The American Academy of Microbiology proudly announces the election of 63 fellows to the Class of 2026. Over the past 50 years, the Academy has elected +2,700 distinguished scientists. This year, the new fellows hail from 14 countries. Read press release: asm.social/2OC

Our latest paper shows that IFITM3 deficiency allows SARS-CoV-2 to adapt more easily to a new host species. Mouse-adapted beta and omicron variants from this work maintained their unique tropisms and pathogenic characteristics allowing exciting comparative studies. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Happy Valentine’s Day from the Yount Lab!

We are currently in the process of recruiting a technician. 🥼🐭🔬 If you know anyone with enthusiasm to learn new skills and stamina to hear me go on and on about IFNs, please have them reach out to me for more details!

The Midwest Virology Symposium this weekend at U Kentucky was one of the best conferences I've been to in years. The science and energy were awesome and we had a great group there from Ohio!

🚨🚨Our new preprint establishes the first robust model of severe influenza cardiac complications in WT immunocompetent mice. Heart transcriptomics implicated a potential therapeutic metabolic intervention that indeed shows beneficial heart/survival effects. 🦠🧫🧬🫁🫀🐀 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Cardioprotective effects of AMPK activation in H1N1 influenza virus infection

Cardiac complications are among the most common and severe extrapulmonary manifestations of influenza virus infection, yet they are rarely recapitulated in mouse models without immunodeficiency. We fo...

biorxiv.org

A tour de force paper from my OSU colleague Haitao Wen's lab showing that O-GlcNAc transferase plays enzymatic and non-enzymatic roles in flu infection, regulating interferon and lipid droplets. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

O-GlcNAc transferase plays dual antiviral roles by integrating innate immunity and lipid metabolism - Nature Communications

O-GlcNAc transferase (OGT) mediates antiviral host immune response. Here, the authors identify a catalytic activity-independent function of OGT in restraining influenza A virus replication by transloc...

nature.com

🧬 Our new preprint showing gasdermin E is dispensable for inflammatory responses and pathogenesis in H1N1 influenza. Unlike our prior work on GSDMD. 🫁🦠🐁 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

www.fda.gov/news-events/...

FDA-NIH Workshop: Reducing Animal Testing

The FDA is hosting a workshop on reducing animal testing. The workshop is open to current FDA and NIH employees.

fda.gov

Our new paper in collab with @hemannlab.bsky.social. Shows IFITM3 KO mice that are more easily infected with most, if not all, influenza strains can be used for preclinical challenge studies to test vaccine candidates. 🫁🦠🥼💉https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264410X25007558

IFITM3-deficient mice as a model for testing influenza virus vaccines via the intramuscular route

Influenza virus infections remain a significant global health concern. Development of a universal influenza vaccine has been met with challenges, in p…

sciencedirect.com

Congrats to @adforu.bsky.social and @novaislab.bsky.social !!! First ever to be selected for this honor at Ohio State!

Emily Hemann@hemannlab.bsky.social · last yr.

It’s bad b*tch o’clock! Super pumped that my amazing colleagues and scientists @adforu.bsky.social and @novaislab.bsky.social were both selected for BWF PATH! shorturl.at/bW40N

📢 Reminder: mBio publishes Minireviews & mGems on microbiology/immunology topics. Got an idea? 💡 Email me! These submissions support ASM's conferences, fellowships, & advocacy. 🧪👩‍🔬🦠🧬🧫

Thrilled to share our new mini review article on public antibodies against human pathogens, now out in #mBio. @camilahcoelho.bsky.social journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

Public antibodies: convergent signatures in human humoral immunity against pathogens | mBio

The human humoral immune response is mediated by antibodies, which are secreted in response to antigen exposure and are critical to protect against infection (1–3). Antibodies display enormous diversi...

journals.asm.org

A minireview from @parkerjdenz.bsky.social just out in @mbio.bsky.social! We explore why studies on IFITM3 SNPs and viral disease severity often conflict. Summary: IFITM3 matters most during infections with emergent viruses, when adaptive immunity is lacking. journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

IFITM3 variants point to a critical role in emergent virus infections | mBio

The interferon-induced transmembrane protein (IFITM) family includes five IFITMs in humans (IFITM1, 2, 3, 5, and 10). Each of these displays antiviral activity when overexpressed, but only IFITMs 1, 2...

journals.asm.org

Published an op-ed for @cnn.com: “Nobel laureate: I owe America my success. Today, its scientific future is in danger.” A personal reflection on what’s at stake as science funding gets slashed. I’d be grateful if you could amplify both in and beyond the science world. www.cnn.com/2025/04/09/h...

Nobel laureate: I owe America my success. Today, its scientific future is in danger | CNN

Dr. Ardem Patapoutian says he watches “with deep sadness as the United States’ remarkable scientific enterprise, which took generations of hard work and national investment to build, faces a concerted...

cnn.com

Does anybody know if the latest iterations of 23 and Me provide data on IFITM3 SNPs?

Patrick Mitchell (@psmitchej.bsky.social), Thornton Thompson and I wrote an OpEd, with support from 650+ biomedical researchers across Washington State (450+ at time of submission). www.heraldnet.com/opinion/comm... List: www.moltkelab.com/s/NIH-OpEd-S...

Comment: Pending cuts to medical research would harm all in state | HeraldNet.com

As UW medical scientists, we urge Washingtonians to defend the NIH’s life-saving research funding.

heraldnet.com

A great new mBio mGem from @lakdawalalab.bsky.social on transmission and exposure risks of dairy cow H5N1 influenza virus journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

mGem: Transmission and exposure risks of dairy cow H5N1 influenza virus | mBio

Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 virus of the 2.3.4.4b clade has been circulating in North America since 2022 (1–3). On 25 March 2024, a strain in this clade, genotype B3.13, was confirmed to be infecting dairy cows in Texas and Kansas (Fig. 1A). Since then, dairy herds in several other states tested positive for this strain and spillover into dairy workers has followed (4–7). Infections of other domestic and peridomestic animals, such as cats and raccoons, have also occurred on the same premises containing infected cows (7, 8). Notably, the spread of cow H5N1 to poultry flocks has resulted in the culling of millions of birds and the infection of workers involved in culling operations on multiple occasions (9). As of 12 December 2024, over 800 dairy herds in 16 states have had confirmed infections, including three of the five biggest dairy-producing states (Fig. 1B) (10, 11). At least 58 known human cases of H5N1 including those exposed to dairy cows, poultry, or unknown exposure source have been reported by the CDC as of 12 December 2024 (12). Disturbingly, in September, cow H5N1 infections were confirmed in two housemates in Missouri without livestock contact (13, 14). Understanding how cow H5N1 transmits within and between farms is critical for curtailing the outbreak. Below, we discuss knowledge regarding the spread of cow H5N1 between farms, between cows, and the risk to humans.

journals.asm.org

🚨Our new preprint! IFITM3 KO mice accelerated SARS-CoV-2 Beta & Omicron adaptation, preserving human-relevant traits & enabling comparative pathology/transcriptomics in mice. 🫁🦠🧬🥼 With @parkerjdenz.bsky.social, @adforu.bsky.social & team. 🔗 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

NIH has reclassified SARS-CoV-2 as a risk group 2 agent. I think this is the right move and will greatly increase the speed at which research can be performed. osp.od.nih.gov/policies/bio...

Excited to be cohosting Dr. Kellie Jurado for a fantastic talk today! Full credit to @adforu.bsky.social for hosting and organizing this great visit. Wonderful to have her at @ohiostatemed.bsky.social

Tamar Gur MD PhD@tamargurmdphd.bsky.social · 2y ago

Delighted that @yountlabosu.bsky.social brought Dr Kellie Jurado from Penn to @ohiostatemed.bsky.social to speak today

For a number of years now, I’ve had a policy that I don’t submit to nor will I review for MPDI and Frontiers. This analysis supports that decision. It’s no reflection on the many excellent papers and studies that have been published in them, but rather on their editorial and business practices.

Mark A. Hanson@hansonmark.bsky.social · 2y ago

The strain on scientific publishing: we set out to characterise the remarkable growth of the scientific literature in the last few years, in spite of declining growth in total scientists. What is going on? direct.mit.edu/qss/article/... A 🧵 1/n #AcademicSky #PhDchat #ScientificPublishing #SciPub

Great presentations today at the Autumn Immunology Conference by @jackroettger.bsky.social and @samuel-speaks.bsky.social from the Yount Lab!

#AIC2024 come visit my talk “GSDMD promotes influenza virus induced mortality through neutrophil amplification of inflammation” in workshop 6 (abstract 59) 🐁🦠

I created a simple flow chart to help my lab trainees choose the most appropriate stats test in Prism (*for single-factor comparisons only). Feel free to share with your group if you think it could be helpful first start.

Currently doing paperwork to make our IFITM3 KO mice available through Jax Labs. So many functions in antiviral response, inflammation, cell signaling, alzheimer's. Can't keep up with the mouse requests ourselves any more and can't wait to see all the research to come!

All these beautiful cookies in my office and I can't eat any til 2:00! Early congrats to @parkerjdenz.bsky.social on what I'm sure will be a great thesis defense! 🎉 🍾

A really nice description of our work on IFITM3 deficiency enhancing zoonotic virus infection and adaptation. news.osu.edu/new-roles-in...

New roles in infectious process for molecule that inhibits flu

Researchers have identified new roles for a protein long known to protect against severe flu infection – among them, raising the minimum number of viral particles needed to cause sickness.The protein ...

news.osu.edu

🦠🧬🧫 Reminder that mBio publishes review articles and perspectives. If you have an idea in any area of microbiology or infection immunology, message me. No publication charge. Support Amer Soc Micro rather than a for-profit publisher! 📑💰 journals.asm.org/journal/mbio...

mBio Formatting Information

Overview of types of content published in mBio

journals.asm.org

Couldn’t find a virology starter pack so here’s one to get the ball rolling. Repost/reply if you are a virologist so I can find and add you to the list! go.bsky.app/SinqoJU