Can safely way this is the craziest and coolest study I have led. We chart the evolution of sheeppox virus, finding it in the Eurasian steppe ~3700 years ago, and also in a LOT of parchment from medieval Europe (made from a range of animals skins!) #aDNA
A paper for the #eDNA crowd, in particular those using flies for terrestrial biomonitoring. We show that massive pooling works well, reducing costs + time, bringing us a step closer to scalable terrestrial eDNA biomonitoring. doi.org/10.1002/edn3...
If you could take just one journalist with you to a polar archipelago, who would it be? 100% @kakape.bsky.social😉 Thanks for the extensive conversations and excellent reporting. Immer wieder gerne!
Three researchers preparing samples for high-throughput sequencing in the laboratories of the Genomic Surveillance Platform of the Institut Pasteur de Bangui.
New study by the Institut Pasteur de Bangui and HIOH examines CAR #mpox outbreaks via genomic #epidemiology. High frequencies of independent spillovers highlight the need to strengthen systematic surveillance & identify animal sources to prevent future outbreaks www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Thanks to Verena for involving us and to all those involved, including the curators of the collections in Zurich (who provided the new samples) and the Berlin Museum of Medical History of the Charite (who provided positive controls).
More data is definitely needed to understand the evolutionary genomics of the largest respiratory pandemic of the 20th century.
We don t expect a ton of specimens out there, but a few more can certainly be found.
@lemeylab.bsky.social (incl Bram Vrancken) kicked in to show that the small sample of 1918 IAVs seem to show higher diversity in HA, PA, and PB2 than matched 2009 H1N1pdm samples.
Perhaps helped transition to high pathogenicity, as HA and pol genes have been linked to 1918 IAV high pathogenicity?
The case was from the pre pandemic wave that hit Zurich in July 1918, and was sampled within a week of the first patient clearly identified as a flu case in the city.
The genome already shows human-like residues at key sites for adaptation to mammalian hosts.
We were part of another viral aRNA study that was just published. In this work spearheaded by Christian Urban in the lab of Verena Schuenemann, a new protocol was assessed (good for short fragments) and a seventh 1918 flu genome was completely sequenced
bmcbiol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10....
Congrats to the two amazing PhD candidates who led this work @schlotterbeckj.bsky.social and Carme Riutord-Fe: terrific job! And many thanks to Fabian Leendertz, Liv Patrono, Ari Düx, @jangogarten.bsky.social and everyone involved for yet another exciting project together! 4/4
At first glance it may seem exaggerated to put so much emphasis on a single or a few ecosystems, but in the long run I think it is probably our best shot at disentangling the complex ecological processes that lead to the emergence of infectious diseases 3/4
This was only possible because of @helmholtz-hioh.bsky.social commitment to long term health monitoring of wild nonhuman primates, here at Taï (CIV) with our friends of the @taichimpproject.bsky.social 2/4
We just succeeded in formally linking a specific rodent species - the otherwise charming fire-footed rope squirrel - to the onset of a mpox outbreak in a primate species - sooty mangabeys. Here Kai’s report on the preprint we released yesterday 1/2
We are looking for a dedicated replacement to work as a technical assistant.
www.helmholtz-hzi.de/karriere/job...
If you are interested, please send us your complete application documents in accordance with the job advertisement. @helmholtz-hioh.bsky.social
🧬 First update from the eDNA lab! 🪰
Extracting mammalian DNA from carrion flies collected in Tanzania for biodiversity studies.
A first trial using @helmholtz-hioh.bsky.social protocol for the flies collected by @uantwerpen.bsky.social + #Gecolab
Shoutout to @paulinevanl.bsky.social ! 📸
#eDNA
🚨 #Job Alert 🚨
Die Bewerbungsfrist für die Position als Institutssekretär:in am HIOH endet bald! 📅 Bewerbungsschluss: 22. Januar.
Eine spannende Chance, Teil eines internationalen Forschungsteams in Greifswald zu werden. Mehr Infos: www.helmholtz-hioh.de/fileadmin/HI...
#JobOpportunity #OneHealth
Excited to announce the African STARS Fellowship, one of the largest programs in Africa. In partnership with Mastercard Foundation, Institut Pasteur & Stellenbosch University, initial funding of 165 million rands. Press release ceri.org.za/news/?token=... Launch 15 Jan, Cape Town, SA
I also think that it does a pretty good job at publicizing important discussions and changes through multiple means (website, Arch Vir, JGV and articles in prominent journals, e.g. Nat Microbiol).
As others, including @psimmond.bsky.social have pointed at, the ICTV welcomes all views and proposals.
A very reasonable thread on this (a bit unnecessarily overheated) debate.
I d also like to be added. Thanks!
Hi
Related to your & the previous post, I looked it up and there are 120 Study Groups (SGs), with collectively more than 900 members. These are expert and typically quite experienced virologists, & should provide a reasonable cross-section of knowledge and expertise. So it's not a mad dictatorship!
An image with text describing the jobs, and the logo of the Royal Veterinary College. The text says: Title: Hiring two postdoctoral researchers. What? Improve identification and response to emerging and endemic virus threats. Where? Royal Veterinary College. How? Genomics, metagenomics, phylogenetics. Who: Working with Prof Oliver Pybus, Dr Sarah Hill, Dr Jayna Rahgwani, and GAP DC. When? Apply by 27th January 2025. Underneath this, there are two boxes describing the two roles: Role 1: Phylodynamics: Introduction, emergence and spread of viruses in farmed and wild animals. Role 2: Detect and understand threats to/from wildlife and their environments.
🦠 We are recruiting two 2-year postdocs to work at the intersection of virus genomics and infectious disease. jobs.rvc.ac.uk/vacancy.aspx... Please share widely!
This happens every year, which means the ICTV is de facto a permanent consultation body; however, it does not wait for the broader community engagement to enact taxonomy changes
These proposals are reviewed by the SG, then
subcommittees and finally the executive committee - a process starting in spring each year (SG send proposals to subcommittees at this point). Approved proposals are then ratified by the entire ICTV membership in the fall
All binomials have already been approved by the ICTV and therefore represent the current official taxonomy. The way it works: ICTV operates year-round, with taxonomy change proposals collected by (usually) family level study groups (SG) and subcommittees - each overseeing multiple SG
The new binomials can be found in the ICTV website‘s taxonomy browser, where a tabular master species list is also available
ictv.global/taxonomy
ictv.global/msl
Much like peer reviewing, it is the kind of community service that many of us add to their evenings and weekends workload. I believe it is now up to the community to engage more with the ICTV. The tools exist (proposals of taxonomic change can be filed by anyone).
I agree that there is significant room for improvement in viral taxonomies. That said, we cannot expect it will all happen via the work of virologists that accept to serve in ICTV study groups.
