RTarlinton.bsky.social
@rtarlinton.bsky.social
Veterinarian, Virologist, Australian/British (with side-forays into the German speaking world)
Finally in press. Inherited predisposition to cancer in Koala's due to the retroviruses in their genomes. Amazing work from postdoc Guilherme Neuman tracking repetitive elements in genomes and a fantastic collaboration led by San Diego Zoo and Illumina iConserve
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Client Challenge
www.nature.com
January 9, 2026 at 5:38 PM
Finally in press. Inherited predisposition to cancer in Koala's due to the retroviruses in their genomes. Amazing work from postdoc Guilherme Neuman tracking repetitive elements in genomes and a fantastic collaboration led by San Diego Zoo and Illumina iConserve
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
A more robust version of the feedback I write a lot in paper reviews ie “ your tree is wrong as you didn’t put appropriate reference sequences In it in the first place “
Virus taxonomy increasingly rests on phylogenetic hypotheses, but the trees, alignments, and assumptions behind them are often ephemeral.
This post explores what it might look like to make that phylogenetic basis transparent and reproducible, using retroviruses as a case study.
shorturl.at/s9aft
This post explores what it might look like to make that phylogenetic basis transparent and reproducible, using retroviruses as a case study.
shorturl.at/s9aft
Making Phylogeny-backed Virus Taxonomy Reproducible
A Retrovirus Case Study Using GLUE
shorturl.at
January 5, 2026 at 10:36 PM
A more robust version of the feedback I write a lot in paper reviews ie “ your tree is wrong as you didn’t put appropriate reference sequences In it in the first place “
Ahhhh our food security is useless in the uk.. we spend a fortune on completely ineffective things …
Do you want your van washed for free?
Try smuggling illegal meat into the UK.
You won’t be arrested, your vehicle won’t be seized — instead your lorry gets a taxpayer-funded wash and you drive on.
Try smuggling illegal meat into the UK.
You won’t be arrested, your vehicle won’t be seized — instead your lorry gets a taxpayer-funded wash and you drive on.
January 5, 2026 at 10:24 PM
Ahhhh our food security is useless in the uk.. we spend a fortune on completely ineffective things …
Ah my homeland … free outdoor BBQs ( gas operated) are indeed a thing and we spent much time picknicking at them when we lived in Brisbane
“Maybe we should show them Canberra…nah.”
This year’s annual Aussie lamb ad is out. 🇦🇺
www.youtube.com/watch?app=de...
This year’s annual Aussie lamb ad is out. 🇦🇺
www.youtube.com/watch?app=de...
The Happiness List - 2026 Australian Lamb ad
YouTube video by Australian Lamb
www.youtube.com
January 5, 2026 at 7:53 AM
Ah my homeland … free outdoor BBQs ( gas operated) are indeed a thing and we spent much time picknicking at them when we lived in Brisbane
For the avoidance of doubt . Spanish ASF outbreak is not a lab strain … back to boring old poor enforcement of food trading standards as the origen
en.ara.cat/society/init...
en.ara.cat/society/init...
The study commissioned by the Catalan government rules out that the African swine fever outbreak originated at IRTA: "It's a strain that has never been found before."
The sequencing carried out by the IRB, parallel to the official study, concludes that the Collserola variant does not match any known sample.
en.ara.cat
December 31, 2025 at 12:56 PM
For the avoidance of doubt . Spanish ASF outbreak is not a lab strain … back to boring old poor enforcement of food trading standards as the origen
en.ara.cat/society/init...
en.ara.cat/society/init...
A timely paper if you are tucking into the Christmas roast poultry (given the levels of this disease at the moment) . GP vets in the UK generally don't feel prepared for dealing with a High path Avian Influenza case.
bvajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
bvajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
General practice veterinarians’ attitudes towards avian influenza: A COM‐B analysis of barriers to backyard poultry treatment
Background The recent expansion of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 to non-avian species in the United States has intensified public health-related concerns. In Great Britain, low veter...
bvajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
December 23, 2025 at 12:04 PM
A timely paper if you are tucking into the Christmas roast poultry (given the levels of this disease at the moment) . GP vets in the UK generally don't feel prepared for dealing with a High path Avian Influenza case.
bvajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
bvajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
Part of the ongoing bluetongue efforts - calling all sheep scanners this time (yes pregnancy scanning sheep is a real job) - podcast especially for you on things to discuss with farmers when scanning rates are unexpectedly low
ruminanthw.org.uk/bluetongue-v...
ruminanthw.org.uk/bluetongue-v...
Fertility and scanning rate information for sheep scanners - Ruminant Health & Welfare
Cattle & Sheep Health & Welfare Survey 2020
ruminanthw.org.uk
December 23, 2025 at 11:45 AM
Part of the ongoing bluetongue efforts - calling all sheep scanners this time (yes pregnancy scanning sheep is a real job) - podcast especially for you on things to discuss with farmers when scanning rates are unexpectedly low
ruminanthw.org.uk/bluetongue-v...
ruminanthw.org.uk/bluetongue-v...
Reposted by RTarlinton.bsky.social
📢 Voluntary opportunity
Journal of General Virology is looking for Editors to support peer review and editorial decisions. This unpaid role contributes to journal strategy and community engagement in virology.
More info: Voluntary Opportunities 👉 microb.io/Vacancies
Journal of General Virology is looking for Editors to support peer review and editorial decisions. This unpaid role contributes to journal strategy and community engagement in virology.
More info: Voluntary Opportunities 👉 microb.io/Vacancies
Jobs
View the current job vacancies at the Microbiology Society.
microb.io
December 20, 2025 at 12:00 PM
📢 Voluntary opportunity
Journal of General Virology is looking for Editors to support peer review and editorial decisions. This unpaid role contributes to journal strategy and community engagement in virology.
More info: Voluntary Opportunities 👉 microb.io/Vacancies
Journal of General Virology is looking for Editors to support peer review and editorial decisions. This unpaid role contributes to journal strategy and community engagement in virology.
More info: Voluntary Opportunities 👉 microb.io/Vacancies
New pre-print from a very talented and dedicated bunch of Chilean Veterinary Scientists (including my recent PhD student Cristobal Castillo). This one very clearly shows that we will need to vaccinate Guigna (small south american wildcats) for feline leukaemia virus
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Cross-species Transmission and Host Adaptation of Feline Leukaemia Virus between Domestic Cats and the Wild Felid Leopardus guigna.
Feline leukaemia virus (FeLV) is distributed worldwide among domestic cats and non-domestic felids. Frequent spillover events from domestic cats to wild felids have resulted in fatal disease in indivi...
www.biorxiv.org
December 19, 2025 at 5:52 PM
New pre-print from a very talented and dedicated bunch of Chilean Veterinary Scientists (including my recent PhD student Cristobal Castillo). This one very clearly shows that we will need to vaccinate Guigna (small south american wildcats) for feline leukaemia virus
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
I think the take home message from this paper is that attempting to select for either intelligence or resilience to mental health problems in people is likely to a) not work b) lead to some wildly awful outcomes. So much for the uber-mensch fans....
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Shared genetic risk in psychiatric disorders
Scientists have characterized the broad genetic patterns that are shared across 14 psychiatric disorders. Could it reframe how mental-health conditions are diagnosed?
www.nature.com
December 12, 2025 at 5:30 PM
I think the take home message from this paper is that attempting to select for either intelligence or resilience to mental health problems in people is likely to a) not work b) lead to some wildly awful outcomes. So much for the uber-mensch fans....
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
New paper finally out. This one required an extraordinarily dedicated group of young Nigerian veterinarians (including my former PhD student Ternenge Apaa) to bring it to fruition.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0817/14/12/1271
www.mdpi.com
December 11, 2025 at 11:18 AM
New paper finally out. This one required an extraordinarily dedicated group of young Nigerian veterinarians (including my former PhD student Ternenge Apaa) to bring it to fruition.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0817/14/12/1271
Found this article interesting (paywalled unfortunately) but the average wage of a newly qualified builder and a new grad vet in the UK are about the same - their lifetime debt for their training however is not.
www.economist.com/britain/2025...
www.economist.com/britain/2025...
Pity the AVOCADOs
The Aggrieved Victims Of Crushing Academic Debt Obligations have it rough
www.economist.com
December 8, 2025 at 11:40 AM
Found this article interesting (paywalled unfortunately) but the average wage of a newly qualified builder and a new grad vet in the UK are about the same - their lifetime debt for their training however is not.
www.economist.com/britain/2025...
www.economist.com/britain/2025...
Virology group's are challenged to beat our christmas tree effort
Feeling festive?
Why not deck the halls with @cvrinfo.bsky.social's papercraft #VirusSnowflakes and celebrate the science of viruses and the fight against viral diseases.
Download for free: cvr-engagement.co.uk/virus-snowfl...
#scicomm #sciart #decorations
Why not deck the halls with @cvrinfo.bsky.social's papercraft #VirusSnowflakes and celebrate the science of viruses and the fight against viral diseases.
Download for free: cvr-engagement.co.uk/virus-snowfl...
#scicomm #sciart #decorations
December 5, 2025 at 10:27 AM
Virology group's are challenged to beat our christmas tree effort
I mean not that I think Mink farming is an excellent idea but if we are going to do it selecting animals that are incapable of mounting an antiviral response doesn't seem like a good idea...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Strong selection signatures for Aleutian disease tolerance acting on novel candidate genes linked to immune and cellular responses in American mink (Neogale vison) - Scientific Reports
Scientific Reports - Strong selection signatures for Aleutian disease tolerance acting on novel candidate genes linked to immune and cellular responses in American mink (Neogale vison)
www.nature.com
December 4, 2025 at 1:18 PM
I mean not that I think Mink farming is an excellent idea but if we are going to do it selecting animals that are incapable of mounting an antiviral response doesn't seem like a good idea...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
The onevirology Christmas tree, complete with llama antibodies, giant microbes and virus snowflakes.
@socialinfluenza.bsky.social
@socialinfluenza.bsky.social
December 2, 2025 at 1:18 PM
The onevirology Christmas tree, complete with llama antibodies, giant microbes and virus snowflakes.
@socialinfluenza.bsky.social
@socialinfluenza.bsky.social
The new FVE position statement on preferentially promoting vaccination over culling policies in emerging disease outbreaks is one that I wholeheartedly support. If we are going to maintain public support for disease control in animal populations we need to do this.
fve.org/publications...
fve.org/publications...
Prevention is Better than Killing – FVE – Federation of Veterinarians of Europe
FVE AND ITS MEMBERS ARE COMMITTED TO WORKING WITH STAKEHOLDERS, THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION, NATIONAL GOVERNMENTS, WOAH, ALLIED ANIMAL HEALTH PROFESSIONALS AND FARMERS TO STRENGTHEN EUROPE’S PREPAREDNESS AND RESILIENCE AGAINST ANIMAL DISEASES
fve.org
November 28, 2025 at 12:25 PM
The new FVE position statement on preferentially promoting vaccination over culling policies in emerging disease outbreaks is one that I wholeheartedly support. If we are going to maintain public support for disease control in animal populations we need to do this.
fve.org/publications...
fve.org/publications...
Sneak them into Christmas dismays … see how many people notice! They are fun ( and beautiful) craft and together what’s not to like ?
If you'd like to celebrate the biology of viruses - or the fight against viral diseases - this winter, try out our free and updated #VirusSnowflake designs.
Please share, and if you have any photos of Virus Snowflakes in your area it would be lovely to see them!
cvr-engagement.co.uk/virus-snowfl...
Please share, and if you have any photos of Virus Snowflakes in your area it would be lovely to see them!
cvr-engagement.co.uk/virus-snowfl...
November 25, 2025 at 7:43 AM
Sneak them into Christmas dismays … see how many people notice! They are fun ( and beautiful) craft and together what’s not to like ?
Some work on vaccine communications to farmers produced with a final year student last year on a policy internship. No point having a vaccine if they don't use it.... www.nottingham.ac.uk/science/scho...
Policy briefs
www.nottingham.ac.uk
November 21, 2025 at 1:53 PM
Some work on vaccine communications to farmers produced with a final year student last year on a policy internship. No point having a vaccine if they don't use it.... www.nottingham.ac.uk/science/scho...
So ladies ( and gents) of science what do we think of this? www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Women seem to retract fewer papers than men — but why?
In an analysis of nearly 900 retracted medical research studies, the number of female authors is disproportionately low.
www.nature.com
November 20, 2025 at 1:16 PM
So ladies ( and gents) of science what do we think of this? www.nature.com/articles/d41...
In a new experience for me, my farmer survey is being repeatedly spam botted.. why someone would bother is beyond me but it turns out that pretty much all the survey tools the university has access to have no mechanism for stopping this...
November 10, 2025 at 2:55 PM
In a new experience for me, my farmer survey is being repeatedly spam botted.. why someone would bother is beyond me but it turns out that pretty much all the survey tools the university has access to have no mechanism for stopping this...
Reposted by RTarlinton.bsky.social
This is interesting and sounds to me much more realistic than many other accounts...
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Remembering my sister Rosalind Franklin
Rosalind Franklin died of ovarian cancer in 1958 aged 37 years. Sympathy and feminism
have combined to give us her familiar image as a downtrodden woman scientist, brilliant
but neglected, a heroine t...
www.thelancet.com
November 9, 2025 at 10:48 AM
This is interesting and sounds to me much more realistic than many other accounts...
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
to be honest it took me several years of seeing the adds to realise that it wasn't some sort of ticktock fantasy thing....
November 6, 2025 at 1:25 PM
to be honest it took me several years of seeing the adds to realise that it wasn't some sort of ticktock fantasy thing....
I ( and many others) provided evidence for this report but I have to admit found the end result deeply underwhelming … it mostly berates the apha for things it doesn’t have the money to do and provides no ideas for ways out of the mess
committees.parliament.uk/committee/12...
committees.parliament.uk/committee/12...
Govt not adequately prepared for the most severe animal disease outbreaks, PAC warns - Committees - UK Parliament
Government is not adequately prepared for the most severe animal disease outbreaks.
committees.parliament.uk
November 5, 2025 at 10:49 PM
I ( and many others) provided evidence for this report but I have to admit found the end result deeply underwhelming … it mostly berates the apha for things it doesn’t have the money to do and provides no ideas for ways out of the mess
committees.parliament.uk/committee/12...
committees.parliament.uk/committee/12...
If you are involved in ruminant farming in the UK the Ruminant Health and Welfare led 2025 BTV survey has just gone live bit.ly/3LoJIRD
Please consider filling it in as its the only way we have to collect solid data on farm level impacts to inform policy right now
Please consider filling it in as its the only way we have to collect solid data on farm level impacts to inform policy right now
Microsoft Forms
bit.ly
October 31, 2025 at 4:43 PM
If you are involved in ruminant farming in the UK the Ruminant Health and Welfare led 2025 BTV survey has just gone live bit.ly/3LoJIRD
Please consider filling it in as its the only way we have to collect solid data on farm level impacts to inform policy right now
Please consider filling it in as its the only way we have to collect solid data on farm level impacts to inform policy right now