do.

Meet Syn57, a living cell that only needs 57 codons, not the standard 64. Here's my story on how synthetic biology is tackling the mystery of our bloated genetic code. Gift link: nyti.ms/3Hf4f9v

Canada’s Measles Outbreak Exceeds Cases in the U.S.

Alberta (pop. 5M) has more measles cases than the entire US (which has way too many measles cases)

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/30/w...

‘Things keep evolving into anteaters.’ Odd animals arose at least 12 separate times Findings speak to the dramatic impact ants and termites can have on mammalian evolution

Crab-like creatures are famed for having evolved five times in evolutionary history. But anteaters have evolved at least 12 times--in half the evolutionary span. Cool story by @jakebuehler.bsky.social for @science.org

UNC Board of Governors Demands New DEI Compliance Committees The campus-level committees will scrutinize whether schools have complied with policies targeting diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts.

The new trustee committees will receive briefings from their chancellor or senior administrator on training provided to staff about the equality policy, the responsibilities of any roles that were reassigned, and the performance of “relevant” personnel.

The 2026 Program will heavily emphasize co-occurring conditions and tissue systems affected by T21. We encourage diversity in the composition of symposia speakers with respect to geography, academic rank, and gender. Society members at all career stages are welcome to submit symposia.

UNC-Chapel Hill Unveils Plan to Cut $70 Million in Response to Funding Pressure UNC-Chapel Hill will cut 2 percent of its operating budget ahead of anticipated federal and state funding reductions.

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill leaders revealed a plan on Wednesday to cut approximately $70 million in costs—or 2 percent of its operating budget—over the next two fiscal years ahead of anticipated federal and state funding reductions.

www.theassemblync.com/education/hi...

Conservative Org. Requests Materials for 70 Chapel Hill Courses The Oversight Project, founded by the Heritage Foundation, is using an open records request to search for terms like “DEI” and “gender identity.” Faculty say it encroaches on academic freedom.

🚨Conservative Group Requests Materials for Over 70 UNC Courses🚨

“It’s a violation of academic freedom…of individual free speech rights &… teaching…in the name of…a right-wing agenda.”

—Joan Scott, AAUP Committee on Academic Freedom

www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty...

@unc-ch-aaup.bsky.social

Avian Flu Wiped Out Poultry. Now the Screwworm Is Coming for Beef.

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/28/u...

UNC-Chapel Hill, like other major college sports programs, will spend $20.5 million this year to pay student athletes for the first time.

But first, UNC-CH has to find the money.

Group photo of the Lazear Lab at ASV 2025 in Montreal. We are wearing our name badges and everyone is smiling because our presentations are done and went great!

Composite photo of Lazear Lab members during their presentations. Margaret, Mikhala, Abbie, and Cormac are giving oral presentations; Mikhala, Nigel, and Celeste are standing in front of photos. An ASV 2025 meeting logo is at the top.

The Lazear Lab at #ASV2025 - great to see all these folks present their cool work on so many different viruses! @amersocvirology.bsky.social
@mdedloff.bsky.social @abbieweight.bsky.social @nigelmgo.bsky.social @joelrc.bsky.social

Had a great time at my first @amersocvirology.bsky.social conference! Thank you to the organizers for giving me a chance to present my work!

I am honored to serve as president of the American society for Virology, thank you for your support. I wish to thank our past president Hector Aguilar-Carreno for a wonderful service and look forward to working with everyone.

Group photo of UNC virologists attending the 2025 American Society for Virology conference in Montreal. They are standing in front of a brightly colored mural, wearing their conference name badges, with bright smiles because of all the virology.

UNC Virologists at #ASV2025
Thanks @amersocvirology.bsky.social for a great meeting!
@joelrc.bsky.social @abbieweight.bsky.social @nigelmgo.bsky.social @mdedloff.bsky.social @ascone.bsky.social @dapontediaz.bsky.social

Oh, now that if affects white scientists we are super concerned The NYT published an article titled “The Surprising Scientists Hit by Trump’s D.E.I. Cuts” by Kate Zernike. The subhead reads: “The N.I.H. has terminated hundreds of diversity gra…

Oh, now that if affects white scientists we are super concerned drugmonkey.wordpress.com/2025/07/10/o...

Photo Gallery: Tropical Depression Chantal Causes Floods In Chapel Hill, Hillsborough, and Chatham County - Chapelboro.com Here's Chapelboro's photo gallery of flooding and aftermath, featuring images gathered from Chapel Hill, Hillsborough, and Chatham County.

Here's our collection of photos from across the community of Sunday night's flooding and the aftermath on Monday.

If you have a picture you'd like to share, send it to news@wchl.com.

Vampire bats’ mutual grooming helps spread innovative rabies vaccine A gel that bats lick off one another’s fur could help prevent rabies outbreaks in cattle, a growing problem in Latin America

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

Chantal floods lead to water rescues, damaged buildings in central NC Three counties have declared a state of emergency after flooding from the remnants of Tropical Storm Chantal led to damaged roads, businesses and homes, as well as two deaths.

Big team effort @wunc.org today to cover all the aftermath of Tropical Storm Chantal in the Triangle. Here's what we know: www.wunc.org/term/news/20...

‘Tears My Heart to Pieces’: North Carolina Braces for Medicaid Cuts

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/06/u...

E.P.A. Employees Are Invited to Adopt Soon-to-Be Homeless Lab Rats

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/03/c...

Scientists identify culprit behind biggest-ever U.S. honey bee die-off USDA research points to viruses spread by pesticide-resistant mites, indicating a worrying trend

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

Long Live the Archives The Research Data Management Core was formed to coordinate research archives. Then the Trump administration began purging federal datasets.

The Dataverse now has California polling data from the 1980s, anti-slavery petitions from 1800s Massachusetts, information from Raleigh’s Dorothea Dix Hospital patient ledger, and tens of thousands of other datasets.

📣 Applications now open
PATH award supports early-career researchers studying the pathogenesis of infectious diseases in humans

💰 $505K over 5 years
🔬 For mid-to-late assistant professors
📅 LOI due: 07/17/25

Apply now 👉 buff.ly/qcSSxbq

New UNC Microbiology & Immunology grad students Alex and Taras stand by a lab bench. They look confident and ready to tackle important questions about flavivirus pathogenesis.

A big welcome to Alex Sakai and Taras Chicz who are joining the Lazear Lab and the M&I PhD program! Alex will use genetically diverse mice to study neuroinvasive flaviviruses and Taras will investigate how RNA changes affect Zika virus pathogenesis. We are lucky to have them on our team!

AI, peer review and the human activity of science When researchers cede their scientific judgement to machines, we lose something important.

A few months ago, Nature published how-to guide for using ChatGPT to write your peer reviews in 30 minutes.

This is, of course, a horrible idea. Here’s my response with @jbakcoleman.bsky.social .

2/ How do viruses spread w/o bursting💥 & killing host cells? Awardee @drstarbird.bsky.social aims to discover the mechanisms of an understudied driver of viral spread-which could change the future of virology research!
🍾Congrats Dr. Starbird! @unc-bcbp.bsky.social
🙏 #HFScout @harmitmalik.bsky.social

Have a postdoc position to start October 2025 to develop vector-borne pathogen genomic assays on ONT platforms. International travel will be required to Southeast Asia (Singapore and Malaysia). Looking for a hybrid position of wet lab and bioinformatics. DM me for more information. Please share!

We get so little time.

How people choose to spend it in how they treat others is all I ever need to know.

3 people holding signs at the No Kings protest in Chapel Hill. The signs say "No Kings" "Pro Science Pro Immigrant Pro Democracy" "Y'all means everyone"

#nokings Chapel Hill NC

no kings

come out to peace and justice plaza #nokings Chapel Hill NC