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Charlotte Houldcroft

@virologyhouldcroft.bsky.social
1.5K followers 449 following 668 posts

Virology with a side-order of human evolution.

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Charlotte Houldcroft @virologyhouldcroft.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
What's that cough? Pumpkin spice edition. Covid season has definitely started, and my guess it that it will peak a little later and higher than last year.
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Nature @nature.com · 07/10/2026
None of this year's science Nobel Prizes have gone to women. The number of these prizes to go to women remains at 27 out of more than 600. See how many you can name in our quiz: www.nature.com/immersive/d4...
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Charlotte Houldcroft @virologyhouldcroft.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Everything I know about plague comes from giving ancient DNA lectures. I didn't expect to be updating them with 2026 cases...
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Charlotte Houldcroft @virologyhouldcroft.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Spammy company asking me to pay $3500 to be listed as one of “The 10 Pioneering Leaders Transforming Education and Learning, 2026.”
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Charlotte Houldcroft @virologyhouldcroft.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Currently trying to work out the other Houldcroft et al papers that Google Scholar keeps trying to assign to me are from relatives (at least one is a second cousin). Rare surnames make the world feel small...
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Charlotte Houldcroft @virologyhouldcroft.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Fantastic outgoing third year Cambridge Genetics student Chris Leung has turned his prize-winning project on ARG methods for DNA viruses into a preprint www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... @aylwyn-scally.bsky.social & I welcome your feedback.
biorxiv.org
Statistical inference of virus evolution using ancestral recombination graphs
Ancestral recombination graphs (ARGs) represent the coalescent history at every locus in the genome, subject to mutation and recombination. Modelling viruses using the coalescent with recombination re...
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Charlotte Houldcroft @virologyhouldcroft.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Does anyone know the current Biorxiv screening time?
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Rachel M. Wheatley @rachelmwheatley.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
🔊 Fully-funded 4 year PhD: How does the microbiome evolve under repeated pathogen exposure? 🦠 Project looking at how commensal microbes resist pathogen invasion, impact of antibiotics on these outcomes, and selective pressures in the microbiome. Come join us at QUB! www.gla.ac.uk/postgraduate...
gla.ac.uk
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Tom Gauld @tomgauld.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Author Simulator. My latest books cartoon for @theguardian.com
Title: Author Simulator 

Level 1: Get to desk and begin! (Platform video game-style image of an author jumping from a block onto  a cloud with desk and computer) Result: success!

Level 2: Press on despite distractions! (Author typing as the desk/clod moves past a ghost and a spider) ) Result: success!

Level 3: Deliver manuscript to editor! (Author jumping over fire pit onto platform where editor waits) Result: success!

Level 4: Accept minor criticism! (Author lying ded in fronto of editors desk) Result: better luck next time!

Along the bottom are controls for:
 Left right jump crouch read write nap coffee
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Charlotte Houldcroft @virologyhouldcroft.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
A Berliner's review of Hannover: "i wouldn't want to get stuck here"
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Charlotte Houldcroft @virologyhouldcroft.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
I posted a preprint yesterday, and now my inbox is full of predatory contract research companies, chancers and ransoms offering to reanalyse my data for $$$$.
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Willem van Schaik @wvschaik.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
'The UK’s Advanced Research and Invention Agency has been criticised for predominantly selecting overseas organisations as its latest “activation partners”, raising questions over whether the funding will deliver sufficient economic benefits to the UK.' www.researchprofessional.com/news-article...
researchprofessional.com
Research Professional Sign-in
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Charlotte Houldcroft @virologyhouldcroft.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
The EES passport control queue punishment beatings will continue till morale improves
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Charlotte Houldcroft @virologyhouldcroft.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
@strangviruslab.bsky.social I like the oropouche paper!
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Charlotte Houldcroft @virologyhouldcroft.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
www.nejm.org/doi/10.1056/... Adenovirus B3 infection-associated stroke in a 12 year old. As soon as the VITT story became clear, I thought wildtype adenovirus must also be causing some proportion of strokes - as VZV also seems to do.
nejm.org
Human Adenovirus B3–Induced Immune Thrombocytopenia and Thrombosis | NEJM
Virus-induced immune thrombocytopenia and thrombosis after HAdV-B3 infection supports a shared platelet factor 4–targeted immune mechanism linking natural adenovirus infection and ...
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Charlotte Houldcroft @virologyhouldcroft.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Two papers and a grant submitted in the last week - I feel like I've been put through an old-fashioned mangle.
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Charlotte Houldcroft @virologyhouldcroft.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
@oldenoughtosay.com Have you been to the Whitby Museum? It's like the Pitt Rivers, but it seems to have kept on collecting random stuff, including a Tempest Prognosticator that predicts the weather via... Leeches.
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Charlotte Houldcroft @virologyhouldcroft.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Whitby Museum is very proud to have a genuine Hand of Glory. What part is genuine?! Is it definitely from a hanged man, definitely magical, or definitely BELIEVED to be a Hand of Glory by the person who hid it in the eaves of their house 80+ years ago?
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Charlotte Houldcroft @virologyhouldcroft.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
North Yorkshire - highly recommended
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Hassinator @hassinator.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
a great letter in the times today. perhaps worth sharing in these troubled times. #RNLI #heroes
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Charlotte Houldcroft @virologyhouldcroft.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
It's been a great week for big ancient pathogen studies! First parvovirus and now plague. Rewrite your lecture slides now, before anything else gets published!
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Christina Warinner @christinawarinner.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
A huge congratulations to Tessa Zeibig for her first dissertation publication about ancient parvovirus B19! It was such a pleasure to collaborate on this study!
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Leftback @leftback.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Yer far right lad's attempt to identify an RNLI volunteer to intimidate him appears to have backfired when said volunteer has gone onto the BBC to effectively say "one at a time or all at once, makes no odds to me" www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
RNLI reviews security after protests in Dover and Portsmouth
Volunteers were targeted online after it assisted in the rescue of people crossing the Channel on Sunday.
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Charlotte Houldcroft @virologyhouldcroft.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Sick of AI? You might have... parAInfluenza
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Charlotte Houldcroft @virologyhouldcroft.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
For those who have children starting preschool/daycare/nursery for the first time this week... Stock up on the infant paracetamol journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
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Kevin Daly @gingerhowley.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
I'm hiring a postdoc as part of my ERC project - the deadline is tomorrow noon GMT, apologies for the little notice If you have interest but can't make the deadline, please DM/email me immediately and i can try extend the deadline a few days
universityvacancies.com
University & College Vacancies
Connecting talent with opportunity in higher education
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Charlotte Houldcroft @virologyhouldcroft.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
The Last Grave. Nothing makes you appreciate the power of the sea quite like an entire town disappearing over a cliff.
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Charlotte Houldcroft @virologyhouldcroft.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
It was really bugging me to work out what the pumpkins reminded me of...
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Charlotte Houldcroft @virologyhouldcroft.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Mission "Tire Out the Toddler" continues to backfire on the adults of the house
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Charlotte Houldcroft @virologyhouldcroft.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Serious deja vu over submitting my first Sanger computing cluster job for a decade.
static.klipy.com
Mc Conaughey True
ALT: Mc Conaughey True
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Legal C @legalclaret.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Good morning @katebevan.com ! www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...
theguardian.com
Wild swimming linked to higher risk of stomach bugs and skin rashes
Findings from research into illnesses associated with bathing in lakes and rivers come amid boom in hobby
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Catherine Moore @smallredone.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
It never went away. www.theguardian.com/global-devel...
theguardian.com
Mpox is back – and in new countries. How can this outbreak be contained?
The public health emergencies in 2022 and 2024 saw the virus reported in 145 countries, but in the new cases children appear particularly affected
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Charlotte Houldcroft @virologyhouldcroft.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
The NHS keep putting out press releases about this, but not actually doing it. Unless you're a woman living in London, of course! www.theguardian.com/society/2026...
theguardian.com
NHS England to offer women ‘gamechanging’ free home testing kits for cervical cancer
NHS has target of eliminating the cancer by 2040, but up to 4 million eligible women are not up to date with screening
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Charlotte Houldcroft @virologyhouldcroft.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Your periodic reminder that herpesviruses are for life, not just for when the Guardian/DM notices them www.nhs.uk/conditions/s...
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Charlotte Houldcroft @virologyhouldcroft.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Adenovirus - an underappreciated cause of upper respiratory tract infection in adults over 50 link.springer.com/article/10.1... And not everyone was symptomatic... Though those infected in winter seemed to have more classic cough/cold/ILI symptoms.
link.springer.com
Point prevalence assessments of five respiratory viruses in adults ≥ 50 years of age in Germany by multi-pathogen rapid antigen testing on June 1, 2024, and December 15, 2024 - Infection
Purpose Acute respiratory infections (ARI) impose a significant burden on healthcare systems and society. This study aimed to investigate the circulation of respiratory viruses in community-dwelling o...
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Charlotte Houldcroft @virologyhouldcroft.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
I'm sorry, viral epidemiology, but between me and Emma Hodcroft, we just can't manage another surname confusion!
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Charlotte Houldcroft @virologyhouldcroft.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Is anyone nowcasting respiratory and stomach bugs in children based on parental reports on Bluesky and Mumsnet/Reddit? I bet you could spot hand foot and mouth, norovirus etc unseasonal peaks this way.
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Prof Jenny Rohn @jennyrohn.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
How can scientists learn the craft of critical thinking and argumentation if they no longer experience one of the main ways we all traditionally absorbed this essential training - by writing bad drafts & learning from expert edits? My latest post on genAI in science #AcademicSky short-url.cc/1wC1X
short-url.cc
In which generative AI interferes with scientific training – potentially | Mind the Gap
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Charlotte Houldcroft @virologyhouldcroft.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
The BBC just repeated an old Cautionary Tales ep timharford.com/2021/05/caut... It got me thinking - how many people know someone personally who has had smallpox (n)? Polio (y)? Measles (y)? Mumps (y)? Rubella (n)? Chickenpox (y)? TB (bovine TB, as it happens)?
timharford.com
Cautionary Tales – Wrong Tools Cost Lives
Microsoft Excel is great for business accounts… but maybe don’t use it to track a deadly disease. The British Government promised to create a “world-beating” system to track…
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Charlotte Houldcroft @virologyhouldcroft.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
I wrote this editorial 3 months ago, almost to the day. www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/jour... At that point, there were just 8 confirmed deaths. Now, at least 2300 people are dead in the DRC alone. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/a... DRC also dealing w outbreaks of measles, cholera & mpox.
microbiologyresearch.org
2026 Bundibugyo virus outbreak: the role of genomics in Orthoebolavirus outbreaks
Central Africa is currently experiencing its third recorded outbreak of Bundibugyo virus, one of three orthoebolaviruses capable of causing lethal haemorrhagic fevers in humans with person-to-person t...
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Charlotte Houldcroft @virologyhouldcroft.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Another week, another stranger asking me to diagnose or solve their medical mystery. I'm very sorry for them, they must email out of desperation, but I can't even respond to say "Not medically qualified, can't help" because it seems to make things worse.
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Charlotte Houldcroft @virologyhouldcroft.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
Genbank is down...
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Charlotte Houldcroft @virologyhouldcroft.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
@mrrobvalentine.bsky.social I listened again to your Howl's Moving Castle, so enjoyable I had to get the book out! Did you know that TV Tropes explicitly reference your adaptation? They say it's hard to hear Howl as anyone but Iwan Rheon once you've listened to it.
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Charlotte Houldcroft @virologyhouldcroft.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Is the IQ Tree web server ever coming back? 😢 It's so useful for undergraduate projects!
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Charlotte Houldcroft @virologyhouldcroft.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
American English spellings *and* the Oxford comma... Go home, journal style sheet, you've been on a trans-Atlantic grammar binge and you need to sleep it off.
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Sholto David @sholtodavid.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
A tool used to rephrase plagiarised text changed "final solution" to "mass killing of an ethnic group" in a chemistry paper. Now retracted thanks to a PubPeer user who spotted this. pubpeer.com/publications...
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Charlotte Houldcroft @virologyhouldcroft.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Journalists: I am not the only virologist in the COVID - herpesvirus - chronically sarcastic Venn diagram, please get in touch if you would like me or some of my equally qualified colleagues to both explain about viruses *and* crack jokes. Remember, we can say herpes without blushing.
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Charlotte Houldcroft @virologyhouldcroft.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Remember, kids, herpesviruses are for life, not just for when Nature papers make them fashionable.
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Charlotte Houldcroft @virologyhouldcroft.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
I keep coming across posts online that are human-written but AI 'polished' (which naturally brings "you can't polish a 💩" to mind). WHY doesn't the AI at least make these people concise? It just adds to the ramble!
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Charlotte Houldcroft @virologyhouldcroft.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
In the middle of a drought (yes, I know it rained a bit last night), both Cambridge Uni and Anglia Ruskin are jet washing parts of their estates 😭
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