This summer, I celebrated with friends whose three-year-old was cured of hepatitis C acquired at birth. It felt like a miracle made possible by science. Millions of people still cannot access cure, and being cured does not protect someone from reinfection. bktitanji.substack.com/p/we-still-n...

We Still Need an Effective Hepatitis C Vaccine

A cure changed one child's life. Prevention could change millions more.

bktitanji.substack.com

Excited to share that our norovirus NS3 study is now online in Nature Communications! 🎉 These enzymes, found across an entire order of RNA viruses, have long been molecular motors in search of a function. We think we’ve uncovered their role. (🧵) www.nature.com/articles/s41... #virology #cryoEM

I'm really frustrated by the constant fear-mongering about AI-designed superviruses. Can we focus on the things that should actually worry us, such as measles? blog.genesmindsmachines.com/p/im-sorry-y...

I'm sorry, you're not going to die from an AI-engineered supervirus

God save us from economists who think they can competently talk about biology

blog.genesmindsmachines.com

Emergence of a novel GII.17 variant is associated with immune evasion rather than an altered HBGA-binding profile In 2024, a new Norovirus variant appeared due to antigenic drift, causing more infections. journals.plos.org/pl... 1/5

Emergence of a novel GII.17 variant is associated with immune evasion rather than an altered HBGA-binding profile

Author summary Noroviruses are the leading cause of acute gastroenteritis worldwide and are responsible for large numbers of outbreaks each year. New norovirus variants can spread rapidly when they are no longer well recognized by existing immunity in the population. In 2024, a new GII.17 variant became increasingly common in several regions, raising questions about why this virus was able to spread so successfully. In this study, we compared this new variant with other GII.17 viruses that circulated in 2005, 2014, and 2015. We examined how well these viruses could attach to molecules and tissues in the human gut and how well they were recognized by antibodies in human serum samples collected over time. We found that the 2024 variant was less well recognized by existing antibodies than some earlier strains, suggesting that it had changed in ways that may help it evade prior immunity. In contrast, its ability to bind to human gut-related targets was broadly similar to that of recent other variants. Together, our findings suggest that changes in immune recognition, rather than major changes in binding specificity, contributed to the recent emergence of this GII.17 variant.

journals.plos.org

*New Pre-print Klaxon* I'm really pleased to get this paper out there, especially as this is my first senior author paper! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... Describing the characterisation of a NanoLuc FCV reporter to better understand both virus neutralisation and viral entry #virology 1/2

I am privileged to enjoy a fantastic collaboration with my @cvrinfo.bsky.social colleagues Margaret Hosie, Brian Willett, Lee Sherry and Hagar Sasvari. Lee and Hagar used their reverse-genetics expertise to make some great tools to help us dissect calicivirus entry. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Feline calicivirus encoding NanoLuc luciferase as a tool for assessing antibody neutralisation and antivirals

Feline calicivirus (FCV) is among the most common viruses to infect cats worldwide, with prevalence estimated to range from 10-90% depending on the population sampled. Typical FCV infection presents w...

biorxiv.org

RNA structures regulate norovirus life cycle and enable rational attenuation in vivo: Cell www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

RNA structures regulate norovirus life cycle and enable rational attenuation in vivo

Genome-wide mapping of RNA structure in murine norovirus reveals structural elements whose disruption impairs viral replication in cells and in vivo. Such structural disruptions generate a genetically...

cell.com

Conformational Plasticity of the Human Norovirus GII.3 Capsid Reveals Alternative P Domain Interaction Networks pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42589245/ #cryoEM

How does an adenovirus transform from an immature particle into an infectious virus? See our new preprint for a closer look at how protease activity orchestrates structural changes that enable adenovirus maturation and infectivity. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

bioRxiv Microbiology@biorxiv-microbiol.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Protease-driven remodeling of stabilization networks during adenovirus assembly https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.08.04.740336v1

Interested in learning about cryo-ET on JEOL microscopes? Sign up for a pre-IMC21 one-day workshop in Liverpool 30/08/2026 here: www.imc21.org.uk/congress/pre...

Success in the @ukri.org BBSRC ALERT biosciences equipment funding call means our JEOL F2-Cryo will be getting an upgrade. After 12 years of service, it's time for a new camera to restore the microscope to best-in-class performance and giving our users the best possible data.

A great collaboration with Morgan Herod and colleagues in Leeds. Thermally stable murine norovirus shows a delayed uncoating phenotype, with cryoEM led by Lee Sherry and Charlotte Lewis at the @cvrinfo.bsky.social.

bioRxiv Microbiology@biorxiv-microbiol.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Enhanced inter-chain hydrogen bonding in the murine norovirus VP1 capsid leads to increased particle stability and delayed viral uncoating https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.06.30.735626v1

Community Reviews are science in real time! Check out this new and recent example of open feedback in action: @cb99-lewis.bsky.social et al.’s preprint just got reviewed by a community-organized group through preLights! 📄 doi.org/10.64898/202... (@dbhella.bsky.social) #Preprints #openRxiv

IgA is necessary and sufficient to prevent norovirus infection in mice www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

IgA is necessary and sufficient to prevent norovirus infection in mice

Mucosal IgA prevents norovirus infection in a murine model, which informs vaccine design and therapeutic strategies.

science.org

Check out our recent publication assessing feline coronavirus serology across the UK. This is the first first-author publication of @cvrinfo.bsky.social MRes turned PhD student Hagar Sasvari. The first of many! #Virology

Microbiology Society@microbiologysociety.org · 4mo ago

Serological response to feline coronavirus in the UK domestic cat population. Published Open Access and fee-free in JGV using a Publish and Read agreement: https://doi.org/10.1099/jgv.0.002270 #PublishandRead #JGV

Alternative splicing broadens antiviral diversity at the human OAS2 locus Emma Davies et al @fletcherlab.bsky.social link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Alternative splicing broadens antiviral diversity at the human OAS2 locus - The EMBO Journal

Interferons (IFN) are cytokines that regulate the expression of hundreds of genes during viral infections to generate a broadly antiviral environment in the stimulated cell. Antiviral breadth is provi...

link.springer.com

Cats: the ultimate pets and scientific heroes. 🐱 Studying feline viruses to identify innovative solutions to prevent human infections. #preprint by @cb99-lewis.bsky.social, @dbhella.bsky.social & team #microbiology #preLight by @orestissavva.bsky.social: prelights.biologists.com/highlights/i...

Inhibition of VP2-mediated entry: a potential antiviral strategy to treat or prevent calicivirus disease - preLights

Cats: the ultimate pets and scientific heroes. Researchers are studying feline viruses to identify innovative solutions to prevent human infections

prelights.biologists.com

Delighted to share our article on the functional expansion of OAS2 via alt. splicing. link.springer.com/article/10.1... A tour de force from PhD student Emma Davies and friends.

Alternative splicing broadens antiviral diversity at the human OAS2 locus - The EMBO Journal

Interferons (IFN) are cytokines that regulate the expression of hundreds of genes during viral infections to generate a broadly antiviral environment in the stimulated cell. Antiviral breadth is provi...

link.springer.com

New preprint alert! Ever wonder if cells can talk to each other? Tunneling nanotubes (TNTs) are tiny bridges between cells used to pass organelles, nucleic acids, proteins & even viruses but we've never seen inside them clearly. Until now! 👇🧵 biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.05.27.728322v1

New online! Concepts of RNA virus evolution for the design of better antiviral countermeasures

Concepts of RNA virus evolution for the design of better antiviral countermeasures

Nature Reviews Microbiology, Published online: 14 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41579-026-01316-9In this Review, Tran and Vignuzzi examine how molecular processes and evolutionary pressures shape RNA virus diversity and adaptation. They outline how genome structure, mutational pathways and viral interactions influence evolutionary outcomes, offering insights relevant to the design of better vaccines and antiviral strategies.

dlvr.it

Wow - this is just amazing. Hui Guo and colleagues from John Briggs’ lab use cryoEM helical reconstruction to discover how filamentous influenza virion assembly is directed by multiple conformations of M1 - explaining how NA is concentrated at the proximal pole. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

France confines more than 1,700 people to cruise ship over suspected norovirus death

France confines more than 1,700 people to cruise ship over suspected norovirus death

One elderly passenger on vessel docked in Bordeaux has died and about 50 people have symptoms, say officials French authorities have confined more than 1,700 passengers and crew members on a cruise ship docked in Bordeaux after a passenger died from suspected norovirus, officials have said. The Ambassador Cruise Line vessel carrying 1,233 passengers, most of them British or Irish, arrived in Bordeaux on Tuesday. One 90-year-old passenger had died and about 50 people had shown symptoms of the virus, French health officials said. Continue reading...

theguardian.com

Fantastic to have this out! As ever, I'm immensely grateful to all co-authors for their support, advice, and resource provision. This was a real collaborative effort, and highlights the potential of VP2 as a viable target for calicivirus antivirals- exciting stuff!

David Bhella@dbhella.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Amazing work from Charlotte Lewis - our latest preprint describes structure guided development of an antiviral peptide, targeting VP2 portal assembly - a strategy that may have broad application to treat or prevent calicivirus disease. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

The OG of outbreak viruses on cruise ships needed to remind everyone who is boss. 115 infected on the carribean princess cruise ship in an ongoing outbreak. Sounds like my idea of hell on earth. Trapped at sea on a ship full of people with vomiting and diarrhea. abcnews.com/Internationa...

115 people sickened in norovirus outbreak on cruise ship: CDC

The outbreak was reported to the CDC on Thursday, during the cruise ship's April 28 to May 11 voyage.

abcnews.com

🚨New paper!🚨 Our study showing that H5N1 influenza viruses can remain infectious in unpasteurised milk for, basically, as long as you are likely to encounter that milk has now been published: www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/jour...

Really happy to see this paper out now in PLOS Pathogens - a really nice collaboration with @alanlparker.bsky.social - led by Kasim Waraich and Rosie Mundy. journals.plos.org/plospathogen...

Identification of a novel fiber shaft structural motif and overexpression of key transcripts elucidated in human adenovirus D 10

Author summary Adenoviruses cause infections with pathologies ranging from cold like respiratory symptoms to gastroenteritis and conjunctivitis. In addition to research on adenovirus pathology, substa...

journals.plos.org

I am happy to share a review I recently wrote on the design of peptide binders. It gives an overview of experimentally validated tools and discusses the challenges of why peptide design is more difficult than the design of classical protein binders. www.chimia.ch/chimia/artic...

Really pleased to have this project out - a nice collaboration between @socialinfluenza.bsky.social and @prmurcia.bsky.social looking at the risk of H5N1 spillover into commonly used cattle breeds 🦠 🐮

Ed Hutchinson@socialinfluenza.bsky.social · 6mo ago

🚨New pre-print!🚨 Using a panel of different H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b viruses and human seasonal influenza, and mammary explants from common beef and dairy cattle breeds, we add to the growing data showing that H5N1 spillovers into cattle should be seen as an ongoing risk www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

🎙️ PODCAST | CVR Meets: Professor Akiko Iwasaki In this ep of Research Goes Viral, Bailey & Charlotte speak with Prof Akiko Iwasaki, 2025 Sir Michael Stoker Award winner, about Long COVID and how the pandemic transformed research overnight. 🎥 youtu.be/Iqbhq6dLLJs 🔈 open.spotify.com/episode/3spW...

Long COVID, pandemic pivots and Glasgow adventures | CVR Meets: Akiko Iwasaki

YouTube video by MRC - UofGlasgow Centre for Virus Research

youtu.be

Delighted to share our latest preprint describing an integrative model for influenza A virions. We combined proteomics, lipidomics and cryo-ET to build a comprehensive set of models, using subtomogram averaging we show that IAV filaments package cofilactin. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...