Alex
@miidalex.bsky.social
Researcher in training with focus on viral immunology & molecular pathogenesis. Interested in emerging/zoonotic infectious disease, immune imprinting, SARS-CoV-2, and (mainly) food.
Reposted by Alex
Theory @cp-immunity.bsky.social
Quantifying the waning of humoral immunity
www.cell.com/immunity/ful...
Quantifying the waning of humoral immunity
www.cell.com/immunity/ful...
November 29, 2025 at 2:29 AM
Theory @cp-immunity.bsky.social
Quantifying the waning of humoral immunity
www.cell.com/immunity/ful...
Quantifying the waning of humoral immunity
www.cell.com/immunity/ful...
Reposted by Alex
How does fever work?
Our new Science paper shows how elevated body temperature can protect against severe influenza and that avian-origin viruses escape this defence.
This is likely one reason why bird flus and some pandemic influenzas can be so severe.🧵
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Our new Science paper shows how elevated body temperature can protect against severe influenza and that avian-origin viruses escape this defence.
This is likely one reason why bird flus and some pandemic influenzas can be so severe.🧵
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Avian-origin influenza A viruses tolerate elevated pyrexic temperatures in mammals
Host body temperature can define a virus’s replicative profile—influenza A viruses (IAVs) adapted to 40° to 42°C in birds are less temperature sensitive in vitro compared with human isolates adapted t...
www.science.org
November 27, 2025 at 7:55 PM
How does fever work?
Our new Science paper shows how elevated body temperature can protect against severe influenza and that avian-origin viruses escape this defence.
This is likely one reason why bird flus and some pandemic influenzas can be so severe.🧵
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Our new Science paper shows how elevated body temperature can protect against severe influenza and that avian-origin viruses escape this defence.
This is likely one reason why bird flus and some pandemic influenzas can be so severe.🧵
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Alex
Mutational spectra reveal influenza virus transmission routes and adaptation https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.26.690773v1
November 26, 2025 at 8:16 PM
Mutational spectra reveal influenza virus transmission routes and adaptation https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.26.690773v1
Reposted by Alex
Unraveling the mechanism behind the probable extinction of the B/Yamagata lineage of influenza B viruses
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Unraveling the mechanism behind the probable extinction of the B/Yamagata lineage of influenza B viruses - Nature Communications
Influenza B/Yamagata lineage has rarely been detected since COVID-19 non-pharmaceutical interventions were introduced, while transmission of other influenza lineages resumed. Here, the authors investi...
www.nature.com
November 25, 2025 at 2:09 PM
Unraveling the mechanism behind the probable extinction of the B/Yamagata lineage of influenza B viruses
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Alex
This preprint just came out. @wchnicholas.bsky.social and team reconstructed and tested the NJ Spike and found that it has the tightest ACE2 binding of any SC2 Spike ever measured.
2/
www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...
2/
www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.medrxiv.org
November 21, 2025 at 3:19 PM
This preprint just came out. @wchnicholas.bsky.social and team reconstructed and tested the NJ Spike and found that it has the tightest ACE2 binding of any SC2 Spike ever measured.
2/
www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...
2/
www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Alex
This is an interesting case of a patient from Chad infected with a novel arenavirus species/variant/strain, presenting with meningoencephalitis.
IMO, could be classified as a highly divergent Lassa virus strain in a new country (similar to what Togo has observed).
www.nejm.org/doi/10.1056/...
IMO, could be classified as a highly divergent Lassa virus strain in a new country (similar to what Togo has observed).
www.nejm.org/doi/10.1056/...
A Mammarenavirus Close to Lassa Virus in a Patient with Meningoencephalitis | NEJM
A 37-year-old man in Chad presented with a fever and a headache. An extensive evaluation
identified a mammarenavirus, close to Lassa virus, in samples of cerebrospinal fluid.
www.nejm.org
November 17, 2025 at 4:47 PM
This is an interesting case of a patient from Chad infected with a novel arenavirus species/variant/strain, presenting with meningoencephalitis.
IMO, could be classified as a highly divergent Lassa virus strain in a new country (similar to what Togo has observed).
www.nejm.org/doi/10.1056/...
IMO, could be classified as a highly divergent Lassa virus strain in a new country (similar to what Togo has observed).
www.nejm.org/doi/10.1056/...
Reposted by Alex
Ongoing surveillance of viruses & microbes (bacteria, fungi, and parasites) in farmed mammals is crucial for revealing #publichealth threats
@cellpress.bsky.social
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
@cellpress.bsky.social
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Extensive cross-species transmission of pathogens and antibiotic resistance genes in mammals neglected by public health surveillance
Non-traditional farmed and wild mammals are often neglected in pathogen surveillance. Through metagenomic and metatranscriptomic sequencing of fecal a…
www.sciencedirect.com
November 15, 2025 at 5:55 AM
Ongoing surveillance of viruses & microbes (bacteria, fungi, and parasites) in farmed mammals is crucial for revealing #publichealth threats
@cellpress.bsky.social
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
@cellpress.bsky.social
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Reposted by Alex
The deadly fever in Ethiopia has been identified as Marburg disease.
It’s the first time a Marburg outbreak has been identified in Ethiopia.
#IDsky 🧪
www.afro.who.int/countries/et...
It’s the first time a Marburg outbreak has been identified in Ethiopia.
#IDsky 🧪
www.afro.who.int/countries/et...
Ethiopia confirms first outbreak of Marburg virus disease
Ethiopia’s Ministry of Health has confirmed an outbreak of Marburg virus disease in the South Ethiopia Region, the first of its kind in the country, following laboratory testing of samples from a clus...
www.afro.who.int
November 14, 2025 at 8:07 PM
The deadly fever in Ethiopia has been identified as Marburg disease.
It’s the first time a Marburg outbreak has been identified in Ethiopia.
#IDsky 🧪
www.afro.who.int/countries/et...
It’s the first time a Marburg outbreak has been identified in Ethiopia.
#IDsky 🧪
www.afro.who.int/countries/et...
Reposted by Alex
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 Alex
"SARS-CoV-2 is too well-adapted to humans [hence, insert your favorite conspiracy theory]".
That was never right because, for one, SARS-CoV-2 is a pandemic virus so it necessarily had to be "well-adapted".
Now, a new study shows the same is true for BANAL-236 - a related virus isolated from bats.
That was never right because, for one, SARS-CoV-2 is a pandemic virus so it necessarily had to be "well-adapted".
Now, a new study shows the same is true for BANAL-236 - a related virus isolated from bats.
November 10, 2025 at 8:09 PM
"SARS-CoV-2 is too well-adapted to humans [hence, insert your favorite conspiracy theory]".
That was never right because, for one, SARS-CoV-2 is a pandemic virus so it necessarily had to be "well-adapted".
Now, a new study shows the same is true for BANAL-236 - a related virus isolated from bats.
That was never right because, for one, SARS-CoV-2 is a pandemic virus so it necessarily had to be "well-adapted".
Now, a new study shows the same is true for BANAL-236 - a related virus isolated from bats.
Reposted by Alex
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 Alex
JAMA Netw Open: Asymptomatic Influenza A(H5N1) Infections and Sustained Surveillance—Sustaining Surveillance Beyond the Crisis
by Rick Bright and Nicole Lurie
#h5n1
bit.ly/4qzttRL
by Rick Bright and Nicole Lurie
#h5n1
bit.ly/4qzttRL
October 30, 2025 at 1:31 PM
JAMA Netw Open: Asymptomatic Influenza A(H5N1) Infections and Sustained Surveillance—Sustaining Surveillance Beyond the Crisis
by Rick Bright and Nicole Lurie
#h5n1
bit.ly/4qzttRL
by Rick Bright and Nicole Lurie
#h5n1
bit.ly/4qzttRL
Reposted by Alex
On Oct 1, 2025, GISAID informed us that they had ended updates to the flat file of SARS-CoV-2 genomic sequences and associated metadata that we had used to update Nextstrain analyses since Feb 2020. GISAID's stated rationale was that their "resources are limited". 1/5
November 6, 2025 at 9:46 PM
On Oct 1, 2025, GISAID informed us that they had ended updates to the flat file of SARS-CoV-2 genomic sequences and associated metadata that we had used to update Nextstrain analyses since Feb 2020. GISAID's stated rationale was that their "resources are limited". 1/5
Reposted by Alex
A cattle-derived human H5N1 isolate suppresses innate immunity despite efficient replication in human respiratory organoids https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.02.684669v1
November 3, 2025 at 2:17 AM
A cattle-derived human H5N1 isolate suppresses innate immunity despite efficient replication in human respiratory organoids https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.02.684669v1
Reposted by Alex
Viral epidemic potential is not uniformly distributed across the bat phylogeny
www.nature.com/articles/s42...
www.nature.com/articles/s42...
Viral epidemic potential is not uniformly distributed across the bat phylogeny - Communications Biology
Phylogenetic and machine learning analyses reveal that bats (order: Chiroptera) are not a group with uniform viral epidemic potential: virulence, transmissibility, and death burden cluster within dist...
www.nature.com
October 30, 2025 at 12:53 PM
Viral epidemic potential is not uniformly distributed across the bat phylogeny
www.nature.com/articles/s42...
www.nature.com/articles/s42...
Reposted by Alex
We’ve identified a highly divergent betacoronavirus from South American bat that encodes a functional furin cleavage site.
Another fascinating reminder of how diverse coronavirus evolution is in wildlife reservoirs.
#Virology #VirusEvolution #Bats #Coronavirus
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Another fascinating reminder of how diverse coronavirus evolution is in wildlife reservoirs.
#Virology #VirusEvolution #Bats #Coronavirus
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
A divergent betacoronavirus with a functional furin cleavage site in South American bats
Bats are natural reservoirs for a wide range of RNA viruses. Members of the genus Betacoronavirus, including Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome...
www.biorxiv.org
October 27, 2025 at 9:32 PM
We’ve identified a highly divergent betacoronavirus from South American bat that encodes a functional furin cleavage site.
Another fascinating reminder of how diverse coronavirus evolution is in wildlife reservoirs.
#Virology #VirusEvolution #Bats #Coronavirus
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Another fascinating reminder of how diverse coronavirus evolution is in wildlife reservoirs.
#Virology #VirusEvolution #Bats #Coronavirus
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Alex
I beg to differ! If it's not a sequencing mistake—and it looks clean—one of these BA.3.2 has something completely novel in SARS-CoV-2 evolution: an FCS-adjacent deletion!
One of the two QT repeats appears to have been deleted. I've never seen anything like this before. BA.3.2 is a different beast.
One of the two QT repeats appears to have been deleted. I've never seen anything like this before. BA.3.2 is a different beast.
October 22, 2025 at 11:46 AM
I beg to differ! If it's not a sequencing mistake—and it looks clean—one of these BA.3.2 has something completely novel in SARS-CoV-2 evolution: an FCS-adjacent deletion!
One of the two QT repeats appears to have been deleted. I've never seen anything like this before. BA.3.2 is a different beast.
One of the two QT repeats appears to have been deleted. I've never seen anything like this before. BA.3.2 is a different beast.
Reposted by Alex
Not turbo cancer but turbo cancer-immunotherapy!
Combining mRNA COVID vaccines with standard-of-care immune therapy overwhelms tumor defenses to improved survival in animal models and large cohorts of people with cancer @nature.com
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Combining mRNA COVID vaccines with standard-of-care immune therapy overwhelms tumor defenses to improved survival in animal models and large cohorts of people with cancer @nature.com
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
October 22, 2025 at 6:51 PM
Not turbo cancer but turbo cancer-immunotherapy!
Combining mRNA COVID vaccines with standard-of-care immune therapy overwhelms tumor defenses to improved survival in animal models and large cohorts of people with cancer @nature.com
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Combining mRNA COVID vaccines with standard-of-care immune therapy overwhelms tumor defenses to improved survival in animal models and large cohorts of people with cancer @nature.com
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Reposted by Alex
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 Alex
Ebola virus in Kasai revives 50-year-old questions on viral latency www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Ebola virus in Kasai revives 50-year-old questions on viral latency
On Sept 4, 2025, DR Congo declared its 16th Ebola virus outbreak. The epicentre of
this outbreak occurred in the Kasai province—the first resurgence in this region since
2008.1 Genomic analysis identi...
www.thelancet.com
October 17, 2025 at 8:32 PM
Ebola virus in Kasai revives 50-year-old questions on viral latency www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Reposted by Alex
And now NextStrain as well.
Next up, will GISAID start charging open-source community tools to have access?
That would completely shaft users who contributed to GISAID, where we never agreed to that and assumed GISAID would be good custodians of the data we contributed. They're not.
Next up, will GISAID start charging open-source community tools to have access?
That would completely shaft users who contributed to GISAID, where we never agreed to that and assumed GISAID would be good custodians of the data we contributed. They're not.
October 16, 2025 at 7:48 PM
And now NextStrain as well.
Next up, will GISAID start charging open-source community tools to have access?
That would completely shaft users who contributed to GISAID, where we never agreed to that and assumed GISAID would be good custodians of the data we contributed. They're not.
Next up, will GISAID start charging open-source community tools to have access?
That would completely shaft users who contributed to GISAID, where we never agreed to that and assumed GISAID would be good custodians of the data we contributed. They're not.
Reposted by Alex
Reposted by Alex
Recently we published a report describing what I *think* is the longest known continuous case of Covid-19 to date.
For some reason I've not found time to post about it. While I get around to doing so you can read a summary here 👇
www.contagionlive.com/view/persist...
For some reason I've not found time to post about it. While I get around to doing so you can read a summary here 👇
www.contagionlive.com/view/persist...
Persistent SARS-CoV-2 Infection Lasting Over 750 Days Documented in Person With HIV
William Hanage, PhD, discusses viral evolution, transmission risk, and clinical implications for immunocompromised patients.
www.contagionlive.com
September 12, 2025 at 2:05 PM
Recently we published a report describing what I *think* is the longest known continuous case of Covid-19 to date.
For some reason I've not found time to post about it. While I get around to doing so you can read a summary here 👇
www.contagionlive.com/view/persist...
For some reason I've not found time to post about it. While I get around to doing so you can read a summary here 👇
www.contagionlive.com/view/persist...
Reposted by Alex
Amid the concerning news of a new Ebola Zaire outbreak in DRC, teams on the ground have already managed to sample, sequence, and share data. This rapid turnaround is a testament to their commitment and capacity to respond.
Read more: virological.org/t/the-16th-e...
1/7
Read more: virological.org/t/the-16th-e...
1/7
The 16th Ebola Virus Disease Outbreak in Bulape Health Zone, Kasai, Democratic Republic of the Congo: A new spillover event from an unknown reservoir host
Background The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is currently facing concurrent outbreaks including mpox, cholera and malaria (1-4). The Ministry of Public Health, DRC has declared the 16th Ebola...
virological.org
September 10, 2025 at 10:00 AM
Amid the concerning news of a new Ebola Zaire outbreak in DRC, teams on the ground have already managed to sample, sequence, and share data. This rapid turnaround is a testament to their commitment and capacity to respond.
Read more: virological.org/t/the-16th-e...
1/7
Read more: virological.org/t/the-16th-e...
1/7
Reposted by Alex
More details on #Ebola outbreak in DRC:
Index case was a pregnant woman (in third trimester), who came to Bulape General Reference Hospital on 20 August with fever, bleeding, bloody diarrhea. She died on August 25.
Then two health care workers, who first had contact with her, developed symptoms...
Index case was a pregnant woman (in third trimester), who came to Bulape General Reference Hospital on 20 August with fever, bleeding, bloody diarrhea. She died on August 25.
Then two health care workers, who first had contact with her, developed symptoms...
September 8, 2025 at 7:50 AM
More details on #Ebola outbreak in DRC:
Index case was a pregnant woman (in third trimester), who came to Bulape General Reference Hospital on 20 August with fever, bleeding, bloody diarrhea. She died on August 25.
Then two health care workers, who first had contact with her, developed symptoms...
Index case was a pregnant woman (in third trimester), who came to Bulape General Reference Hospital on 20 August with fever, bleeding, bloody diarrhea. She died on August 25.
Then two health care workers, who first had contact with her, developed symptoms...