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Sam Díaz-Muñoz (they / ella)

@sociovirology.bsky.social
1.7K followers 357 following 226 posts

I study the social lives of viruses. Associate Prof at UC Davis. Previously: UHS | B.S. @UPRM | Ph.D. @Cal | PD @UCSanDiego @Yale @nyuniversity 🇵🇷 🏳️‍⚧️🌈✊

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Reposted by Sam Díaz-Muñoz (they / ella)
Graham Coop @gcbias.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
I’m looking to hire an NIH funded postdoc to join our lab here at Davis (please RT). Ongoing areas of interest include: 1) polygenic signals of selection from time series, ARGs, GWAS, etc 2) The interpretation of GWAS, polygenic scores, & sources of confounding
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Reposted by Sam Díaz-Muñoz (they / ella)
Kristian G. Andersen @kgandersen.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Take a look at the examples Antrophic provides for research that they blocked, and it's immediately clear almost much all of it is just basic research - but research that has gotten scary-sounding names via the media. An example, put Ebola genomes into Claude Science and ask for a TMRCA > blocked!
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Sam Díaz-Muñoz (they / ella) @sociovirology.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Final Panel of #SocialViruses26: "Cheat therapy in viruses from theory to reality." Host: Ed Hutchinson @socialinfluenza.bsky.social (University of Glasgow). Panelists: Marco Vignuzzi (A*STAR, Singapore), Tanja Laske (Leibniz Institute of Virology, @leibnizliv.bsky.social), Ana Komparic (UBC)
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Sam Díaz-Muñoz (they / ella) @sociovirology.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Closing out #SocialViruses26's talks: Rowan Green @rowancallumg.bsky.social (University of British Columbia) with "Defective genomes are highly abundant and associated with patient status in natural influenza infections"
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Sam Díaz-Muñoz (they / ella) @sociovirology.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Now at #SocialViruses26: Mia Le and @mathbiotanja.bsky.social speaking about defective interfering particles in influenza. Two talks in one!
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Sam Díaz-Muñoz (they / ella) @sociovirology.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Up next at #SocialViruses26: Karim Majzoub @karimaj.bsky.social from @igmm-montpel.bsky.social presenting "Deltaviruses spread through a viral Trojan horse"
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Sam Díaz-Muñoz (they / ella) @sociovirology.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Afternoon session at #SocialViruses26 kicks off with Kim Seed (@ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social) with "Phage Parasites in Vibrio cholerae"
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Sam Díaz-Muñoz (they / ella) @sociovirology.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Now at #SocialViruses26: Frédérique Le Roux @fredoleroux.bsky.social (Université de Montréal @umontreal.ca) on "Environmental phage diversity reveals rapid coevolution with PICMI satellites"
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Sam Díaz-Muñoz (they / ella) @sociovirology.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
After the break at #SocialViruses26, the incomparable Marco Vignuzzi (A*STAR, Singapore) with "The Zika virus DVG that blurs the definition of what is defective and what is cheating"
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Sam Díaz-Muñoz (they / ella) @sociovirology.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Next at #SocialViruses26, one of the OG's of our sociovirology field (even before it had a name!), Santiago Elena @sfelena.bsky.social (@i2sysbio.es) presenting "Experimental evolution of betacoronaviruses and their nsVGs: who drives who?"
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Sam Díaz-Muñoz (they / ella) @sociovirology.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Kicking off the final day of #SocialViruses26: Ryo Mizuuchi (Waseda University) with "Social evolution of artificial RNA replicators"
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Sam Díaz-Muñoz (they / ella) @sociovirology.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Closing scientific programming today w/ panel: "Pushing the bounds of sociovirology: what we can learn from diverse viral model systems." Host: @sfelena.bsky.social (@i2sysbio.es). Panelists: @saganlab.bsky.social (UBC), @viromehunter.bsky.social (UBC), Uri Gophna (Tel Aviv U) #SocialViruses26
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Sam Díaz-Muñoz (they / ella) @sociovirology.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Last talk of the day at #SocialViruses26: Iris Irby @irisirby.bsky.social (Georgia Institute of Technology @gtresearch.bsky.social) with "Conflict dynamics: ecological drivers of prophage coexistence and the evolution of viral cheats"
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Sam Díaz-Muñoz (they / ella) @sociovirology.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
The last of the afternoon talks at #SocialViruses26 led out by James Gurney @jamesgurney.bsky.social from Georgia State University with "Sociality changes gene essentiality"
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Sam Díaz-Muñoz (they / ella) @sociovirology.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Up next at #SocialViruses26: Dave McLeod (Université de Montréal @umontreal.ca) on "The distribution of anti-phage defense systems in bacteria populations"
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Sam Díaz-Muñoz (they / ella) @sociovirology.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Coming back from lunch at #SocialViruses26 Day 2: Jorge Moura de Sousa (Institut Pasteur @pasteur.fr) presenting "Shuttling, swapping and mixing: the rapid modular evolution of antiviral repertoires in temperate phages and their satellites"
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Sam Díaz-Muñoz (they / ella) @sociovirology.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Now at #SocialViruses26: Guillaume Lafforgue (i2SysBio, Spain @i2sysbio.es) with "Hidden players: latent viruses can modulate plant disease outcomes in coinfection contexts"
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Sam Díaz-Muñoz (they / ella) @sociovirology.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
After the break at #SocialViruses26: Sulyvann Chereau (INRAE, France @inrae-france.bsky.social) on "Sequence identity and cross-protection: does plant RNA silencing set the limits?"
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Sam Díaz-Muñoz (they / ella) @sociovirology.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Second talk of the morning at #SocialViruses26: Nora Pyenson @norapyenson.bsky.social from NYU Langone with "Selfish genetic elements drive allele replacement in competing phage populations"
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Sam Díaz-Muñoz (they / ella) @sociovirology.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Kicking off Day 2 of #SocialViruses26: Ed Hutchinson @socialinfluenza.bsky.social from University of Glasgow Center for Virus Research @cvrinfo.bsky.social with "Mechanisms and consequences of influenza virus superinfection exclusion"
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Reposted by Sam Díaz-Muñoz (they / ella)
Cassandra Koh 🦟🔬🧪 @cassandrakoh.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
If you're not following #SocialViruses2026, you're missing out big time on @sociovirology.bsky.social's top tier live broadcasting of the meeting!
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Reposted by Sam Díaz-Muñoz (they / ella)
Isabel, booonyavirus wonk @isabelott.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Such a fun meeting and I’m bummed to miss it (my work isn’t in this corner of science rn) - always grateful that @sociovirology.bsky.social diligently live-posts from these meetings so I can have very detailed FOMO!! 😅😅
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Reposted by Sam Díaz-Muñoz (they / ella)
Tanja Laske @mathbiotanja.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
We mine driver DVGs from longitudinal infection data! Mia Le presents her Granger-causality analysis at the Social Viruses Meeting organized by @asherleeks.bsky.social and @sociovirology.bsky.social. Exciting meeting & great opportunity to exchange with the sociovirology community #SocialViruses26
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Sam Díaz-Muñoz (they / ella) @sociovirology.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
The last structured activity of the day for #SocialViruses26 is The Role of Theory in Sociovirology panel. Hosted by Sally Otto (@zoology.ubc.ca) with panelists Chadi Saad-Roy @chadisaadroy.bsky.social (UBC), Katia Koelle (@emoryuniversity.bsky.social), & Geoff Wild (University of Western Ontario)
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Sam Díaz-Muñoz (they / ella) @sociovirology.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Closing out Wednesday's talks at #SocialViruses26: Anne Chevallereau @annechevallereau.bsky.social from CNRS @cnrs.fr with "Spatial structure can promote or impede the spread of cooperative anti-CRISPR phages"
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Sam Díaz-Muñoz (they / ella) @sociovirology.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
At #SocialViruses26: Robyn Manley (University of Exeter @exeter.ac.uk) presenting "Temperate phages optimise the lysis-lysogeny switch by integrating diverse cues"
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Sam Díaz-Muñoz (they / ella) @sociovirology.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Up next at #SocialViruses26: Karla Kirkegaard (Stanford University) with "Mechanisms of genetic dominance in RNA viruses"
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Sam Díaz-Muñoz (they / ella) @sociovirology.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Back from lunch at #SocialViruses26 — Alexander Robertson @alexrob.bsky.social (University of Washington) on "Cooperative interactions facilitate measles virus brain infection"
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Sam Díaz-Muñoz (they / ella) @sociovirology.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Now at #SocialViruses26: Cassandra Koh @cassandrakoh.bsky.social from @pasteur.fr with "I contain multitudes: mosquito virus interactions through a one health lens"
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Sam Díaz-Muñoz (they / ella) @sociovirology.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Next up at #SocialViruses26 we have: Mete Yuksel (University of Toronto @utoronto.ca) with "Elevated viral recombination in short-lived hosts".
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Sam Díaz-Muñoz (they / ella) @sociovirology.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
First talk to kick off #SocialViruses26 is by Amy Sweeny @arsweeny.bsky.social from @edinburgh-uni.bsky.social with "The macroecology of viral coinfection"
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Sam Díaz-Muñoz (they / ella) @sociovirology.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Hi Everyone! I will be broadcasting live from the Social Lives of Viruses 2026 conference @zoology.ubc.ca @ubcbiodiversity.bsky.social in beautiful Vancouver BC, organized by @asherleeks.bsky.social and myself with the support of Canadian Institutes of Health Research and @moorefound.bsky.social.
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Reposted by Sam Díaz-Muñoz (they / ella)
Ed Hutchinson @socialinfluenza.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
🚨New paper!🚨 Our study showing that H5N1 influenza viruses can remain infectious in unpasteurised milk for, basically, as long as you are likely to encounter that milk has now been published: www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/jour...
A drawing of a Fresian cow whose markings resemble influenza viruses (image: Ed Hutchinson, 2025)
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Reposted by Sam Díaz-Muñoz (they / ella)
Asher Leeks @asherleeks.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
The Social Lives of Viruses is coming to Vancouver, Canada, from 4th-8th August 2026! This is a free meeting dedicated to all aspects of virus-virus interactions & evolution. To apply: socialviruses.zoology.ubc.ca @sociovirology.bsky.social #socialviruses #evosky #lovevirology #virosky
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Reposted by Sam Díaz-Muñoz (they / ella)
Bloom lab @jbloomlab.bsky.social · 23/02/2026
The final version of record of this study has been published in @elife.bsky.social alongside a nice insight perspective: elifesciences.org/articles/110...
elifesciences.org
Virus Evolution: Scaling up efforts to target evolving viruses
High-throughput neutralisation tests could lead to a better understanding of the evolution of human influenza.
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Reposted by Sam Díaz-Muñoz (they / ella)
Colin Carlson @colincarlson.bsky.social · 10/09/2025
New preprint! 🥳🎉 We looked at viral coinfection patterns at the largest scale ever in wildlife. We found a strong association among CoVs, PMVs, and influenza A, and higher coinfection rates in wildlife trade; plus, evidence that bats accumulate persistent infections. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Figure 3 of our paper, which shows viral coinfection networks at the virus level
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Sam Díaz-Muñoz (they / ella) @sociovirology.bsky.social · 18/12/2025
Happy Holidays from the Díaz-Muñoz Lab! May your stockings be stuffed with great summary statements, NOA's, and proofs!!
Stockings with lab member names Holiday Decoration on lab door
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Sam Díaz-Muñoz (they / ella) @sociovirology.bsky.social · 15/12/2025
Nothing like starting the day with shiny proofs 🤓
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Reposted by Sam Díaz-Muñoz (they / ella)
Nir Drayman @nirdrayman.bsky.social · 29/10/2025
We are searching for a lab manager! If you are detailed oriented, like southern california, HSV-1, sequencing and microscopy, please get in touch :)
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Reposted by Sam Díaz-Muñoz (they / ella)
Hypothesis Fund @hypothesisfund.bsky.social · 11/12/2025
4/ #DYK during pregnancy🤰, cells are exchanged between mothers + offspring, & even twins? Awardee @elizostrow.bsky.social will study how microchimerism mediates genetic conflict and drive resource competition. 🍾 Congrats Dr. Ostrowski! @uwbothell.bsky.social 🙏 #HFScout @paulturnerlab.bsky.social
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Sam Díaz-Muñoz (they / ella) @sociovirology.bsky.social · 11/12/2025
PSA to aspiring graduate students: If you have a submitted or pre-printed publication, **please** list it on your CV, mention it in your research statement, and in the application. Don't leave out the one thing that can make your application automatically higher ranking! #GradSchool Pls RT
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Reposted by Sam Díaz-Muñoz (they / ella)
Asher Leeks @asherleeks.bsky.social · 04/12/2025
It was great to write a brief commentary with @sociovirology.bsky.social on @nanamikubota.bsky.social and @vscooper.micropopbio.org's recent discovery of cheat-driven cycles in Pseudomonas (www.cell.com/current-biol... - amazing example of the tragedy of the commons! 🧪 #socialviruses #evosky
cell.com
Phage–bacteria dynamics: The tragedy of the commons at hyperspeed
A recent study found that apparently stable coexistence between a clinically important pathogen, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and its integrated prophages can break down, setting off an evolutionary cycle ...
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Reposted by Sam Díaz-Muñoz (they / ella)
Nanami Kubota @nanamikubota.bsky.social · 04/12/2025
A wonderful commentary by @asherleeks.bsky.social and @sociovirology.bsky.social on our recent work with P. aeruginosa filamentous cheater miniphages! @vscooper.micropopbio.org @shellyscrib.bsky.social
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Reposted by Sam Díaz-Muñoz (they / ella)
Kristian G. Andersen @kgandersen.bsky.social · 14/11/2025
A new approach to pandemic preparedness: 1️⃣ Stop preparing for pandemics 2️⃣ Rewrite history of the last major pandemic 3️⃣ Go to the gym Simple - 🤷‍♂️. www.city-journal.org/article/nih-...
city-journal.org
NIH Directors: The World Needs a New Pandemic Playbook
The old one failed to cope with Covid and may even have caused it.
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Sam Díaz-Muñoz (they / ella) @sociovirology.bsky.social · 14/11/2025
Yearly reminder for letters of recommendation: Double and triple check your language for gender bias!! It is super easy to counter our unconscious bias. Check, be mindful, and use a calculator like this one: www.tomforth.co.uk/genderbias/
tomforth.co.uk
Gender Bias Calculator
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Sam Díaz-Muñoz (they / ella) @sociovirology.bsky.social · 12/11/2025
A very belated spooky season post from our lab! 🎃👻🕸️✨
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Reposted by Sam Díaz-Muñoz (they / ella)
Dr. Rebecca Calisi-Rodríguez @rebeccacalisi.bsky.social · 06/11/2025
One more step backward, one more reminder that progress in academia is never linear. But take heart, familia. Nos quisieron enterrar, pero no sabían que éramos semillas. www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty...
insidehighered.com
UC to Stop Funding Systemwide Postdoc Program
Established in 1984 to encourage women and minority Ph.D.s to pursue academia, the program has attracted right-wing criticism for prioritizing diverse candidates.
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Reposted by Sam Díaz-Muñoz (they / ella)
Zach Hensel @zachhensel.bsky.social · 29/10/2025
🧵Remember the preprint claiming SARS-CoV-2 has a "synthetic fingerprint"? It said a restriction map was "extremely unlikely to have arisen by random evolution.” I took its claims seriously. The "synthetic fingerprint" hypothesis collapses. My new preprint explains why. arxiv.org/abs/2510.23833
22-Oct 2022 headline from The Economist
A new paper claims SARS-CoV-2 bears signs of genetic engineering
But it has yet to be peer reviewed. And others strongly disagree
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Dr. Michael D. L. Johnson @copperbae.bsky.social · 21/10/2025
Come be my chair at The University of Arizona! We have great bike riding, hiking, and of course, science! arizona.csod.com/ux/ats/caree...
arizona.csod.com
Department Head, Department of Immunobiology
Strategic LeadershipDevelop and execute a bold vision for the Department of Immunobiology that advances understanding of how immune and micr...
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Sam Díaz-Muñoz (they / ella) @sociovirology.bsky.social · 21/10/2025
Wonderful and engaging presentation from #ASMicrobe by @jaycdoesid.bsky.social of @ucsandiego.bsky.social on important vaccine awareness work that is so needed in these days of disinformation. @asm.org
youtube.com
Change Clothes and Go: Viral Mutations and the Remix of Infection
YouTube video by American Society for Microbiology
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