Ryan Hisner
@ryanhisner.bsky.social
Teacher. Learner. Investigating mysteries of SARS-CoV-2 evolution. LongDesertTrain on another platform.
Reposted by Ryan Hisner
60 new sequences from Germany 🇩🇪, 40% are BA3.2*. Update for December 1-21, 2025:
January 26, 2026 at 11:17 PM
60 new sequences from Germany 🇩🇪, 40% are BA3.2*. Update for December 1-21, 2025:
BA.3.2 has gone from ~8% to ~44% of all sequences in Scotland over the course of December.
Larger sample sizes in a smaller nation (Scotland), unsurprisingly present a much more consistent picture in variant trends than smaller sample sizes over a much larger, more heterogeneous country (Germany).
Larger sample sizes in a smaller nation (Scotland), unsurprisingly present a much more consistent picture in variant trends than smaller sample sizes over a much larger, more heterogeneous country (Germany).
January 26, 2026 at 5:41 PM
BA.3.2 has gone from ~8% to ~44% of all sequences in Scotland over the course of December.
Larger sample sizes in a smaller nation (Scotland), unsurprisingly present a much more consistent picture in variant trends than smaller sample sizes over a much larger, more heterogeneous country (Germany).
Larger sample sizes in a smaller nation (Scotland), unsurprisingly present a much more consistent picture in variant trends than smaller sample sizes over a much larger, more heterogeneous country (Germany).
Reposted by Ryan Hisner
Point blank.
10-shots.
Execution.
A US citizen, a VA ICU Nurse.
Then lying.
Blocking a real investigation.
10-shots.
Execution.
A US citizen, a VA ICU Nurse.
Then lying.
Blocking a real investigation.
January 26, 2026 at 1:00 AM
Point blank.
10-shots.
Execution.
A US citizen, a VA ICU Nurse.
Then lying.
Blocking a real investigation.
10-shots.
Execution.
A US citizen, a VA ICU Nurse.
Then lying.
Blocking a real investigation.
New Cryptic (North Carolina) derived from a 2020, pre-B.1.1 lineage, meaning from an infection that has lasted nearly six years.
It has one of the classic patterns of Cryptic reversions to Bat-CoV/SARS-1 spike residues: Q498Y-N501T.
Eager to see the rest of the genome.
It has one of the classic patterns of Cryptic reversions to Bat-CoV/SARS-1 spike residues: Q498Y-N501T.
Eager to see the rest of the genome.
January 24, 2026 at 11:03 PM
New Cryptic (North Carolina) derived from a 2020, pre-B.1.1 lineage, meaning from an infection that has lasted nearly six years.
It has one of the classic patterns of Cryptic reversions to Bat-CoV/SARS-1 spike residues: Q498Y-N501T.
Eager to see the rest of the genome.
It has one of the classic patterns of Cryptic reversions to Bat-CoV/SARS-1 spike residues: Q498Y-N501T.
Eager to see the rest of the genome.
New @dropsitenews.com video from opposite side confirms: man in gray coat & red-billed cap disarmed the victim—who was legally carrying & never reached for or touched his gun—before any shots were fired.
See his mittened, empty hands reaching to the victim's waistband, then emerging with the gun.
See his mittened, empty hands reaching to the victim's waistband, then emerging with the gun.
January 24, 2026 at 7:59 PM
New @dropsitenews.com video from opposite side confirms: man in gray coat & red-billed cap disarmed the victim—who was legally carrying & never reached for or touched his gun—before any shots were fired.
See his mittened, empty hands reaching to the victim's waistband, then emerging with the gun.
See his mittened, empty hands reaching to the victim's waistband, then emerging with the gun.
Reposted by Ryan Hisner
Really excited our paper about how H5N1 rapidly adapted to cattle (and how these adaptations also increased its ability to infect cells from the human respiratory tract) is now published! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Polymerase mutations underlie early adaptation of H5N1 influenza virus to dairy cattle and other mammals - Nature Communications
Avian influenza jumped from wild birds into dairy cattle. Here, the authors report that two mutations in the viral polymerase helped the virus to quickly adapt to cattle. Mutations increased the polym...
www.nature.com
January 20, 2026 at 2:10 PM
Really excited our paper about how H5N1 rapidly adapted to cattle (and how these adaptations also increased its ability to infect cells from the human respiratory tract) is now published! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Ryan Hisner
I'll say it again: Minneapolis will be their Gettysburg
in case you're curious about how angry Minnesota is about ICE, it was -20 today
January 24, 2026 at 12:42 AM
I'll say it again: Minneapolis will be their Gettysburg
Reposted by Ryan Hisner
in case you're curious about how angry Minnesota is about ICE, it was -20 today
January 24, 2026 at 12:38 AM
in case you're curious about how angry Minnesota is about ICE, it was -20 today
One new A->G cluster showed up today in an XFG from Brazil. 10/13 private nuc mutations here are A->G, and eight of them appear in a 229-nt stretch in the spike NTD.
Still no idea what's behind these, though some sort of unusual ADAR fusillade seems to be the best guess. 1/2
Still no idea what's behind these, though some sort of unusual ADAR fusillade seems to be the best guess. 1/2
January 22, 2026 at 11:28 PM
One new A->G cluster showed up today in an XFG from Brazil. 10/13 private nuc mutations here are A->G, and eight of them appear in a 229-nt stretch in the spike NTD.
Still no idea what's behind these, though some sort of unusual ADAR fusillade seems to be the best guess. 1/2
Still no idea what's behind these, though some sort of unusual ADAR fusillade seems to be the best guess. 1/2
Seems to be the most dramatic breakthrough in preventing/slowing dementia & alzheimer's ever. But it's a vaccine, so it doesn't get headlines.
Wish you could get the shingles vaccine before age 50. You don't have to be 50 to get shingles—I can attest as I had it last summer (not recommended).
Wish you could get the shingles vaccine before age 50. You don't have to be 50 to get shingles—I can attest as I had it last summer (not recommended).
The Shingles vaccine and reduction of dementia: a new natural experiment from Canada replicated 3 others and adds to this week's link to slowing of biological aging.
erictopol.substack.com/p/spotlight-...
erictopol.substack.com/p/spotlight-...
Spotlight on the Shingles Vaccine—Again!
Two new studies add to a remarkable body of evidence for benefit
erictopol.substack.com
January 22, 2026 at 12:09 PM
Seems to be the most dramatic breakthrough in preventing/slowing dementia & alzheimer's ever. But it's a vaccine, so it doesn't get headlines.
Wish you could get the shingles vaccine before age 50. You don't have to be 50 to get shingles—I can attest as I had it last summer (not recommended).
Wish you could get the shingles vaccine before age 50. You don't have to be 50 to get shingles—I can attest as I had it last summer (not recommended).
Reposted by Ryan Hisner
They are targeting children because they are trying incite violence. I have talked to many journalists today, and they all made the same observation: Border Patrol and ICE have been rolling around with maximum aggression, lingering for ages as crowds, gather, seemingly trying to cause a riot.
This picture making the rounds on reddit, Columbia Heights. I'm not OK.
January 21, 2026 at 11:39 PM
They are targeting children because they are trying incite violence. I have talked to many journalists today, and they all made the same observation: Border Patrol and ICE have been rolling around with maximum aggression, lingering for ages as crowds, gather, seemingly trying to cause a riot.
The Trump administration's brutality is on graphic display in Minneapolis and its vulgar stupidity in the Greenland fiasco, but just as harmful, though less splashy, is the way they are destroying US science.
This is the most astonishing graph of what the Trump regime has done to US science. They have destroyed the federal science workforce across the board. The negative impacts on Americans will be felt for generations, and the US might never be the same again.
www.nature.com/immersive/d4...
www.nature.com/immersive/d4...
January 21, 2026 at 2:20 AM
The Trump administration's brutality is on graphic display in Minneapolis and its vulgar stupidity in the Greenland fiasco, but just as harmful, though less splashy, is the way they are destroying US science.
Still more new NSP1 mutations in the BA.3.2 uploaded from the Netherlands today. We've never seen anything like this kind of rapid evolution in NSP1 (whose primary role is to shut down host-protein translation and degrade host mRNA).
I've labeled all BA.3.2-specific NSP1 muts here. 1/3
I've labeled all BA.3.2-specific NSP1 muts here. 1/3
January 20, 2026 at 2:09 PM
Still more new NSP1 mutations in the BA.3.2 uploaded from the Netherlands today. We've never seen anything like this kind of rapid evolution in NSP1 (whose primary role is to shut down host-protein translation and degrade host mRNA).
I've labeled all BA.3.2-specific NSP1 muts here. 1/3
I've labeled all BA.3.2-specific NSP1 muts here. 1/3
Reposted by Ryan Hisner
BA.3.2 reaches dominance in Netherlands
January 20, 2026 at 1:15 PM
BA.3.2 reaches dominance in Netherlands
Another day, another sequence displaying undeniable evidence of positive selection of molnupiravir-induced mutations (i.e. adaptive mutations—good for the virus, bad for the infected person).
G->A is the classic MOV mutation—and the vast majority of the positive selection is in G->A muts. 1/3
G->A is the classic MOV mutation—and the vast majority of the positive selection is in G->A muts. 1/3
January 16, 2026 at 12:26 PM
Another day, another sequence displaying undeniable evidence of positive selection of molnupiravir-induced mutations (i.e. adaptive mutations—good for the virus, bad for the infected person).
G->A is the classic MOV mutation—and the vast majority of the positive selection is in G->A muts. 1/3
G->A is the classic MOV mutation—and the vast majority of the positive selection is in G->A muts. 1/3
Another weird aspect of BA.3.2 evolution so far: an extraordinary number of NSP1 mutations. NSP1 is only 180 AA, but a new mutation shows up almost every day there, often on top of previous new ones. The @nextstrain.org visual here can't even accommodate all the NSP1 muts—at least 2 are invisible.
January 15, 2026 at 11:54 PM
Another weird aspect of BA.3.2 evolution so far: an extraordinary number of NSP1 mutations. NSP1 is only 180 AA, but a new mutation shows up almost every day there, often on top of previous new ones. The @nextstrain.org visual here can't even accommodate all the NSP1 muts—at least 2 are invisible.
Agree with Josette here. There are only 10 sequences from Germany collected after December 23. Needless to say, this is not sufficient to base a forecast on.
I think it's possible (though uncertain) that the loss of ORF7a might mean there's a ceiling to the current incarnation of BA.3.2. But... 1/3
I think it's possible (though uncertain) that the loss of ORF7a might mean there's a ceiling to the current incarnation of BA.3.2. But... 1/3
I see this happening all the time. A variant seems to go down, looking at the last incomplete week. And a week later, that week has been adjusted to a higher percentage. Like you see happening here in NSW Australia.
January 15, 2026 at 11:36 PM
Agree with Josette here. There are only 10 sequences from Germany collected after December 23. Needless to say, this is not sufficient to base a forecast on.
I think it's possible (though uncertain) that the loss of ORF7a might mean there's a ceiling to the current incarnation of BA.3.2. But... 1/3
I think it's possible (though uncertain) that the loss of ORF7a might mean there's a ceiling to the current incarnation of BA.3.2. But... 1/3
Reposted by Ryan Hisner
Today, Minneapolis. Tomorrow, it could be my town, your town, anywhere. The good news is that people in all the towns care about their neighbors and are organizing to resist this. It will stop when enough of us say no.
January 13, 2026 at 5:52 AM
Today, Minneapolis. Tomorrow, it could be my town, your town, anywhere. The good news is that people in all the towns care about their neighbors and are organizing to resist this. It will stop when enough of us say no.
Reposted by Ryan Hisner
🎥 WATCH | Children’s educator Ms. Rachel urges the US and Israel to end the deliberate suffering of 1 million Palestinian children, calling for the immediate entry of lifesaving shelter and medical aid into Gaza.
Video: Assal Rad via X (@AssalRad)
Video: Assal Rad via X (@AssalRad)
January 14, 2026 at 11:42 PM
🎥 WATCH | Children’s educator Ms. Rachel urges the US and Israel to end the deliberate suffering of 1 million Palestinian children, calling for the immediate entry of lifesaving shelter and medical aid into Gaza.
Video: Assal Rad via X (@AssalRad)
Video: Assal Rad via X (@AssalRad)
Mark Twain was a vehement anti-imperialist, often wielding his "pen warmed up in Hell" against the imperialist warmongers of his day.
"Patriotism... it is a word which always commemorates a robbery...."
"Patriotism... it is a word which always commemorates a robbery...."
"Patriotism... a word which always commemorates a robbery. There isn’t a foot of land in the world which doesn’t represent the ousting & re-ousting of a long line of 'owners' who each, as 'patriots' defended it against the next gang of 'robbers' who came to steal it & did—& became patriots in turn."
January 11, 2026 at 9:05 PM
Mark Twain was a vehement anti-imperialist, often wielding his "pen warmed up in Hell" against the imperialist warmongers of his day.
"Patriotism... it is a word which always commemorates a robbery...."
"Patriotism... it is a word which always commemorates a robbery...."
Observation on SARS-CoV-2 mouse-adapted viruses: The mutations that occur in these seem to me to more about adapting to lung tropism than adapting to mice.
A large fraction of the mutations are the same ones you see in bronchoalveolar-lavage (BAL) samples from chronically infected humans. 1/4
A large fraction of the mutations are the same ones you see in bronchoalveolar-lavage (BAL) samples from chronically infected humans. 1/4
January 10, 2026 at 11:08 PM
Observation on SARS-CoV-2 mouse-adapted viruses: The mutations that occur in these seem to me to more about adapting to lung tropism than adapting to mice.
A large fraction of the mutations are the same ones you see in bronchoalveolar-lavage (BAL) samples from chronically infected humans. 1/4
A large fraction of the mutations are the same ones you see in bronchoalveolar-lavage (BAL) samples from chronically infected humans. 1/4
Reposted by Ryan Hisner
My own last, unreturned, correspondence with GISAID, after a months-long project building a version of Taxonium that would run within the walled garden (the dispute was over whether it could link out to e.g. the source code)
January 7, 2026 at 1:22 PM
My own last, unreturned, correspondence with GISAID, after a months-long project building a version of Taxonium that would run within the walled garden (the dispute was over whether it could link out to e.g. the source code)
8/77 new seqs from New South Wales are BA.3.2, & several feature interesting spike muts:
• T19I + G72W (2) (1 w/E1202G)
• A123V (1) (+ ORF6:Q57*)
• T124I (1)
T19I & T124I both remove glycans—& we've seen T124I before in an unrelated BA.3.2 from South Africa.
1/4
bsky.app/profile/ryan...
• T19I + G72W (2) (1 w/E1202G)
• A123V (1) (+ ORF6:Q57*)
• T124I (1)
T19I & T124I both remove glycans—& we've seen T124I before in an unrelated BA.3.2 from South Africa.
1/4
bsky.app/profile/ryan...
The spike mutations are T124I, N478T, & T678I.
N478T is a reversion to the ancestral AA, meaning it's gone from T-->K-->N-->T in this lineage.
There and back again.
S:478 has been by far the most active AA residue in recent months. We've seen K, T, I , E, R, N, L, M, and Q there of late. 2/6
N478T is a reversion to the ancestral AA, meaning it's gone from T-->K-->N-->T in this lineage.
There and back again.
S:478 has been by far the most active AA residue in recent months. We've seen K, T, I , E, R, N, L, M, and Q there of late. 2/6
January 2, 2026 at 5:38 PM
8/77 new seqs from New South Wales are BA.3.2, & several feature interesting spike muts:
• T19I + G72W (2) (1 w/E1202G)
• A123V (1) (+ ORF6:Q57*)
• T124I (1)
T19I & T124I both remove glycans—& we've seen T124I before in an unrelated BA.3.2 from South Africa.
1/4
bsky.app/profile/ryan...
• T19I + G72W (2) (1 w/E1202G)
• A123V (1) (+ ORF6:Q57*)
• T124I (1)
T19I & T124I both remove glycans—& we've seen T124I before in an unrelated BA.3.2 from South Africa.
1/4
bsky.app/profile/ryan...
The first SARS-CoV-2 sequence uploaded in 2026 is....
...a BA.3.2.2 from New York sampled from a traveler from Japan.
This is the first BA.3.2 sample w/any connection to Japan. There have been no non-travel BA.3.2 collected in the US (yet).
From the Western Australia S:P1162L branch. 1/9
...a BA.3.2.2 from New York sampled from a traveler from Japan.
This is the first BA.3.2 sample w/any connection to Japan. There have been no non-travel BA.3.2 collected in the US (yet).
From the Western Australia S:P1162L branch. 1/9
January 1, 2026 at 10:46 PM
The first SARS-CoV-2 sequence uploaded in 2026 is....
...a BA.3.2.2 from New York sampled from a traveler from Japan.
This is the first BA.3.2 sample w/any connection to Japan. There have been no non-travel BA.3.2 collected in the US (yet).
From the Western Australia S:P1162L branch. 1/9
...a BA.3.2.2 from New York sampled from a traveler from Japan.
This is the first BA.3.2 sample w/any connection to Japan. There have been no non-travel BA.3.2 collected in the US (yet).
From the Western Australia S:P1162L branch. 1/9
I'm not a big music video guy, but this one for the song "I Say Fever" by Ramona Falls is easily my favorite music video ever.
vimeo.com/423208503
vimeo.com/423208503
January 1, 2026 at 3:58 PM
I'm not a big music video guy, but this one for the song "I Say Fever" by Ramona Falls is easily my favorite music video ever.
vimeo.com/423208503
vimeo.com/423208503