We used structural modeling + minigenome assays to get our first look at this critical host-virus interface. Great collaboration between MSTP student Megan Levy (our lab) & postdoc America Chi in @jagdishpatel.bsky.social’s lab at U Idaho. Preprint online now: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

The Department of Molecular Genetics & Microbiology at UF is hiring a virologist! Come be my colleague and join a fantastic fun virology community! We have two positions open in virology (and genetics too!) please share if you know anyone interested. jobs.sciencecareers.org/job/679645/a...

Assistant / Associate / Professor - Virology, RNA virus, emerging viruses - University of Florida, Gainesville job with University of Florida | 679645

Two tenure-track positions at the ranks of Assistant, Associate, or Full Professor in Virology.

jobs.sciencecareers.org

Huge faculty recruitment effort at the University of Chicago -- a division-wide, open-rank search looking to hire about 20 faculty across 5 research areas in biology. Come be our colleague! Full announcement: uchicago.app.box.com/s/ckih9zv3rj...

I’m thrilled to share that our search for a tenure-track colleague in my *truly wonderful and collegial* Genetics, Genomics, Evolution and Development Division in the MCB Department at Berkeley @berkeleymcb.bsky.social is live! Please share this broad search widely: aprecruit.berkeley.edu/JPF05481

Assistant Professor -Genetics, Genomics, Evolution, and Development - Molecular and Cell Biology

University of California, Berkeley is hiring. Apply now!

aprecruit.berkeley.edu

Join @FredHutch.org's Basic Sciences Division as an Assistant or Associate Professor and help shape the future of fundamental biology. We welcome applicants whose work will complement, extend, or bring new directions to the division.

Come be our colleague. I have been in this Division for 27 years (4 as a postdoc and 23 as a PI). It is an amazing place to work, collaborate, and be inspired. If you are applying to be an Assistant or Associate Professor this Fall, don't miss this deadline.

Fred Hutch Basic Sciences Division@basicsci.fredhutch.org · last wk.

Join @FredHutch.org's Basic Sciences Division as an Assistant or Associate Professor and help shape the future of fundamental biology. We welcome applicants whose work will complement, extend, or bring new directions to the division.

📢New Community Page describing #grafifyonline a browser-app that provides publication-quality graphs and statistical analysis. I hope you the community finds it useful! journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

grafify online: A web app for graphing and statistical analysis

Creating accurate graphs and performing statistical analyses can be challenging for those who lack coding experience. This Community Page introduces grafify online, a free, browser-based app for gener...

journals.plos.org

Very cool pair of papers demonstrating little link between amount of additive genetic variation and amount of nucleotide variation within species: journals.plos.org/plosbiology/... www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Levels of additive genetic variation vary substantially between species

Adaptive potential determines how populations respond to environmental change. This study compiles evolvability estimates from over 170 multicellular species, revealing substantial variation across th...

journals.plos.org

Thrilled to post thread re: new single-cell lineage of mouse embryo reconstructed w/ DNA Typewriter. One animal, zygote to late organogenesis (E13.5). Tree has 1,340,794 transcriptionally profiled, annotated tips (cells), 1,142,588 dated internal nodes, rooted at zygote 1/n

We are excited to share two preprints reporting a mosquito-specific receptor for chikungunya virus and other alphaviruses! 🤩 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... @harvardmicro.bsky.social @harvardvirology.bsky.social @hhmi-science.bsky.social

My very last, last author paper now published a year since retirement. All credit to grad Caroline Langley who did brilliant work, super tech Michelle Lily who finished the experimental work after Caroline graduated, and my ever wise collaborator (and Caroline’s co-mentor) @harmitmalik.bsky.social

@JohnGrossSF@johngrosssf.bsky.social · 3w ago

Strain-specific epistasis shapes fitness landscapes of APOBEC3G antagonism by HIV-1 Vif proteins | Science Advances www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... Congratulations on this beautiful work!

So much sadness, excitement, anxiety.. all the feels! This was a long journey that started with a pandemic and ended with “whatever this is”. But I am thrilled that the Raman lab will be a thing. More about our lab soon but for now, must move toddler and dog across the country. Send good vibes

Harmit Singh Malik@harmitmalik.bsky.social · 3w ago

And just like that… @pravrutharaman.bsky.social is ready to leave us to start her lab at @umassboston.bsky.social We mark this occasion by the ‘solemn’ passing of the crown and specter to the next seniormost postdoc @tamanash.bsky.social; may his reign be as short as British PMs.

Tymoviruses partition selection using overlapping genes to allow their replication genes and their movement protein gene to evolve independently www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/jour...

Tymoviruses partition selection using overlapping genes to allow their replication genes and their movement protein gene to evolve independently

Viral populations evolve as ‘negative selection’ removes mutants with harmful changes and ‘positive selection’ preserves mutants with advantageous changes. How do viruses with small genomes, like tymo...

microbiologyresearch.org

Caroline Langley's primary thesis chapter from her time as a grad student in @memerman.bsky.social's and my lab is now published. She shows that HIV-1 Vif’s ability to maintain A3G antagonism depends on structural robustness, which permits adaptation, and epistasis, which imposes constraints.

@JohnGrossSF@johngrosssf.bsky.social · 3w ago

Strain-specific epistasis shapes fitness landscapes of APOBEC3G antagonism by HIV-1 Vif proteins | Science Advances www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... Congratulations on this beautiful work!

Can't stop thinking about this; transmissible cancers are so crazy, extremely rare (tassie devils, dogs, some clams), but I wonder why? It seems like it should be very common. It's advantageous for the cancer to escape the dead-end host. And yet... www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Brown bullhead catfish melanoma represents a novel transmissible cancer - Nature

Whole-genome sequencing analysis of tumour and matched non-tumour host tissues of the brown bullhead catfish reveals a type of naturally occurring transmissible cancer.

nature.com

Gabriel Spitzer (@kuow.org) visited our lab to learn about our work to use evolutionary principles to supercharge innate immunity to (hopefully) deploy it in the face of viral infections. Gabriel is a masterful storyteller and would recommend listening to his ‘Pocket Science’ series (each ~12 min)

Fred Hutch@fredhutch.org · 4w ago

Our immune systems have evolved to overcome all kinds of flus, plagues and poxes, but the process of adaptation is slow. @basicsci.fredhutch.orgs' @harmitmalik.bsky.social looks to find ways to put evolution into overdrive to fight future diseases. 🎧 Listen to @kuow.org's Pocket Science for more.

Exploitation of host U2AF1 and U2AF2 splicing factors facilitates mosquito-borne orthoflavivirus infection across species academic.oup.com/nar/article/...

Exploitation of host U2AF1 and U2AF2 splicing factors facilitates mosquito-borne orthoflavivirus infection across species

Abstract. To identify novel host factors essential for orthoflavivirus replication, we performed proteomic profiling of endoplasmic reticulum fractions iso

academic.oup.com

Just added a couple more job apps (thanks Rachel and Arun!) but if you've gotten a job in industry, academia (R1, PUI, whatever!) in the last 5 years or so, please consider submitting your job app materials to help other folks! github.com/RILAB/statem...

GitHub - RILAB/statements: Successful Job Applications and Grants

Successful Job Applications and Grants. Contribute to RILAB/statements development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

Our paper out in Science today: The Metis defense system senses molecular byproducts released when a phage degrades the bacterial genome, and then prevents replication of the phage in the infected cell Congratulations @ostermanilya.bsky.social and co-authors!

Bacteria sense virus-induced genome degradation via methylated mononucleotides

Phages often degrade the genome of their bacterial host to individual nucleotides. Here we describe Metis, a bacterial defense system that directly senses phage-mediated host genome degradation. Metis...

science.org

Osterman Ilya@ostermanilya.bsky.social · last mo.

Excited to share that our Metis story is now published in Science! 🎉 Bacteria can sense phage-induced degradation of their genome and activate immunity. Many thanks to everyone who contributed to this work. 📄 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... More details in my earlier thread 🧵⬇️

Structures of asymmetric particles of tick-borne encephalitis virus provide insight into flavivirus assembly and maturation www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Structures of asymmetric particles of tick-borne encephalitis virus provide insight into flavivirus assembly and maturation

Flavivirus maturation is enabled by asymmetric rearrangement of the virus envelope proteins.

science.org

Our evil ORFeome paper is out! In collaboration with @alex-stark.bsky.social, we screened ~4,000 viral proteins and secreted effectors from bacteria and parasites, covering hundreds of diverse pathogens, for phenotypes in human cells.

Training the next generation of scientists is critical for future scientific and medical breakthroughs. The Basic Sciences Postdoctoral Fellowship Award was established by Dr. Steve Hahn to support outstanding postdocs at Fred Hutch Basic Sciences. Apply now:

Basic Sciences Postdoctoral Fellowship Award

The Basic Sciences Postdoctoral Fellowship Award was established in 2026 to honor and support outstanding postdoctoral trainees, based primarily on their initial postdoctoral work at Fred Hutch.

fredhutch.org

A golden opportunity to become part of an excellent scientific community!

Kevin Forsberg@kvnforsberg.bsky.social · 2mo ago

We've pulled up a chair for you and even made you a plate. Join us!

Excited to share our new preprint! 🧬❄️ by brilliant @mdreimann.bsky.social and great collaborators! Using cryo-ET&EM, we reveal archaeal chromatin in a near-native state: variable-beads-on-a-string fibers shaped by growth phase and histone composition #ArchaeaSky www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

In this business, if you do a good job, you are always saying goodbye. I can scarcely believe we are saying goodbye to six remarkable post-bac scholars who are leaving our lab to pursue their dreams in grad/med school. Bon chance Tiia, Hana, Rebecca, Nic, Michelle, Chelsea!

Thrilled to share our latest work on Sindbis virus immunity evasion, now out in @SciAdvances! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... A single codon offers an elegant solution that outsmarts two evolutionarily distant hosts using the same strategy—viral economy at its finest. A true duel of the fates!

Liam Neeson in Star Wars Lightsaber Duel

ALT: Liam Neeson in Star Wars Lightsaber Duel

static.klipy.com

If anyone is looking specifically to work on developing novel transgenesis and genetic control methods for screwworm, that is a plus. Apply!

Jason Rasgon@vectorgen.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Rasgon Lab Postdocs are FINALLY formally available. Apply here! psu.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/PSU_Ac...

🚨 Ever wonder why some viral reassortants establish and spread while others disappear? Us too! Led by @ricardoriveroh.bsky.social, we studied drivers of viral reassortment across hantaviruses and found that it varies dramatically among lineages (1/3) Preprint: doi.org/10.64898/202...

How do human cells defend against viruses? @sgfern.bsky.social discovers that human immune proteins named ISGs target ancient features of replication shared between animal and bacterial viruses – opening analysis of human immunity to the power of bacterial genetics www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

The peer-reviewed version: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Enteric viral infections promote systemic accelerated aging in Drosophila

Enteric viruses act as age-distorters, with infection severity tied to aging hallmarks and consequences.

science.org

Rubén González@rubengonzalez.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Version 2 is out! More comprehensive text plus new tissue- and pathway-specific analysis revealing how different viruses trigger systemic aging through diverse mechanisms. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...