Our follow-up study on IgG4 in blood and saliva after 4 x COVID-19 mRNA vaccines is out on eBioMedicine 🧪 1)🧵So how does IgG4 influence responses to Omicron (XBB.1.5 and JN.1) and Sarbecoviruses (from bats, pangolins)? What epitopes are being targeted? authors.elsevier.com/sd/arti…

YouTuber @MouldS hypothesized that a circular loop of chain would exhibit circumferential waves as it rotated in the absence of external forces, flowing through its own shape. In gravity, this creates the chain fountain effect, popularized with his science videos. Aboard the ISS, I helped test his theory! These loops were made from beaded chain and our EVA French clips used to tie things down during spacewalks. I wore nitrile gloves to prevent the chain from sticking to my fingers. It took many tries to produce this! A full video of our findings is now posted to his channel, which I have linked in the comments.

SARS-CoV-2 saltation variant PJ.2.1 has raised concerns over another JN.1-like event. Here we found: 1. PJ.2.1 shows markedly higher ACE2 binding. 2. PJ.2.1's antigenicity remains comparable to the JN.1 family. 3. No increased immune evasion against human plasma. While PJ.2.1 currently lacks the immune evasion capabilities of other contemporary strains (XFG, PQ.16.1.1, BA.3.2.2...), its robust baseline receptor-binding strength mirrors the early evolutionary trajectory of BA.2.86 to JN.1, necessitating continued genomic, epidemiological, and virological surveillance of the PJ.2.1 lineage. Details can be found in the recent BioRxiv manuscript: biorxiv.org/content/10.64898…

TCR specificity prediction is advancing rapidly. The central question is not only which TCR sequence recognizes an antigen, but also which TCR pairings make recognition possible & where is the binding boundary? Our new paper tackles this question. 🧵 science.org/doi/10.1126/scie…

Nature research paper: Robust inference and correlates from genetic associations with personality go.nature.com/461KmvG

1/ 🧵Thrilled to share that our new paper was just published at @ScienceTM @aaas ! 🎉 We show how the complement system boosts the ability of antibodies to neutralize SARS-CoV-2, especially recent variants. 🦠🧫 science.org/doi/10.1126/scit… A thread ⬇️

💬 Viewpoint: US #Tetanus cases have risen alongside declining #vaccine coverage, with the highest recent case counts and new pediatric cases reported in 2024-2025. ja.ma/4fh6whD

New preprint by @alex_winnett @S_Tabachnikova et al.! We asked: which cellular immune signals control viral replication in the nose during the first days of SARS-CoV-2 infection — and how do they change with vaccination? With @ismagilovlab (1/) medrxiv.org/content/10.64898…

Excited to share our paper just out: IgA is necessary and sufficient to prevent norovirus infection in mice | Science Translational Medicine science.org/doi/10.1126/scit…

This Australian video was made for awareness on the northern coast (a few years old), but it still very much applies to our southern coast bird flu (avian influenza, due to the A/H5N1 virus) infiltration. Avoid! (sick animals) Record! Report! (phone 1800 675 888.) 1️⃣/2️⃣

Our latest preprint is out, where we investigated a profound SARS-CoV-2 epidemiological anomaly: BA.3.2.2 is selectively infecting children. Here, we show that the lack of ancestral-strain immune imprinting is promoting BA.3.2.2 pediatric infections. 1/9 biorxiv.org/content/10.64898…

Flu vaccination does more than protect against viruses circulating that year. Our study published in #ScienceTranslationalMedicine showed 1994 vaccine generated broad immune responses against future H1N1 & FluB strains, but not H3N2, spanning 30 years. science.org/doi/10.1126/scit…

Regarding recent press coverage

BREAKING🔔 Our new study is out at @biorxivpreprint. We established a novel animal model for SARS-CoV-2 infection using horseshoe bats, a natural reservoir of SARS-CoV-2-related coronaviruses in nature. Please repost🦇 biorxiv.org/content/10.64898…

So so excited to share @chris_cowley14, @LFSoto12 and my work finally out today in @ScienceMagazine! 🧵/10 science.org/eprint/TZBKR2RDB…

After 20 years, 58 generations and more than 30,000 cloning attempts, a team of researchers has hit the limit on the number of times a single mouse can be serially re-cloned go.nature.com/47hykPQ

Ok this figure is pretty intimidating...

Here is our updated database of grants for early careers researchers in all fields. It goes way beyond traditional NIH and NSF funding opportunities. We list 428 types of grants. Download it here: research.jhu.edu/rdt/funding…

What a time to be alive americanwetware.com/gel_inva…

Congrats to my friend Alex German for making headlines with his recent work to show restoration of electrophysiology after vitrifying entire mouse brains to -150c and then rewarming them 1/3

We are excited to present our new study @Nature, led by @DrDrCox and performed in collaboration with the lab of @MaayanLevyPhD, in which we explore the impact of gut-brain axis aging on cognitive decline. nature.com/articles/s41586-0…