Moriah Szpara
@szparalab.bsky.social
Studying comparative genomics & evolution of neurotropic viruses & chronic infections, at Penn State U. We value diversity in STEM & beyond. she/her
Scientific American has an outstanding article about what has been happening to our scientific research enterprise that is aimed at the lay public. Worth sharing widely. www.yahoo.com/news/science...
America’s compact between science and politics is broken
Last year Christopher Reynolds started to worry that his space telescope was going to be killed. Eight teams of researchers pitched NASA their ideas; Reynolds, an astronomer at the University of Mary...
yahoo.com
NYTimes just posted a memoriam on Bernard Roizman’s many contributions to the study of HSV. The “strain F” that he first described has been a key example in many of our studies of HSV-1 genomes. www.nytimes.com/2026/06/04/s...
Bernard Roizman, Virologist Who Demystified Herpes, Dies at 96
nytimes.com
So... I got more information about this plan. The most important points follow on the next posts. 1/3
Jeremy Berg@jeremymberg.bsky.social · 3mo agoI heard from several sources yesterday that NIH is planning to release a Request for Information (RFI) that apparently will include this: Scores and percentiles for NIH grant applications will not be shared with applicants although they will be provided to NIH program officers and staff. 1/3
Very sad to hear about the passing of Bernard Roizman. A real powerhouse in virology whose trainees are numerous and many have also had a profound impact on virology: www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...
The Maturation of a Scientist: An Autobiography
I was shaped by World War II, years of near starvation as a war refugee, postwar chaos, life in several countries, and relative affluence in later life. The truth is that as I was growing up I wanted ...
annualreviews.org
ASV members at your service -- check out your ballot! @szparalab.bsky.social @drjdennehy.bsky.social @salehlabparis.bsky.social @skytree42.bsky.social @paulturnerlab.bsky.social Also but not online: Louis Mansky, Liang Deng, Kai Wu, Shou-Wei Ding, Cristina Rosa, David Buchholz & Patrick Creisher
American Society for Virology@amersocvirology.bsky.social · 6mo agoDo you want a say in the future of ASV leadership? Look for your election ballot for ASV Councilors and President Elect in your member email!
Pro tip for PSU students looking for a spring general-education class: Viruses in our World (SC 130) starts anew in January! Check out Katie Herron's Daily Collegian article about the new class: www.psucollegian.com/culture_life...
Welcome to Black In Micro Week! 🎉 Don't miss today's free events - simply click the linktr.ee/BlackInMicro to 1) Register and 2) Login. Everyone is welcome to join! Show your support by donating at tinyurl.com/GiveBiM (all links in bio). #BlackInMicro #BiM2025
Excellent first day at @pennstateuniv.bsky.social for the Marker lectures hanging out with science celebrities @nicoleacrowley.bsky.social @drohsopretty.bsky.social @symbionticism.bsky.social plus several more folks I was too shy to ask for selfies
This year's Trainee Satellite Symposium at #ASV2025 is a trainee-only session "Exploring the Intersection of Culture, Communication, And Mentorship in Science". It will feature speakers Beronda Montgomery, Robert Fernandez, and Olivia Goldman. Find out more here: asv.org/2025/06/19/t...
Trainee Satellite Workshop | American Society for Virology
ORGANIZERS: Roberto Miguel Alers-Velazquez, Dartmouth College, Councilor For Virology Trainees Laura St. Clair, Johns Hopkins University, Councilor For Virology Trainees This satellite symposium…
asv.org
NEW: Entire scientific fields have been wiped out by the nearly 800 grants cancelled at NIH, finds a @nature.com analysis of the unprecedented cuts. About half of all 2024 NIH projects related to LGBT+ health or vaccine hesitancy — gone. See the other topics and US states hardest hit here:
How Trump 2.0 is slashing NIH-backed research — in charts
Nature analyses which fields of science and US states are being hit hardest by grant terminations.
nature.com
Vaccines work! As measles cases have recently been reported in Alaska, Georgia, New York, Rhode Island and Texas, it's important to remember that prior to the introduction of the measles vaccine in 1963, measles killed 400-500 people and resulted in ~48,000 hospitalizations per year.
1. Today the NIH director issued a new directive slashing overhead rates to 15%. I want to provide some context on what that means and why it matters. grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...
NOT-OD-25-068: Supplemental Guidance to the 2024 NIH Grants Policy Statement: Indirect Cost Rates
NIH Funding Opportunities and Notices in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts: Supplemental Guidance to the 2024 NIH Grants Policy Statement: Indirect Cost Rates NOT-OD-25-068. OD
grants.nih.gov
Shoutout to all of the exceptional Black scientists who have contributed to and are currently contributing to virology research! Your work is vitally important to understanding basic virology controlling viral diseases worldwide! #BlackHistoryMonth
One last reminder -- tomorrow is the last day to submit an abstract for ASV's annual meeting! We have a new, shorter schedule of just 4 awesome days -- July 14-17, 2025, in Montréal 🇨🇦. The ASV Program Committee is eagerly awaiting your excellent abstracts! ✍️
American Society for Virology@amersocvirology.bsky.social · 2y agoThe ASV 2025 abstract deadline is in less than one week! Monday, February 3, 2025 (11:59 pm./23:59 Eastern time) asv.org/asv2025/abst... #ASV2025 #LoveVirology
Heads up, virologists! ASV's annual meeting is going to Montréal 🇨🇦 in July 2025, and abstract submission closes in <3 weeks -- Monday Feb. 3rd!!! 🔬 🧬 The ASV Program Committee is eagerly awaiting your excellent abstracts! ✍️
American Society for Virology@amersocvirology.bsky.social · 2y agoJoin us in Montréal for the 2025 ASV Annual Meeting (July 14-17)! Abstract submission closes on February 3rd, 2025 at 11:59 PM (EST). See details here: asv.org/asv2025/
Our Big Fantastic Virus Database (BFVD) is now published NAR! It contains protein structure predictions of major viral clades, enhanced by petabase-scale homology search and it's explorable on the web. 🌐 bfvd.foldseek.com 💾 bfvd.steineggerlab.workers.dev 📄 academic.oup.com/nar/advance-...
I love that someone left this on my office door board! 😊 🔬🦠 ❤️🩹#LoveVirology
Calling all #virology friends who are on the faculty job market: Penn State's Biology department & our Biochemistry & Molecular Biology department have multiple faculty openings! Link #1 of 3 here -- this one's theme is Evolutionary Genomics (open topic): psu.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/PSU_Ac...
Evolutionary Genomics Tenure Track Faculty Position in Biology Department
APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS: CURRENT PENN STATE EMPLOYEE (faculty, staff, technical service, or student), please login to Workday to complete the internal application process. Please do not apply here, a...
psu.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com
Abstract submission for the biggest US-based meeting in virology #ASV2024 closes in under 3 weeks! ASV's Program Committtee is ready & excited to receive your abstracts, due by February 1! asv.org/asv2024/ @amersocvirology.bsky.social
Ancient chicken remains reveal the origins of virulence in Marek’s disease virus Marek´s disease virus is a herpes virus, the virulence of which has greatly increased www.science.org/doi/... 1/3
Very sad to learn about the passing of Dr. Lindenbach - the world has lost an eminent and deeply caring scientist. www.legacy.com/us/obituarie...
Brett Lindenbach Obituary (1968 - 2023) - Legacy Remembers
Brett Lindenbach, 55, died on December 16, 2023 after enduring glioblastoma and its treatments (both standard and investigational) for 20 months. He was a loving husband, father, son, and brother and
legacy.com
New paper alert After more than 15 years in the field this is my first paper in @JVirology My student Alina Shitrit had led this project as part of Ph.D, with our collaborators @szparalab.bsky.social @nirdrayman.bsky.social @weitzmanlab.bsky.social and more journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
Shared sequence characteristics identified in non-canonical rearrangements of HSV-1 genomes | Journa...
Mutations and genetic rearrangements are the primary driving forces of evolution. Viruses provide valuable model systems for investigating these mechanisms due to their rapid evolutionary rates and va...
journals.asm.org
In-person visits to share science are the best, especially after years of being zoom-limited for pandemic safety. Thank you to Bill @wtjackson.bsky.social & the faculty & trainees at U. Maryland Baltimore for an awesome visit & great post-seminar questions!
Bill Jackson@wtjackson.bsky.social · 3y agoFantastic to host @szparalab.bsky.social on our campus today!
Mark your calendars, virologists! ASV2024 will be held at The Ohio State University in Columbus, OH from June 24-28.
In honor of all the new peeps rebuilding science-social over here (thank goodness!), here's a super-cool new preprint from my old labmate Matt Taylor's group -- on single-cell analyses of HSV1, in neurons cultured in little droplets. Check it out! Matt's not yet on bluesky, but we'll get him here!
Single-cell Herpes Simplex Virus type-1 infection of neurons using drop-based microfluidics reveals ...
bioRxiv - the preprint server for biology, operated by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, a research and educational institution
biorxiv.org
Keen to hear about the new place for science online, from fellow virologists at @amersocvirology.bsky.social! Our pup is listening to the good news too...
