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Moriah Szpara

@szparalab.bsky.social
799 followers 428 following 17 posts

Studying comparative genomics & evolution of neurotropic viruses & chronic infections, at Penn State U. We value diversity in STEM & beyond. she/her

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Reposted by Moriah Szpara
Coalition for Life Sciences @c4lifesciences.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
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Reposted by Moriah Szpara
@LaBonneLaB @labonnelab.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
Scientific American has an outstanding article about what has been happening to our scientific research enterprise that is aimed at the lay public. Worth sharing widely. www.yahoo.com/news/science...
yahoo.com
America’s compact between science and politics is broken
Last year Christopher Reynolds started to worry that his space telescope was going to be killed. Eight teams of researchers pitched NASA their ideas; Reynolds, an astronomer at the University of Mary...
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Moriah Szpara @szparalab.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
NYTimes just posted a memoriam on Bernard Roizman’s many contributions to the study of HSV. The “strain F” that he first described has been a key example in many of our studies of HSV-1 genomes. www.nytimes.com/2026/06/04/s...
nytimes.com
Bernard Roizman, Virologist Who Demystified Herpes, Dies at 96
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Reposted by Moriah Szpara
Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
So... I got more information about this plan. The most important points follow on the next posts. 1/3
A slide with recommendations about peer review scores.
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Andy Pekosz @andrewpekosz.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
Very sad to hear about the passing of Bernard Roizman. A real powerhouse in virology whose trainees are numerous and many have also had a profound impact on virology: www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...
annualreviews.org
The Maturation of a Scientist: An Autobiography
I was shaped by World War II, years of near starvation as a war refugee, postwar chaos, life in several countries, and relative affluence in later life. The truth is that as I was growing up I wanted ...
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Moriah Szpara @szparalab.bsky.social · 18/02/2026
ASV members at your service -- check out your ballot! @szparalab.bsky.social @drjdennehy.bsky.social @salehlabparis.bsky.social @skytree42.bsky.social @paulturnerlab.bsky.social Also but not online: Louis Mansky, Liang Deng, Kai Wu, Shou-Wei Ding, Cristina Rosa, David Buchholz & Patrick Creisher
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Moriah Szpara @szparalab.bsky.social · 15/12/2025
Pro tip for PSU students looking for a spring general-education class: Viruses in our World (SC 130) starts anew in January! Check out Katie Herron's Daily Collegian article about the new class: www.psucollegian.com/culture_life...
Logo for "Viruses in Our World", the new PSU course # SC 130.
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Moriah Szpara @szparalab.bsky.social · 17/10/2025
Thanks for a fabulous visit & inspiring science and ideas, Harmit! 🍃🧫 🧬
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Reposted by Moriah Szpara
Black Microbiologists Assoc (Black In Micro) @blackinmicro.bsky.social · 14/10/2025
Welcome to Black In Micro Week! 🎉 Don't miss today's free events - simply click the linktr.ee/BlackInMicro to 1) Register and 2) Login. Everyone is welcome to join! Show your support by donating at tinyurl.com/GiveBiM (all links in bio). #BlackInMicro #BiM2025
The summarised schedule of Black in Micro Week 2025, October 14-16. All times are in Eastern Standard Time. Mon 14: Pathways for Change. Welcome and Keynote Address 12pm. Marian Johnson-Thompson, PhD. Panel Discussion: Finding Black Spaces in STEM, 1:15-2:15 PM. Weds 15, Careers & Research: ECR Symposium 9-12 PM. Panel discussion: Navigating Careers in Microbiology 2-3 PM. Thurs 16, Community: Panel Discussion - Empowering Your Science 12-1:15 PM. Workshop: Science in Action, Zine Creation 1:30-2:30. Social hour: networking and community building 2:45-3:45. Register to take part!
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Reposted by Moriah Szpara
Harmit Singh Malik @harmitmalik.bsky.social · 15/10/2025
Excellent first day at @pennstateuniv.bsky.social for the Marker lectures hanging out with science celebrities @nicoleacrowley.bsky.social @drohsopretty.bsky.social @symbionticism.bsky.social plus several more folks I was too shy to ask for selfies
Dr. Melanie McReynolds, queen of all things NAD+ in biochem dept at Penn StateSelfie with Dr. Seth Birdenstein, direction of microbiome institute at Penn stateSelfie with Dr. Seth Bordenatwin showing off some nice swag (socks) that advertise the microbiome center at Penn StateSelfie with Dr. Nikki Crowley, director of neuroscience institute at Penn state
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American Society for Virology @amersocvirology.bsky.social · 19/06/2025
This year's Trainee Satellite Symposium at #ASV2025 is a trainee-only session "Exploring the Intersection of Culture, Communication, And Mentorship in Science". It will feature speakers Beronda Montgomery, Robert Fernandez, and Olivia Goldman. Find out more here: asv.org/2025/06/19/t...
asv.org
Trainee Satellite Workshop | American Society for Virology
ORGANIZERS: Roberto Miguel Alers-Velazquez, Dartmouth College, Councilor For Virology Trainees Laura St. Clair, Johns Hopkins University, Councilor For Virology Trainees This satellite symposium…
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Reposted by Moriah Szpara
Max Kozlov @maxkozlov.bsky.social · 10/04/2025
NEW: Entire scientific fields have been wiped out by the nearly 800 grants cancelled at NIH, finds a @nature.com analysis of the unprecedented cuts. About half of all 2024 NIH projects related to LGBT+ health or vaccine hesitancy — gone. See the other topics and US states hardest hit here:
nature.com
How Trump 2.0 is slashing NIH-backed research — in charts
Nature analyses which fields of science and US states are being hit hardest by grant terminations.
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American Society for Virology @amersocvirology.bsky.social · 13/02/2025
Vaccines work! As measles cases have recently been reported in Alaska, Georgia, New York, Rhode Island and Texas, it's important to remember that prior to the introduction of the measles vaccine in 1963, measles killed 400-500 people and resulted in ~48,000 hospitalizations per year.
Graph showing that prior to 1963 when the measles vaccine was introduced, there were around 300,000-700,000 measles cases per year. Within a few years of the vaccine, the number of cases fell below 20,000/year. There were a blips where cases rose, but shortly after the second vaccine dose was recommended in 1989, annual cases have generally been well below 1,000 cases. In 2000, measles elimination was declared in the US. Now we have sporadic outbreaks that typically spread among unvaccinated people. Chart is from Center for American Progress and is based on CDC data on measles cases.
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Reposted by Moriah Szpara
Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · 08/02/2025
1. Today the NIH director issued a new directive slashing overhead rates to 15%. I want to provide some context on what that means and why it matters. grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...
grants.nih.gov
NOT-OD-25-068: Supplemental Guidance to the 2024 NIH Grants Policy Statement: Indirect Cost Rates
NIH Funding Opportunities and Notices in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts: Supplemental Guidance to the 2024 NIH Grants Policy Statement: Indirect Cost Rates NOT-OD-25-068. OD
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American Society for Virology @amersocvirology.bsky.social · 03/02/2025
Shoutout to all of the exceptional Black scientists who have contributed to and are currently contributing to virology research! Your work is vitally important to understanding basic virology controlling viral diseases worldwide! #BlackHistoryMonth
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Moriah Szpara @szparalab.bsky.social · 02/02/2025
One last reminder -- tomorrow is the last day to submit an abstract for ASV's annual meeting! We have a new, shorter schedule of just 4 awesome days -- July 14-17, 2025, in Montréal 🇨🇦. The ASV Program Committee is eagerly awaiting your excellent abstracts! ✍️
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Moriah Szpara @szparalab.bsky.social · 14/01/2025
Heads up, virologists! ASV's annual meeting is going to Montréal 🇨🇦 in July 2025, and abstract submission closes in <3 weeks -- Monday Feb. 3rd!!! 🔬 🧬 The ASV Program Committee is eagerly awaiting your excellent abstracts! ✍️
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Reposted by Moriah Szpara
Martin Steinegger 🇺🇦 @martinsteinegger.bsky.social · 23/11/2024
Our Big Fantastic Virus Database (BFVD) is now published NAR! It contains protein structure predictions of major viral clades, enhanced by petabase-scale homology search and it's explorable on the web. 🌐 bfvd.foldseek.com 💾 bfvd.steineggerlab.workers.dev 📄 academic.oup.com/nar/advance-...
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Moriah Szpara @szparalab.bsky.social · 23/11/2024
I love that someone left this on my office door board! 😊 🔬🦠 ❤️‍🩹#LoveVirology
A card with a definition of the word “Virologist”
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Moriah Szpara @szparalab.bsky.social · 13/08/2024
Calling all #virology friends who are on the faculty job market: Penn State's Biology department & our Biochemistry & Molecular Biology department have multiple faculty openings! Link #1 of 3 here -- this one's theme is Evolutionary Genomics (open topic): psu.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/PSU_Ac...
psu.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com
Evolutionary Genomics Tenure Track Faculty Position in Biology Department
APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS: CURRENT PENN STATE EMPLOYEE (faculty, staff, technical service, or student), please login to Workday to complete the internal application process. Please do not apply here, a...
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Moriah Szpara @szparalab.bsky.social · 14/01/2024
Abstract submission for the biggest US-based meeting in virology #ASV2024 closes in under 3 weeks! ASV's Program Committtee is ready & excited to receive your abstracts, due by February 1! asv.org/asv2024/ @amersocvirology.bsky.social
American Society for Virology (ASV) 2024 logo
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Marc Veldhoen @marcveld.bsky.social · 20/12/2023
Ancient chicken remains reveal the origins of virulence in Marek’s disease virus Marek´s disease virus is a herpes virus, the virulence of which has greatly increased www.science.org/doi/... 1/3
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Kristian G. Andersen @kgandersen.bsky.social · 17/12/2023
Very sad to learn about the passing of Dr. Lindenbach - the world has lost an eminent and deeply caring scientist. www.legacy.com/us/obituarie...
legacy.com
Brett Lindenbach Obituary (1968 - 2023) - Legacy Remembers
Brett Lindenbach, 55, died on December 16, 2023 after enduring glioblastoma and its treatments (both standard and investigational) for 20 months. He was a loving husband, father, son, and brother and
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Oren Kobiler @orenkobiler.bsky.social · 23/11/2023
New paper alert After more than 15 years in the field this is my first paper in @JVirology My student Alina Shitrit had led this project as part of Ph.D, with our collaborators @szparalab.bsky.social @nirdrayman.bsky.social @weitzmanlab.bsky.social and more journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
journals.asm.org
Shared sequence characteristics identified in non-canonical rearrangements of HSV-1 genomes | Journa...
Mutations and genetic rearrangements are the primary driving forces of evolution. Viruses provide valuable model systems for investigating these mechanisms due to their rapid evolutionary rates and va...
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Moriah Szpara @szparalab.bsky.social · 16/11/2023
In-person visits to share science are the best, especially after years of being zoom-limited for pandemic safety. Thank you to Bill @wtjackson.bsky.social & the faculty & trainees at U. Maryland Baltimore for an awesome visit & great post-seminar questions!
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American Society for Virology @amersocvirology.bsky.social · 10/09/2023
Mark your calendars, virologists! ASV2024 will be held at The Ohio State University in Columbus, OH from June 24-28.
ASV 2024 logo showing a buckeye, representing Ohio.
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Moriah Szpara @szparalab.bsky.social · 22/09/2023
In honor of all the new peeps rebuilding science-social over here (thank goodness!), here's a super-cool new preprint from my old labmate Matt Taylor's group -- on single-cell analyses of HSV1, in neurons cultured in little droplets. Check it out! Matt's not yet on bluesky, but we'll get him here!
biorxiv.org
Single-cell Herpes Simplex Virus type-1 infection of neurons using drop-based microfluidics reveals ...
bioRxiv - the preprint server for biology, operated by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, a research and educational institution
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Moriah Szpara @szparalab.bsky.social · 10/09/2023
Keen to hear about the new place for science online, from fellow virologists at @amersocvirology.bsky.social! Our pup is listening to the good news too...
Sweet puppy
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