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Jesse Erasmus

@jesseerasmus.bsky.social
2.3K followers 1.1K following 176 posts

Director of Virology at HDT Bio. Developing RNA platform for emerging infectious diseases. 🇿🇦🇰🇷

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Jesse Erasmus @jesseerasmus.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Excited to contribute to this effort. Solving this problem will require multiple shots on goal. We at HDT Bio will be contributing our experience in manufacturing of long RNA molecules and simplified formulation with LION to create safe, yet potent, personalized drugs. More information to come soon!
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Jesse Erasmus @jesseerasmus.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
Excited that our work to mature a new vaccine and therapeutics platform, with application of the technology to an important tick borne disease, is getting some recognition. Of course, where the rubber meets the road is in the data. More to come on that soon! www.prnewswire.com/news-release...
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Jesse Erasmus @jesseerasmus.bsky.social · 30/04/2026
1/ 🧪 New paper out in @moltherapy.bsky.social: An RNA-to-RNA pipeline for rapid antiviral antibody development. www.cell.com/molecular-th... The goal was to use RNA vaccines to enable antibody discovery in alpacas and then develop those antibodies as RNA-encoded biologics
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Jesse Erasmus @jesseerasmus.bsky.social · 15/12/2025
🧪Published my first commentary on RNA vaccines against nonenveloped viruses. www.cell.com/molecular-th...
cell.com
Replication not required: mRNA vaccines take on non-enveloped viruses
Enterovirus D68 (EV-D68), a respiratory pathogen increasingly associated with acute flaccid myelitis (AFM),1,2,3 represents a growing unmet need for vaccination. Kunishima et al. report an mRNA vaccin...
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Jesse Erasmus @jesseerasmus.bsky.social · 11/11/2025
In my new Nucleic Acid Insights interview, I discuss the evolving science of RNA therapeutics. Addresses safety, manufacturing, and delivery, and how HDT Bio’s LION platform moves beyond LNPs to enable potent, localized, extrahepatic RNA delivery. www.insights.bio/nucleic-acid...
insights.bio
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Gustavo Palacios @guspalpog.bsky.social · 21/10/2025
Excited to announce our new ARPA-H award to “Close the DOORs” mapping how viruses exploit human cells and learning how to shut them. Grateful to @arpa-h.bsky.social and our amazing team! 🔗 www.mountsinai.org/about/newsro... #ARPAH #Virology #HostPathogen #Innovation #Science
mountsinai.org
Mount Sinai Awarded Up to $11.8 Million From ARPA-H to Close the Doors in Human Cells That Viruses Exploit to Infect, Replicate, and Spread
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Matthew Alexander, PhD @mattmuscleguy.bsky.social · 15/10/2025
New #NatureComms paper: Muscle-specific gene editing therapy via mammalian fusogen-directed virus-like particles. #Myoblue tinyurl.com/35wcweap
tinyurl.com
Muscle-specific gene editing therapy via mammalian fusogen-directed virus-like particles - Nature Communications
Genetic muscle diseases are difficult to treat due to challenges in delivering gene editors to muscles throughout the body. Here, authors engineer muscle-specific virus-like particles that fuse with s...
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Jesse Erasmus @jesseerasmus.bsky.social · 09/10/2025
Follow up publication describing immunogenicity and efficacy in NHPs of historical and contemporary H5N1 vaccine compositions against challenge with contemporary cattle virus isolate. What we concluded in mice did not translate to NHPs. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
science.org
A replicating RNA vaccine protects cynomolgus macaques against lethal clade 2.3.4.4b influenza A H5N1 virus challenge
LION-delivered replicating RNA vaccines are immunogenic and protect cynomolgus macaques against lethal influenza A (H5N1) virus challenge.
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Jesse Erasmus @jesseerasmus.bsky.social · 01/10/2025
Happy to announce that we have initiated a phase I clinical trial to evaluate safety and immunogenicity of our LION/repRNA vaccine against #CCHF. This is the culmination of a great partnership with NIAID, UTMB, and our federal sponsors. More to come! www.prnewswire.com/news-release...
prnewswire.com
FDA Greenlights HDT Bio's First-in-Class HDT-321 for the Prevention of Deadly Tick-Borne Disease
/PRNewswire/ -- HDT Bio Corporation, a U.S.-based clinical-stage biotechnology company advancing immune-enhancing solutions for global health, biodefense, and...
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Jesse Erasmus @jesseerasmus.bsky.social · 06/08/2025
Even our project, which directly addressed the tolerability and upper respiratory tract immunity gaps highlighted by RFK Jr, was impacted by this decision. They clearly didn’t review the 22 contracts/grants and the data already generated under taxpayer investment. We are 3 yrs into our program…
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Jesse Erasmus @jesseerasmus.bsky.social · 11/07/2025
Excited to meet the D2R community!
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Jesse Erasmus @jesseerasmus.bsky.social · 19/06/2025
🧪 New paper from our team at HDT Bio highlighting that combo repRNA vaccines can lead to excessive innate activation that ultimately inhibits vaccine effectiveness in NHPs. Use of repRNA formulations with restricted biodistribution can alleviate systemic innate response and restore effectiveness.
cell.com
Antigen-dependent interplay of formulation, systemic innate responses, and antibody responses to multi-component replicon RNA vaccination
Lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) are a modular, non-viral nucleic acid delivery system. Here, Eygeris and colleagues report that addition of saponin molecules, such as quillaic acid, to LNP formulations can...
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Jason McLellan @mclellanlab.bsky.social · 18/06/2025
Our latest preprint is now available doi.org/10.1101/2025...! Led by my postdoc, Luqiang Guo @luqiang.bsky.social, we determined a ~2.4 A resolution structure of the hantavirus glycoprotein tetramer on the surface of VLPs. Also determined structures of dimers of tetramers and Fab-bound tetramers.
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Jesse Erasmus @jesseerasmus.bsky.social · 13/06/2025
I didn’t realize you could filter the posts of who you follow! The paper feed is just what I was looking for.
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Jesse Erasmus @jesseerasmus.bsky.social · 13/06/2025
Shook Nelson Mandela’s hand when I was 10 years old at some kind of gathering in a community park. Just remember him getting off a helicopter and walking through a crowd shaking hands, including mine.
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Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 06/06/2025
Outstanding op-ed from Carole LaBonne Universities and the government: Which needs the other more? College-based research labs are the workhorses of national progress and prosperity. wapo.st/3ZR1vFm 1/n
wapo.st
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Jesse Erasmus @jesseerasmus.bsky.social · 06/05/2025
Collab btwn NIAID (Dr. Andrea Marzi’s lab) and HDT Bio just published! 🧪 Filovirus gold-standard VSV vax platform compared to LION/repRNA (each encoding same antigen seq) for ability to provide single-dose protection in guinea pigs against Sudan virus challenge 🧵(1/2) www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Single-dose replicon RNA Sudan virus vaccine uniformly protects female guinea pigs from disease - Nature Communications
Sudan virus (SUDV) outbreaks in Uganda created public health concerns due to a lack of approved vaccines. In this study, the authors develop a repRNA SUDV vaccine and demonstrate full protection of a ...
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Jesse Erasmus @jesseerasmus.bsky.social · 04/05/2025
I noticed this statement from NIH regarding durability of the inactivated approach. I didn’t see any durability data in the published studies of this candidate. Anyone aware of durability studies performed using inactivated virus platforms? I did one experiment in grad school (in thread below).
STAT did receive a comment —
"attributable to the NIH" - that offered a defense of the funding decision. It signaled, however, a lack of clarity about what the project is aiming to achieve, saying vaccines made ising the platform "could provide broad, long-lasting protection against all influenza viral pathogens, including influenza and coronaviruses, with the added potential to block transmission and stop outbreaks at the source." Coronaviruses are not "influenza viral pathogens."
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Jesse Erasmus @jesseerasmus.bsky.social · 15/04/2025
Just published! Here we report immunogenicity and efficacy of our replicon RNA vaccine against Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever in a cynomolgus macaque model of #CCHFV infection. Stay tuned as we advance this candidate in clinical trials. www.thelancet.com/journals/ebi...
thelancet.com
A replicating RNA vaccine confers protection against Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever in cynomolgus macaques
Our data demonstrate that our repNP vaccine and NP-specific antibody can protect against CCHFV in non-human primates.
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Kelton Minor @keltonminor.bsky.social · 18/03/2025
There are days in life that shake you. I’m shattered 💔 to share that I just found out that the US Government terminated my 2024 NIH Director’s Early Independence Award (~$2 million), threatening my long-promised assistant professor job at Columbia University & academic career... 1/🧵
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bioRxivpreprint @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social · 18/03/2025
Proteins are a source of glycans found in preparations of glycoRNA www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/202…
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Denis Wirtz @deniswirtz.bsky.social · 13/03/2025
NIH is the best investment there is. www.forbes.com/sites/michae...
forbes.com
NIH Grants Fueled $95 Billion In FY 2024 Economic Activity, Finds New Report
National Institutes of Health grants generated almost $95 billion in economic activity nationwide in FY 2024 according to a new report by United for Medical Research.
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Jesse Erasmus @jesseerasmus.bsky.social · 07/03/2025
Beautiful day to stand up for science!
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Jesse Erasmus @jesseerasmus.bsky.social · 07/03/2025
To those who attack vaccines over rare adverse events (observed in consenting populations) and defend SpaceX after spaceship explosions put populations at risk (without consent): science, whether in medicine or aerospace, relies on observation & iteration to improve safety. We need science!
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Jesse Erasmus @jesseerasmus.bsky.social · 02/03/2025
Vashon island struggling to roll out of bed this morning.
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Mark Peifer (He, him) @peiferlabunc.bsky.social · 21/02/2025
Ok scientists & those who love science 🧪: here is another exhortation. Call Congress TODAY about the freeze on NIH Council Meetings and Study Sections. Emphasize that this means NO new grants are being funded & labs will soon start to shut down and fire employees. Phone numbers are at: 5calls.org
5calls.org
5 Calls
Spend 5 minutes. Make 5 calls. Make your voice heard.
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Stand Up for Science! @standupforscience.net · 22/02/2025
🚨 WANT TO HELP US STAND UP FOR SCIENCE? 🚨 Here's a little update on where we're currently at with the planning process! Is your state red or grey & you want to see an event happen? Fill out our volunteer form or share with a friend! airtable.com/app4h5wUssMG... #standupforscience2025
Photo of the United States with a color code for states that have rallies confirmed, in progress, needing a leader, or no leader.
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Coalition for Life Sciences @c4lifesciences.bsky.social · 20/02/2025
Scientists, we need your stories! Post a 2-minute video on whatever social media apps you use. Show us your empty labs, tell us about the grant you are waiting for, and talk about why you do what you do. Tag @c4lifesciences.bsky.social and #Cuts2Science Tag your Members of Congress!
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Jen Mercieca @jenmercieca.bsky.social · 21/02/2025
I've been seeing lots of super compelling videos of park rangers and federal lawyers and other federal workers telling their stories. Talking about what they did at their job, how it helped the American people, and why they want to keep doing those jobs. This is the way.
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David Shiffman, Ph.D. 🦈 @whysharksmatter.bsky.social · 19/02/2025
democrats-science.house.gov/sciencefirings 🧪
democrats-science.house.gov
Were you fired by President Trump? | House Committee on Science, Space and Technology
The House Committee on Science, Space and Technology
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Katie Sandlin @kmsandlin.bsky.social · 14/02/2025
Today, along with 2,000 other NIH employees, I had to clear out my office 😭 It was truly the honor of my life to work with such incredibly passionate people focused on improving human health. I’ve never experienced a more positive culture where *everyone* cared about their job and serving others.
Office desk without any personal items or decor
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Rhys Parry @rhyshparry.bsky.social · 18/01/2025
Here we provide evidence of henipaviruses in North America with the discovery of Camp hill virus in the Northern Short-Tailed Shrew, Alabama. Early release article available from EID wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/... #virology
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Alt NIH Bluesky 🧪 @altnih4science.bsky.social · 30/01/2025
This account is for sharing info with US scientists, both extramural and intramural to NIH, about attacks on science in the US. Education is power, and we can help advocate for science and medicine together. 💪🧪 We are a team of NIH people. Please ask us questions you might have.
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Ian M. Mackay, PhD (he/him) 🦠🤧🧬📑🦟🧀 @mackayim.bsky.social · 18/01/2025
Human neuroinvasive #Toscana virus infections in Italy from 2016 to 2023: Increased incidence in 2022 and 2023. www.eurosurveillance.org/content/10.2...
eurosurveillance.org
Human neuroinvasive Toscana virus infections in Italy from 2016 to 2023: Increased incidence in 2022 and 2023
Background Toscana virus (TOSV) is transmitted to humans through bites of infected sand flies. Neuroinvasive TOSV infections are leading causes of meningitis/encephalitis in southern Europe and notifi...
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E. Taylor Stone @etaylorstone.bsky.social · 15/01/2025
When you design a vaccine and by the time the paper comes out you’ve made three updated versions as the virus continues to evolve 😅 #influenza #RNAviruses
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Jesse Erasmus @jesseerasmus.bsky.social · 14/01/2025
New paper! In collaboration with NIAID, we asked: how effective are vaccines designed against historical #H5N1 viruses in naïve mice challenged with the contemporary cattle virus? Turns out that the new isolates are different enough to warrant further evaluation of updated vaccine compositions. 🧪
nature.com
Clade 2.3.4.4b but not historical clade 1 HA replicating RNA vaccine protects against bovine H5N1 challenge in mice - Nature Communications
Here the authors show that a replicating RNA vaccine encoding the hemagglutinin (HA) of contemporary H5N1 strains confers single shot protection against lethal H5N1 challenge in mice, while an RNA enc...
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Lambodhar Damodaran @lambod50.bsky.social · 20/12/2024
Really excited to share that my postdoctoral work on HPAI in North America is now preprinted! Please feel free to reach out with any feedback and thoughts! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
biorxiv.org
Intensive transmission in wild, migratory birds drove rapid geographic dissemination and repeated spillovers of H5N1 into agriculture in North America
Since late 2021, a panzootic of highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza virus has driven significant morbidity and mortality in wild birds, domestic poultry, and mammals. In North America, infections i...
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Jesse Erasmus @jesseerasmus.bsky.social · 20/12/2024
Another update on our #CCHF vaccine that is marching towards phase I clinical trial. Here we report on the durability of protection in a mouse model of CCHFV infection. Excellent work from our colleagues at RML/NIAID🧪 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Replicating RNA vaccine confers durable immunity against Crimean Congo hemorrhagic fever virus challenge in mice - npj Vaccines
npj Vaccines - Replicating RNA vaccine confers durable immunity against Crimean Congo hemorrhagic fever virus challenge in mice
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Jesse Erasmus @jesseerasmus.bsky.social · 02/12/2024
Visiting the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Einstein on a clear, freezing cold day today. Looking forward to the discussions!
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Anna Obenauf @obenaufa.bsky.social · 27/11/2024
1/23 Big news for the #ObenaufLab! So excited to finally share our new study providing another puzzle piece, why immunotherapy fails in many tumors, now out in @Nature 🧵👇 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
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Elisabeth Bik @elisabethbik.bsky.social · 25/11/2024
Breaking: Cassava Sciences Topline Phase 3 Data Did Not Meet Co-Primary Endpoints $SAVA CEO: "(T)he loss of cognition in the placebo group was less pronounced than ... in other placebo-controlled studies in AD. We are working to understand this better". www.globenewswire.com/news-release...
globenewswire.com
Cassava Sciences Topline Phase 3 Data Did Not Meet Co-Primary Endpoints
Simufilam did not show a significant reduction in cognitive or functional decline versus placebo in patients with mild-to-moderate Alzheimer’s disease in...
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Christine Mordstein @cmordstein.bsky.social · 24/11/2024
I only recently came across the Qubit iQ assay for assessing #RNA integrity (or rather the existence of both short + long RNA within the same sample if I understand correctly). I'd be interested to hear use cases in which this assay may be preferred over e.g. fragment analysis? #RNAsky #RNAbiology
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Kevin M. King @kevinmking.bsky.social · 23/11/2024
The basic principle is that reviewers are tired, they're rushed, they're reading your and 10 other grants on top of their normal workload. Anything you can do to make it easy for them will help. Here's a list of my suggestions.
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Ryan Langlois @langloislab.bsky.social · 22/11/2024
Excited for my first bluesky post announcing TWO openings for tenure track positions in virology! I am chair of the search committee and with a new department head Mike Gale we are in an exciting building phase. Please share with anyone who might be interested: hr.myu.umn.edu/jobs/ext/365...
hr.myu.umn.edu
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Val Cortez @virologistval.bsky.social · 23/11/2024
Hello everyone! I’m slowly making my way to this app so a re-introduction seems to be in order. I’m a new-ish PI @ #UCSC and my lab studies #astroviruses, non-enveloped, +ssRNA viruses that are a major cause of pediatric #diarrhea.
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Itai Yanai @itaiyanai.bsky.social · 20/11/2024
The 1st rule of day science is to ask for each result, what is the negative control and what is the positive control, because we forget how easy it is to fool ourselves.
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Jacob Yount @yountlabosu.bsky.social · 20/11/2024
Currently doing paperwork to make our IFITM3 KO mice available through Jax Labs. So many functions in antiviral response, inflammation, cell signaling, alzheimer's. Can't keep up with the mouse requests ourselves any more and can't wait to see all the research to come!
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David McQuarrie @davidmcquarrie.bsky.social · 21/11/2024
N-6-methyladenosine (m6A) Promotes the Nuclear Retention of mRNAs with Intact 5' Splice Site Motifs www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
biorxiv.org
N-6-methyladenosine (m6A) Promotes the Nuclear Retention of mRNAs with Intact 5' Splice Site Motifs
In humans, misprocessed mRNAs containing intact 5′ Splice Site (5′SS) motifs are nuclear retained and targeted for decay by ZFC3H1, a component of the Poly(A) Exosome Targeting complex, and U1-70K, a ...
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American Society for Virology @amersocvirology.bsky.social · 19/11/2024
ASV 2025 July 14 - 17, 2025 (Monday - Thursday) Palais des congrès de Montréal Montréal, Québec (CA) asv.org/asv2025/ ASV's VISA Info page: asv.org/asv2025/visa... Find out if you need a VISA ircc.canada.ca/english/visi...
asv.org
ASV 2025 | American Society for Virology
The website for the 44th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Virology.
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Barry Rockx @barryrockx.bsky.social · 18/11/2024
Exciting PhD student opportunity to strengthen our arbovirus research group at Wageningen Bioveterinary Research. Please see the link for more information and to apply: www.wur.nl/nl/vacature/...
wur.nl
PhD student: Vector-borne virus preparedness
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