Peter Pelka

Reviewers just don’t give grants their due because there’s no accountability. F2F panels must return. In similar vein, I’ve had reviewers ask for things that were ahead in multiple parts of the proposal.

Text showing Nest cameras turned off due to cold.

Winnipeg temperature of -32 degrees Celsius on January 22, 2026

Welcome to Winnipeg, where it’s so cold that my Nest cameras quit working!

🤦

This is a terrible idea and will make funding in Canada even harder to obtain. Instead of this, the government should invest in the Tri-council agencies to increase grant success rates, and organically attract talent from abroad.

I urge fellow scientists to write to their MPs and express how they feel about this, I did. Although I support attracting new talent, this is the wrong approach. We must increase Tri-Agency funding levels first so that they want to come here. This will simply makes things worse for all of us.

YouTube video by TVOkids Hot to Trot 🥵🤒 | 💀 BURPS, BUTTS AND BONES 🧪 | Answer Questions About The Human Body | TVOkids

Excited to share my acting debut with Ontario's public broadcaster TVO (@tvodocs.bsky.social @therundowntvo.bsky.social & more). I was in an episode on fever for the TVO Kids series 'Burps, Butts, and Bones' (do they know their audience or what?). I learned about acting from the +++talented Ryan.

View of farm fields with distant trees covered with hoarfrost.

Winnipeg autumn with hoarfrost.

Canada loses its measles elimination status — as it happened | CBC

Canada has lost its measles elimination status. This is an unfortunate consequence of vaccine resistance/hesitancy and unnecessarily puts vulnerable at risk of a very serious illness. We need to do more to educate the public about how truly safe these vaccines are.
www.cbc.ca/news/health/...

ARGLU1 is a negative regulator of the adenoviral replicative cycle | Journal of Virology This study uncovers a novel antiviral role for ARGLU1, known for its involvement in splicing, transcriptional regulation, and DNA damage repair. Our study demonstrates that ARGLU1 functions as a viral restriction factor by reducing virus growth through the inhibition of viral gene expression and enhanced DNA damage response, leading to reduced viral growth. These findings not only highlight an important role for ARGLU1 in host antiviral mechanisms but also emphasize the utility of adenovirus as a tool to uncover critical cellular pathways.

Our latest article on the role of ARGLU1 in adenovirus infection is now out at the Journal of Virology, #ASM, check it out here and congratulations to the team!
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

A V3P team photo with all who attended the retreat.

It was fantastic to see everyone's project at our CBRF-funded V3P project retreat last week! Thank you all for coming, presenting, and participating. And thank you to the organizers for making it such an awesome event!

Got my COVID and flu shots yesterday in Winnipeg. Could not have been easier, in and out in less than 20 minutes and totally free. Get yourself (and your kids) vaccinated!

Get the Facts. National Vaccine Summit Explained Oct 23, 2025 register at everythingexplained.ca

What the latest on adult vaccines? Come join me and and exceptional panel at Zoomer media to get the lowdown.
• Recommended Vaccines & How To Get Them
‣ Navigating Provincial Health Systems
‣ The Role Your Pharmacist Can Play
‣ Emerging Science
‣ Fighting Disinformation & Vaccine Fatigue.
Free!

If you don’t get your child vaccinated against measles, it can put them at a high risk of this serious infection, which can lead to severe complications or even death. Make sure your child’s measles vaccination is up to date.

If you don’t get your child vaccinated against #measles, it can put them at a high risk of this serious infection, which can lead to severe complications or even death.

Make sure your child’s measles vaccination is up to date.

Cellular transcriptomics of arrested normal lung fibroblasts IMR-90 infected with Human Adenovirus 5 E1A mutants Induction of S-phase is paramount to the replication of most human DNA viruses. Human adenoviruses have evolved sophisticated mechanisms that drive the infected cells into S-phase to ensure that viral...

Our new paper on the transcriptomics of S-phase induction in adenovirus infected cells is now out in PLOS One with important implications for adenovirus-based vectors:
journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...

This is a dangerous move that will promote spread, mutation, and needless suffering amongst those that are unvaccinated, especially younger children.

Go to a cemetery. See all the baby graves there before the 1950s and 1960s? That’s when people started vaccinating their kids. If you are unsure, the answer is literally, written in stone.

Model fit to K2-18b's JWST MIRI transmission spectrum. The model including CH4, CO2, and C3H4 provides an excellent fit to the data.

Preview of a table from Welbanks+2025 listing 90 different hydrocarbons and the quality of their fit to K2-18b's MIRI data. Propyne (C2H4) provides the best fit.

Welbanks+2025 try 90 hydrocarbons, finding 5 provide a better fit than DMS or DMDS. Propyne (C3H4) offers the best fit.

Propyne has been seen in Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Titan, so it is plausible for K2-18b.

In other words, DMS and DMDS *vanish* once you include C3H4 in your model.

It's not just Texas and US south that's affected by measles, Ontario and north Mexico have big outbreaks also. Very important to get your kids vaccinated with the very safe and very effective MMR/MMRV vaccine!
www.who.int/emergencies/...

I should add that this episode, along with DS9's "The Visitor" are my absolute favourite episode of any Star Trek series.

Absolutely my favourite episode of TNG, a true sci-fi classic and a masterstroke of making a truly human story in a sci-fi background, like the old sci-fi masters used to write.

An orange spiral galaxy in a sea of stars.

Another galaxy from my imaging session while I learn how to use the awesome Celestron Origin. The Fireworks Galaxy!

Loving the Celestron Origin. Taken last night. Bode’s Nebulae.

Image of a galaxy with grand spiral arms, a defined core, and stars all around.

Happy Easter to all who celebrate! Here’s the Pinwheel Galaxy (M101) that I imaged last night.

Sponsored: UM RESEARCH: Delivering Solutions The Problem When COVID-19 emerged in March 2020, Canada’s health care system was confronted with a unique challenge. As emergency rooms swelled with patients, there was intense pressure to come up wit...

Was in the Winnipeg Free Press today about our vaccine work:

www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews...

Me wearing the 45th anniversary Terry Fox shirt.

A shot of the back of the 45th anniversary Terry Fox shirt.

Not quitting my day job but here’s an example of the cool gear now available to support the Terry Fox Foundation, Research Institute and the Canadian cancer researchers working to overcome cancer. This and much more at: shop.terryfox.org Finish It!

Image of the Orion Nebula

First light with my new Celestron Origin, of course it had to be the majestic Orion Nebula! This is the unprocessed image from the Origin app.

A bit nippy today. Stay warm!

USP19 potentiates autophagic cell death via inhibiting mTOR pathway through deubiquitinating NEK9 in pancreatic cancer - Cell Death & Differentiation Cell Death & Differentiation - USP19 potentiates autophagic cell death via inhibiting mTOR pathway through deubiquitinating NEK9 in pancreatic cancer

USP19 potentiates autophagic cell death via inhibiting mTOR pathway through deubiquitinating NEK9 in #PancreaticCancer 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Please don't drink raw milk. Influenza is easily inactivated by pasteurization, raw milk leaves virus viable and infectious.

Image of a Globe & Mail op-ed on measles. For an accessible read see http://www.bowdish.ca/lab/2024/03/07/measles-is-not-a-harmless-childhood-infection-dr-bowdish-explains/

I spoke to the CBC Radio about a large measles outbreak in New Brunswick - article link below. I cannot stress enough how serious an infection measles is - recycling an op-ed I wrote on the topic(see link on my webpage for explainer video).

www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

www.bowdish.ca/lab/2024/03/...