Chris Brooke
@christopherbrooke.bsky.social
Viral evolution and infection biology. Assoc. professor at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. brookelab.org
Reposted by Chris Brooke
Reposted by Chris Brooke
Macedo and Lee misrepresent what happened during the pandemic and are unable to confront Covid's actual toll, presumably because it undermines their premise. A longer take here w/my colleague Greg Gibson:
joshuasweitz.substack.com/p/revisionis...
joshuasweitz.substack.com/p/revisionis...
Revisionism in the Wake of Covid
A dialogue confronting the premise of revisionist efforts to diminish the pandemic's severity and dismantle public health institutions.
joshuasweitz.substack.com
December 26, 2025 at 3:44 PM
Macedo and Lee misrepresent what happened during the pandemic and are unable to confront Covid's actual toll, presumably because it undermines their premise. A longer take here w/my colleague Greg Gibson:
joshuasweitz.substack.com/p/revisionis...
joshuasweitz.substack.com/p/revisionis...
Reposted by Chris Brooke
🧵 Thread on our new @natcomms.nature.com paper: TLDR -- ADP-ribosylation inhibits viral replication and represents a previously under-appreciated arm of innate immunity during flu infection. Read along for the details…. (1/11) www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Global remodeling of ADP-ribosylation by PARP1 suppresses influenza A virus infection - Nature Communications
Influenza A virus infection causes a dramatic upregulation of ADP-ribosylation that as part of the cellular antiviral response, a process that is counteracted by the viral NS1 protein.
www.nature.com
December 19, 2025 at 9:52 PM
🧵 Thread on our new @natcomms.nature.com paper: TLDR -- ADP-ribosylation inhibits viral replication and represents a previously under-appreciated arm of innate immunity during flu infection. Read along for the details…. (1/11) www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Chris Brooke
Reposted by Chris Brooke
Put a perspective piece together on how fever may have driven the evolution of antiviral genes: rupress.org/jem/article/...
Does fever drive the evolution of antiviral genes? | Journal of Experimental Medicine | Rockefeller University Press
Fever is an evolutionary conserved response to pathogens. In this Perspective, Langlois hypothesizes that antiviral genes are selected for their function a
rupress.org
December 15, 2025 at 3:20 PM
Put a perspective piece together on how fever may have driven the evolution of antiviral genes: rupress.org/jem/article/...
Check out @lizthayer.bsky.social's new preprint exploring factors that influence cell-to-cell heterogeneity in interferon (IFN) induction potential!
Single-cell heterogeneity in interferon induction potential is heritable and governed by variation in cell state https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.09.693293v1
December 12, 2025 at 10:12 PM
Check out @lizthayer.bsky.social's new preprint exploring factors that influence cell-to-cell heterogeneity in interferon (IFN) induction potential!
Reposted by Chris Brooke
My first lead author paper is out with Ben Kerr and @alisonfeder.bsky.social! We found that making an antiviral too strong can sometimes make resistance easier to evolve. This has implications for how we design drugs, choose doses, and think about viral evolution in the face of treatment. (1/n)
Intracellular interactions shape antiviral resistance outcomes in poliovirus via eco-evolutionary feedback - Nature Ecology & Evolution
A model of intrahost poliovirus replication shows that, after several rounds of replication, pocapavir, a poliovirus capsid inhibitor, collapses viral density, preventing intracellular interactions th...
www.nature.com
December 8, 2025 at 5:15 PM
My first lead author paper is out with Ben Kerr and @alisonfeder.bsky.social! We found that making an antiviral too strong can sometimes make resistance easier to evolve. This has implications for how we design drugs, choose doses, and think about viral evolution in the face of treatment. (1/n)
Reposted by Chris Brooke
A study on 1.7 million people in Hong Kong shows superior hybrid immunity to Covid in people who got vaccinated before infection vs. people who got infected first. "Our findings are a direct rebuttal to arguments for natural immunity," the authors write. doi.org/10.1016/j.va...
Redirecting
doi.org
December 6, 2025 at 5:02 PM
A study on 1.7 million people in Hong Kong shows superior hybrid immunity to Covid in people who got vaccinated before infection vs. people who got infected first. "Our findings are a direct rebuttal to arguments for natural immunity," the authors write. doi.org/10.1016/j.va...
Reposted by Chris Brooke
Meet the head of a federal panel expected to upend the childhood vaccine schedule later this week. Dr. Kirk Milhoan believes that Covid was made in North Carolina and deployed to China as a bioweapon ... among other conspiracy theories. www.ms.now/news/rfk-jr-...
December 3, 2025 at 1:22 PM
Meet the head of a federal panel expected to upend the childhood vaccine schedule later this week. Dr. Kirk Milhoan believes that Covid was made in North Carolina and deployed to China as a bioweapon ... among other conspiracy theories. www.ms.now/news/rfk-jr-...
Reposted by Chris Brooke
Check out our latest paper on mirusviruses, one of the most remarkable new groups of protist viruses - extremely diverse, carry lots of spliceosomal introns (including new homing introns) and are at the evolutionary crossroads between tailed phages and herpesviruses! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Widespread and intron-rich mirusviruses are predicted to reproduce in nuclei of unicellular eukaryotes - Nature Microbiology
Environmental metagenomic explorations show that Mirusviricota lineages lack essential replication and transcription genes and contain spliceosomal introns, suggesting nuclear reproduction.
www.nature.com
November 28, 2025 at 4:43 PM
Check out our latest paper on mirusviruses, one of the most remarkable new groups of protist viruses - extremely diverse, carry lots of spliceosomal introns (including new homing introns) and are at the evolutionary crossroads between tailed phages and herpesviruses! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Chris Brooke
Amazing example of influenza cheat/cooperator cycles in this recent paper - the repeatability of the oscillatory cycles is so striking
Congrats to @alnajifg.bsky.social , @christopherbrooke.bsky.social , @vignuzzilab.bsky.social & friends
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
🧪 #socialviruses
Congrats to @alnajifg.bsky.social , @christopherbrooke.bsky.social , @vignuzzilab.bsky.social & friends
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
🧪 #socialviruses
November 28, 2025 at 7:20 PM
Amazing example of influenza cheat/cooperator cycles in this recent paper - the repeatability of the oscillatory cycles is so striking
Congrats to @alnajifg.bsky.social , @christopherbrooke.bsky.social , @vignuzzilab.bsky.social & friends
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
🧪 #socialviruses
Congrats to @alnajifg.bsky.social , @christopherbrooke.bsky.social , @vignuzzilab.bsky.social & friends
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
🧪 #socialviruses
Reposted by Chris Brooke
This is wild.
Remember the NJ crytic lineage?
I posted 18 months ago that the Spike was too divergent to predict ACE2 binding, and asked if someone else could figure it out.
Some colleagues took me up on it.
Guess what they found?
1/
Remember the NJ crytic lineage?
I posted 18 months ago that the Spike was too divergent to predict ACE2 binding, and asked if someone else could figure it out.
Some colleagues took me up on it.
Guess what they found?
1/
November 21, 2025 at 3:19 PM
This is wild.
Remember the NJ crytic lineage?
I posted 18 months ago that the Spike was too divergent to predict ACE2 binding, and asked if someone else could figure it out.
Some colleagues took me up on it.
Guess what they found?
1/
Remember the NJ crytic lineage?
I posted 18 months ago that the Spike was too divergent to predict ACE2 binding, and asked if someone else could figure it out.
Some colleagues took me up on it.
Guess what they found?
1/
Reposted by Chris Brooke
Evolution of Ab cross-reactivity to influenza H5N1 NA:
Isolation & characterization of protective antibody against influenza neuraminidase that acquires cross-reactivity to avian H5N1 as a byproduct of affinity maturation against human H3N2 @wchnicholas.bsky.social
www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...
Isolation & characterization of protective antibody against influenza neuraminidase that acquires cross-reactivity to avian H5N1 as a byproduct of affinity maturation against human H3N2 @wchnicholas.bsky.social
www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...
Evolution of antibody cross-reactivity to influenza H5N1 neuraminidase from an N2-specific germline
Lv et al. isolated a protective antibody against influenza neuraminidase that acquires
cross-reactivity to avian H5N1 as a byproduct of affinity maturation against human
H3N2. Along with structural an...
www.cell.com
November 19, 2025 at 8:09 PM
Evolution of Ab cross-reactivity to influenza H5N1 NA:
Isolation & characterization of protective antibody against influenza neuraminidase that acquires cross-reactivity to avian H5N1 as a byproduct of affinity maturation against human H3N2 @wchnicholas.bsky.social
www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...
Isolation & characterization of protective antibody against influenza neuraminidase that acquires cross-reactivity to avian H5N1 as a byproduct of affinity maturation against human H3N2 @wchnicholas.bsky.social
www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...
Reposted by Chris Brooke
Our lab's paper describing the North American H5N1 epizootic is out now in Nature! So thrilled to have this out, and congratulations to @lambod50.bsky.social for all the fantastic work on this: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Ecology and spread of the North American H5N1 epizootic - Nature
The panzootic of highly pathogenic H5N1 since 2021 was driven by around nine introductions into the Atlantic and Pacific flyways, followed by rapid dissemination through wild migratory birds, primaril...
www.nature.com
November 12, 2025 at 7:33 PM
Our lab's paper describing the North American H5N1 epizootic is out now in Nature! So thrilled to have this out, and congratulations to @lambod50.bsky.social for all the fantastic work on this: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Chris Brooke
Check out our latest preprint on the effects of antibody-mediated feedback on ongoing germinal center reactions, led by Alex Barbulescu and @janabilanovic.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Antibody-mediated feedback modulates interclonal competition in the germinal center
Serum antibodies from prior immune responses regulate B cell activation and germinal center (GC) access upon recall immunization. However, how antibodies produced by an ongoing immune response influen...
www.biorxiv.org
November 8, 2025 at 3:04 PM
Check out our latest preprint on the effects of antibody-mediated feedback on ongoing germinal center reactions, led by Alex Barbulescu and @janabilanovic.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Chris Brooke
Finally, it's up on bioRxiv! It's been a rewarding journey shaping this story. My deepest gratitude to @vignuzzilab.bsky.social and @christopherbrooke.bsky.social for their incredible support, and to the @mcbillinois.bsky.social & @astar-idlabs.bsky.social for enabling this research
First big piece of research from our SG lab: Fadi's work with Chris Brooke's lab. Flu serially passaged 80X selects a defective genome with improved competition, but is nonviable as a full virus!
Notable improvement & safety for DVGs as antiviral RNA therapies!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Notable improvement & safety for DVGs as antiviral RNA therapies!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Longitudinal analysis of influenza A virus deletion-containing viral genomes reveals key determinants of co-evolutionary dynamics and interference
The substantial genetic diversity generated during influenza A virus replication facilitates both evasion of pre-existing host immunity and cross-species emergence. A major contributor to this diversi...
www.biorxiv.org
November 4, 2025 at 11:02 AM
Finally, it's up on bioRxiv! It's been a rewarding journey shaping this story. My deepest gratitude to @vignuzzilab.bsky.social and @christopherbrooke.bsky.social for their incredible support, and to the @mcbillinois.bsky.social & @astar-idlabs.bsky.social for enabling this research
Reposted by Chris Brooke
New in ‘Virus Evolution’ from #QVEU! PhD student Jack Dorman used deep mutational scanning to measure evolutionary constraints on the Envelope protein of West Nile Virus in human, mosquito, and bird cell lines, doing a lot of work to put it into a structural context #VirEvol
Constraint in West Nile Virus Envelope Protein across Mosquito, Human, and Avian Host Cell Environments
Abstract. Arthropod-borne viruses are a major cause of global viral infections, displaying evolutionary dynamics that differ significantly from vertebrate-
academic.oup.com
November 1, 2025 at 6:44 PM
Reposted by Chris Brooke
Excited to announce that we have a new faculty search opening in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Minnesota for a tenure track Assistant Professor in RNA Virology. More info can be found here: hr.myu.umn.edu/jobs/ext/365...
Careers
Minimum qualifications:PhD, MD, or equivalent in a relevant field of study, plus applicable postdoctoral experience.
hr.myu.umn.edu
October 26, 2025 at 2:41 PM
Excited to announce that we have a new faculty search opening in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Minnesota for a tenure track Assistant Professor in RNA Virology. More info can be found here: hr.myu.umn.edu/jobs/ext/365...
Reposted by Chris Brooke
Mysteries of trafficking of the vRNP segmented genome and assembly of influenza A virus revealed by in situ cryo-ET!
🔗 rdcu.be/eMmct
We are very excited that our paper is finally out!
🎉 Big congratulations to Moritz Wachsmuth-Melm and to everyone involved.
🔗 rdcu.be/eMmct
We are very excited that our paper is finally out!
🎉 Big congratulations to Moritz Wachsmuth-Melm and to everyone involved.
October 24, 2025 at 8:11 AM
Mysteries of trafficking of the vRNP segmented genome and assembly of influenza A virus revealed by in situ cryo-ET!
🔗 rdcu.be/eMmct
We are very excited that our paper is finally out!
🎉 Big congratulations to Moritz Wachsmuth-Melm and to everyone involved.
🔗 rdcu.be/eMmct
We are very excited that our paper is finally out!
🎉 Big congratulations to Moritz Wachsmuth-Melm and to everyone involved.
Reposted by Chris Brooke
Evolution of Ab cross-reactivity to influenza H5N1 NA
New work isolates & characterizes protective antibody against influenza neuraminidase that acquires cross-reactivity to avian H5N1 as a byproduct of affinity maturation against human H3N2 @wchnicholas.bsky.social
www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...
New work isolates & characterizes protective antibody against influenza neuraminidase that acquires cross-reactivity to avian H5N1 as a byproduct of affinity maturation against human H3N2 @wchnicholas.bsky.social
www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...
Evolution of antibody cross-reactivity to influenza H5N1 neuraminidase from an N2-specific germline
Lv et al. isolated a protective antibody against influenza neuraminidase that acquires
cross-reactivity to avian H5N1 as a byproduct of affinity maturation against human
H3N2. Along with structural an...
www.cell.com
October 22, 2025 at 11:38 AM
Evolution of Ab cross-reactivity to influenza H5N1 NA
New work isolates & characterizes protective antibody against influenza neuraminidase that acquires cross-reactivity to avian H5N1 as a byproduct of affinity maturation against human H3N2 @wchnicholas.bsky.social
www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...
New work isolates & characterizes protective antibody against influenza neuraminidase that acquires cross-reactivity to avian H5N1 as a byproduct of affinity maturation against human H3N2 @wchnicholas.bsky.social
www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...
Reposted by Chris Brooke
Our paper on the phenomenon of persistence and latency in Ebola virus in an unobserved reservoir is finally out in preprint: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Evidence of latency reshapes our understanding of Ebola virus reservoir dynamics
Ebola virus (EBOV) has caused severe outbreaks of haemorrhagic fever in Central and West Africa since the first observed zoonotic epidemic in the late 1970s. While recent outbreaks have revealed much ...
www.biorxiv.org
October 19, 2025 at 11:36 AM
Our paper on the phenomenon of persistence and latency in Ebola virus in an unobserved reservoir is finally out in preprint: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Chris Brooke
Tonic type I interferon signaling optimizes the antiviral function of plasmacytoid dendritic cells
www.nature.com/articles/s41... @natimmunol.nature.com @idoyagalab.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41... @natimmunol.nature.com @idoyagalab.bsky.social
October 14, 2025 at 5:53 PM
Tonic type I interferon signaling optimizes the antiviral function of plasmacytoid dendritic cells
www.nature.com/articles/s41... @natimmunol.nature.com @idoyagalab.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41... @natimmunol.nature.com @idoyagalab.bsky.social
Reposted by Chris Brooke
RFK fired the CDC official (w/decades of experience) leading the measles outbreak response. It's been decades since we've had such a large outbreak. And just to ensure they they can spread the measles outbreak even farther, they also fired the leadership for the center focused on immunization.
October 11, 2025 at 2:58 PM
RFK fired the CDC official (w/decades of experience) leading the measles outbreak response. It's been decades since we've had such a large outbreak. And just to ensure they they can spread the measles outbreak even farther, they also fired the leadership for the center focused on immunization.
Reposted by Chris Brooke
NEW: @CDCgov hit hard by massive firings that several staff describe to me as a “bloodbath.”
Among those RIFd:
—leadership of the center for immunization and respiratory diseases;
—leadership of global health center
—leadership of the measles outbreak response; 1/4
Among those RIFd:
—leadership of the center for immunization and respiratory diseases;
—leadership of global health center
—leadership of the measles outbreak response; 1/4
October 11, 2025 at 12:49 PM
NEW: @CDCgov hit hard by massive firings that several staff describe to me as a “bloodbath.”
Among those RIFd:
—leadership of the center for immunization and respiratory diseases;
—leadership of global health center
—leadership of the measles outbreak response; 1/4
Among those RIFd:
—leadership of the center for immunization and respiratory diseases;
—leadership of global health center
—leadership of the measles outbreak response; 1/4
Reposted by Chris Brooke
Job alert ‼️ UChicago Micro is hiring! Open to tenured/tenure track faculty at all levels in any area of microbiology. Come join our amazing and growing department. apply.interfolio.com/174404
October 4, 2025 at 6:44 PM
Job alert ‼️ UChicago Micro is hiring! Open to tenured/tenure track faculty at all levels in any area of microbiology. Come join our amazing and growing department. apply.interfolio.com/174404