Group Leader Antiviral Activities of Antibodies @Virus_Immunity @institutpasteur - Virology/Immunology - Member @SFV_France - @timotheebruel.bsky.social
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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 ⬇️
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Timothée Bruel retweeted
"When the next pandemic happens, there may be something that comes out of the blue, and we’ll be lacking the knowledge we had for COVID. What we’re trying to do is stockpile some of that knowledge ahead of time.” - Joe Grove, @UofGlasgow
A new open dataset adds predicted protein-complex structures from more than 2,800 viruses to the AlphaFold Database.
📃 nvda.ws/47laLF2
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#WSV2027 – Keynote Speakers #2 🎤
1️⃣ Prof. Johan Neyts - @KULeuven, Belgium;
2️⃣ Dr. Indrani Karunasagar -Director (R&D), Nitte University, India
3️⃣ Dr. Olivier Schwartz - Institut Pasteur
4️⃣ Dr. Jürgen Richt - Kansas State University
#Virology #WSV2027
piped.video/watch?v=vCXU5YEP…
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Timothée Bruel retweeted
Claude has discovered a previously unknown enzyme system hidden in the DNA of bacteriophages. Beside the enzyme’s gene sits a long array of repeating DNA—a structure that looks somewhat similar to CRISPR.
We don’t yet understand what this system does, but only a handful of known systems share its features, and all of them are able to cut, copy, and paste DNA. Historically, the discovery of such programmable systems has helped revolutionize medicine. CRISPR, for instance, is now the foundation of genetic medicines. But it will take much more work to learn what this system does, and whether it can be put to similar use.
Read more: anthropic.com/news/claude-di…
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One of nine PJ.2.1 sequences uploaded from NYC today has A475V, which escapes some major class 1 antibodies. One of 2 two mAbs tested by @yunlong_cao that most potently neutralized PJ.2.1 (IC50=0.001) & to which it was much more vulnerable then XFG, is ~entirely escaped by A475V.
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…
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Timothée Bruel retweeted
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…
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A new protein design optimization framework from the Baker Lab: RFOptimization.
Instead of generating more candidates, it rescues near-miss designs through RF3-guided mutation, Boltz/MPNN cycling, and AF3 filtering—boosting PPI success from 6.7% to 22.3%.
Preprint: doi.org/10.64898/2026.09.04.…
Made with AI
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With AlphaFold we mapped the protein universe - now with AlphaGenome Atlas we’re charting the human genome. It can predict the impact of all 9 billion possible single-letter DNA variants, helping scientists better understand disease. Freely available for academic research: alphagenome.google/atlas
We’re launching AlphaGenome Atlas: an AI-powered searchable database mapping the predicted impact of all 9 billion possible single-letter DNA changes.
Here’s how it could help researchers better understand our biology 🧵
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Absolutely thrilled to share that I’ve been awarded an ERC Starting Grant! 🎉 #ERCStG
Fun-HERE will explore the functions of human endogenous retroviral envelope proteins.
Huge thanks to @ERC_Research, my mentors, students and collaborators! 🙏
Exciting times ahead! 😃
📣 Good news! 📣
Results of the ERC 2026 Starting Grant call are out!
Funding worth a total of €705 million will go to 421 early-career researchers across Europe.
Discover who, what and where 👉 link.europa.eu/9M3MmN
#ERCStG #HorizonEurope 🇪🇺 @EUScienceInnov
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New paper out in NPJ viruses about our broadly protective neuraminidase-based vaccine candidate.
My postdoc Irene Hoxie @IreneHoxie , who took the lead on this, is currently job hunting in the NYC area.
nature.com/articles/s44298-0…
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At OpenAI, it's felt like our researchers & engineers have been living in the future with Codex.
Today, we're bringing that same experience to life science researchers with the Rosalind Workbench.
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We are hiring! @WHO Unit Head (P5 based in Geneva, Switzerland) Emerging Zoonoses & High Impact Epidemics
This is my former position, which I loved. Join us and work with incredible people at WHO and around the world.
careers.who.int/careersectio…
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Twist independently tested Claude’s AI-designed protein binders! 📊
In <3 weeks, we evaluated 1,260 binders across 15 targets—putting AI-designed proteins to the physical-world test.
Do digital designs actually work? See what we found: twistbioscience.com/resource…
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1/ We are excited to report in @PNASNews that autoantibodies neutralizing type I interferons underlie 35% of cases of Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) encephalitis or myelitis from a multiple cohort study. pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.26…
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APPEL A TEMOINS
[recherche académique et maternité]
Pour Le Monde, je recherche de jeunes chercheuses :
- qui s'interrogent sur la possibilité d'une grossese
- qui ont décidé d'y renoncer
- qui ont quitté la recherche après le premier enfant
DM ou raybaud@lemonde.fr 🙏
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JVI is seeking applications for its New Voices in Virology 2027 minireview collection. This special collection recognizes the future leaders in virology as it highlights their research contributions across the entire breadth of virology. Apply now! journals.asm.org/journal/jvi…
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What could we discover if we had a binder for every protein in the human proteome?
We are excited to introduce the Bindome, an open and free resource of over 300,000 designed protein binder candidates against over 8,000 human target proteins.
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AlphaFold 3.0.4 github.com/google-deepmind/a…
- AlphaFold 3 now runs on CPU-only machines!
- AlphaFold 3 now runs on Apple Silicon (mps backend, 3x faster than CPU-only)
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Delighted to be involved in this recent preprint led by our friends at @CVRinfo @CVRbioinfo @robertson_lab
Protein language models learn underlying mutation biases alongside fitness landscapes
biorxiv.org/content/10.64898…
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Institut Pasteur 93 participants found complement made existing antibodies much better at neutralizing newer SARS-CoV-2 variants.
It boosted conserved S2 antibodies by coating the virus with C3 instead of bursting it.
science.org/doi/10.1126/scit…
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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 ⬇️
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14/ 🙏Kudos to all co-authors & collaborators (@InstitutPasteur, @univ_paris_cite, @CHUdeLyon, @CHUOrleans_, and SEVARVIR investigators) and thanks to the patients.
@MOUQUETHugo1 @Virus_Immunity @slimfourati @NicolasdeProst1 @TrouilletAssant
/end 🧵
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