@langlois-ma
🇨🇦Professor of Medicine at uOttawa| Molecular virologist | Studies host immune responses to respiratory viruses 🦠 and retroviruses | Involved in pandemic preparedness research 🔬 | High throughput serology and molecular diagnostics of pathogens 🧪
It is difficult, if not impossible, to think of a biomedical scientist whose many diverse discoveries had more impact than those of David Baltimore.
www.latimes.com/obituaries/s...
💥🥳 At long last, our latest paper is out!
Gag proteins of endogenous retroviruses are required for zebrafish development
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Led heroically by Sylvia Chang & @jonowells.bsky.social
A study which has changed the way I think of #transposons! No less! 🧵 1/n
So this interview lasted 2 hours so this “you’re scaring me” part might seem like an overreaction or fearmongering to someone without that context.
There’s a lot of evidence to support my hypothesis that a potential H5N1 pandemic would be worse than COVID.
We were just notified that our contract to UCSD and Scripps Research to support wastewater surveillance in San Diego (searchcovid.info) was terminated immediately for the same reasons 👇.
That means no more genomic wastewater surveillance, and our proposed extensions to measles, Hep A, others, gone.
Perhaps an executive order banning future pandemics?
Dark Age 2.0
NIH to cut grants for COVID research, documents reveal www.nature.com/articles/d41... via @nature.com
"If we don’t figure this out now with this pandemic, I’m afraid we will be much less prepared for future pandemics."
After 5 years, 150k papers and 17 million genomes, here's what we learned about SARS-CoV-2 and viruses in general.
It holds lessons for future pandemics - only if we listen. "We’re in a worse place in terms of pandemic prevention" @eddieholmes.bsky.social told me.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Today @natmedicine.bsky.social published our study showing the older individuals born prior to 1968 have more antibodies that cross-react to #H5N1 relative to younger individuals. If H5N1 causes a pandemic, children will likely be the most susceptible. 1/2
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Of the 4000 researchers at NIH, only 20% are tenured. They’re going to fire all the rest as their contracts come up for renewal, absolutely decimating research at the NIH. This is catastrophic, not just for Americans, but for the whole world.
www.science.org/content/arti...
This is a very important read ☝️
#COVID19 remains a reality, despite not making headlines. So, do you still need a #COVID vaccine? Does the type of vaccine matter? Should you get the flu & COVID-19 vaccines together?
Our experts break it down: covarrnet.ca/the-pros-and...
The latest edition of The CoVaRR-Net Quarterly newsletter is out.
Should you still get vaccinated against COVID-19? Learn more about how CoVaRR-Net members are pivoting to Bird Flu research. Plus, we spotlight eight exceptional HQPs from our network.
Read and subscribe: mailchi.mp/1cd351797d31...
Science’s 2024 Breakthrough of the Year is lenacapavir, an injectable drug that demonstrated remarkable success at preventing HIV infection with one shot every 6 months. The drug attaches to the lattice-like capsid proteins that shield the virus’s genetic material—a mechanism that could inspire other antivirals. Lenacapavir could help end the HIV/AIDS epidemic, but that will hinge on access for those who need it most.
Science’s 2024 Breakthrough of the Year is lenacapavir, an injectable drug that demonstrated remarkable success at preventing HIV infection with one shot every 6 months.
Learn more about this year's #BOTY and other big advances in science: scim.ag/3BrCtUn
Interesting follow-up on this. We're running automated analyses on H5N1 data on the SRA to look for potentially important mutations in the virus.
Following the study 👇, we looked to see if we could find *any* evidence of the HA Q226L mutation.
We did. In a mouse from June of this year.
Short 🧵
