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Brian Ferguson

@viropractor.bsky.social
4.8K followers 5.1K following 30 posts

Professor of viral immunity at Cambridge Uni, Dept of Pathology. Mainly poxviruses and innate immunity. www.fergusonlab.path.cam.ac.uk

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Brian Ferguson @viropractor.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
One of the main issues (of many) with this is that LLMs are biased against multiple demographics. Just for that there is likely scope for litigation against this sort of approach. www.nature.com/articles/s41... arxiv.org/html/2512.15... aclanthology.org/2025.finding... direct.mit.edu/coli/article...
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John Stott @jpsastro.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Had a UKRI funded grant proposal rejected at the "AI triage stage". "This AI-based triage was used only to identify approximately 50% of the strongest proposals to take forward to full human review." 🧪 #academicsky
I am writing to let you know that, unfortunately, your application was not successful.

Review process

As part of the initial triage of the 179 proposals submitted to this call, each was assessed using an AI-based review. Every proposal was read independently by several different AI models against the same seven criteria used to shape this call (including cyber security relevance, research quality and novelty, importance of the problem addressed, feasibility of the project plan, likely outputs and impact, value for money, and responsible research practice), with each model asked to give a score and a written justification with supporting quotations from the text. To guard against any one model's idiosyncrasies, we also ran a second, independent process in which different AI models debated the merits and weaknesses of each proposal before reaching a judgement, again against the same criteria. Scores from both processes were combined to produce an overall ranking. 

This AI-based triage was used only to identify approximately 50% of the strongest proposals to take forward to full human review.  Projects selected for funding were drawn from those that progressed to the full human review stage. We recognise that AI-assisted assessment is a new and evolving part of the review process, and we are continuing to evaluate how well it aligns with the judgements of human reviewers on this call. We will soon produce a document detailing our method, so that others can build upon it and improve it.

Feedback on your application

Your application was not selected to progress beyond the AI triage stage.  To provide transparency on the outcome of this assessment, we are sharing below the scores (out of 5) from each of the two AI review processes described above, together with the mean score across the two processes.
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erzbergerlab.bsky.social @erzbergerlab.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
In-cell structures visualize human pre-ribosome assembly in the nucleolus | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
science.org
In-cell structures visualize human pre-ribosome assembly in the nucleolus
In eukaryotes, ribosome biogenesis initiates within the nucleolus, a hallmark multilayered compartment of the nucleus. Structures of pre-ribosomes have been characterized ex situ, but their assembly p...
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The Virologist 🇳🇱🤙 @thevirologist.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
www.nature.com/articles/s41... @mackayim.bsky.social
nature.com
A divergent betacoronavirus with a functional furin cleavage site in South American bats - Nature Communications
There is still limited data reported on virus diversity in South American bats. In this study, the authors report a divergent betacoronavirus with a functional furin cleavage site in South American ba...
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The Lancet Microbe @lancetmicrobe.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
New review article Exceeding expectations: factors contributing to the potency of human papillomavirus vaccines www.thelancet.com/journals/lan... #IDSky #ClinMicro #ViroSky #HPV #OpenAccess #OA
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Richard Carter, FCD @friendsofdarwin.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
01-Jul: On this day in 1858, Charles Darwin finally went public with his theory of evolution by means of natural selection, with the publication of back-to-back papers by Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace, who had independently arrived at the same idea… friendsofdarwin.com/articles/dar... #HistSci
friendsofdarwin.com
01-Jul-1858: Darwin goes public
Charles Darwin finally went public with his theory of evolution by means of Natural Selection on 1st July 1858.
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Nucleic Acids Research @narjournal.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
Big congratulations to the authors! 🎉🦠 Using RNA-seq, this study uncovers overlooked viral RNA species and supports a premature termination model for astrovirus subgenomic RNA synthesis, resolving a long-standing replication mystery. 🔬✨ #NARMolecularMedicine #Virology @universitypress.cambridge.org
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Pereira Lab @cellreprolab.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
🔬 Lund University (@lund-university.bsky.social) is hiring 3 Assistant Professors in cancer immunotherapy, immunotechnology & immune cell engineering! ✅ Start-up package | tenure track | world-class infrastructure 📅 Deadlines: 26 May & 10 June 2026 🎥 youtu.be/z-PQU9qknZc Apply links 👇
youtu.be
Lund University programme for excellence – three positions within Immunotherapy
YouTube video by Lund University
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Waggoner Lab @labwaggoner.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
Heart-nosed bat alphacoronaviruses use human CEACAM6 to enter cells @nature.com @pirbrightinst.bsky.social @morbillivirus.bsky.social @atomicvirology.bsky.social @universitypress.cambridge.org www.nature.com/articles/d41... www.nature.com/articles/s41...
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Deborah Blum @deborahb.bsky.social · 16/03/2026
The FDA has asked Raw Farm to recall the cheddar cheese linked to the outbreak and "it has declined." But E.coli 0157 H7 is a very pathogenic bacteria. So buyer be aware and beware here. 1/3
fda.gov
Outbreak Investigation of E. coli O157:H7: Raw Cheddar Cheese
RAW FARM-brand Raw Cheddar Cheese linked to ongoing outbreak. FDA’s investigation is ongoing.
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Reichow Lab @reichowlab.bsky.social · 11/03/2026
This recently happened to us, with similar tells… infuriating.. you can see how it unfolded in the public peer review file: static-content.springer.com/esm/art%3A10...
static-content.springer.com
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Brian Ferguson @viropractor.bsky.social · 09/03/2026
Nice to be a part of this excellent study from the Walczak lab where K11 ubiquitin chains added by ANKIB1 are identified as being essential for TBK1-IRF3-driven interferon production downstream of pattern recognition receptors including TLR3 and cGAS. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
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Waggoner Lab @labwaggoner.bsky.social · 06/03/2026
Critical role for ANKIB1-generated K11-linked ubiquitination in the immune response activated by cGAS–STING, TLR3 and TLR4 www.nature.com/articles/s41... @natcellbio.nature.com @walczaklab.bsky.social
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Waggoner Lab @labwaggoner.bsky.social · 08/03/2026
Phylogenetic-based selection analysis of viral evolution before+after spillover reveals that viral adaptation in host reservoirs is not a necessary precursor of novel zoonotic virus epidemics, including SARS-CoV-2 @cellcellpress.bsky.social www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
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Brian Ferguson @viropractor.bsky.social · 16/11/2025
We are hiring a computational biology postdoc for a new project on zoonotic diseases, host pathogen interactions and pandemic risk. Please take a look and get in touch for more details www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/postdoc...
cam.ac.uk
Postdoctoral Research Associate (Fixed Term)
Applications are invited for a Postdoctoral Research Associate (PDRA) in the Centre for Pandemic Risk Management. The Centre for Pandemic Risk Management brings together an interdisciplinary team of
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Thelonevirologist @thelonevirologist.bsky.social · 14/11/2025
Avian flu has decimated world's largest breeding colony of southern elephant seals www.cidrap.umn.edu/avian-influe...
cidrap.umn.edu
Avian flu has decimated world's largest breeding colony of southern elephant seals
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Brian Ferguson @viropractor.bsky.social · 11/10/2025
Anti-vax in the tweets, fully-vaxed between the sheets
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Kathleen Bachynski @bachynski.bsky.social · 24/09/2025
This is huge: “A drug that provides near-perfect protection against H.I.V. with shots just twice a year will be made available at $40 per patient annually in low- and middle-income countries, offering new hope… making lenacapavir a realistic choice in countries with constrained resources.”
nytimes.com
Philanthropies Strike a Promising Deal to Turn Back H.I.V.
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Nature Structural & Molecular Biology @natsmb.nature.com · 12/09/2025
New online: Computational design of sequence-specific DNA-binding proteins
go.nature.com
Computational design of sequence-specific DNA-binding proteins
Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, Published online: 12 September 2025; doi:10.1038/s41594-025-01669-4The authors develop a computational method to design small DNA-binding proteins (DBPs) that target specific sequences. Designed DBPs show structural accuracy and function in both bacterial and mammalian cells for transcriptional regulation.
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Dalan Bailey @dalan-bailey.bsky.social · 09/09/2025
Our first post on here and it's a doozy 😍🤩. Our epic piece on #sarbecovirus host range. #virology #sars2 #covid #vaccines. Enjoy and please repost. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
biorxiv.org
Understanding the future risk of bat coronavirus spillover into humans: correlating sarbecovirus receptor usage, host range, and antigenicity.
Sarbecoviruses interact with their receptor, angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), via the receptor binding domain (RBD) of Spike, the immunodominant target for neutralising antibodies. Understandin...
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Vincent Graziano @vinnieviruses.bsky.social · 06/08/2025
Hi everybody! I am super excited to share the work done during my PhD published in @nature today! We describe a new mechanism of self- vs. non-self RNA discrimination by showing how N-glycans shield glycoRNAs from stimulating endosomal RNA sensors www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
RNA N-glycosylation enables immune evasion and homeostatic efferocytosis - Nature
N-glycans on glycoRNAs prevent innate immune sensing of endogenous small RNAs, and the natural mechanism they use demonstrates how glycoRNAs exist on the cell surface and in the endosomal network with...
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Marc Veldhoen @marcveld.bsky.social · 07/08/2025
Excised DNA circles from V(D)J recombination promote relapsed leukaemia Cutting your own DNA has a risk of leukaemia. www.nature.com/artic... 1/7
nature.com
Excised DNA circles from V(D)J recombination promote relapsed leukaemia
Nature - Excised signal circles are circular DNA by-products of V(D)J recombination that form a complex with the V(D)J recombinase, and when increased in abundance, result in increased mutagenesis,...
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Brian Ferguson @viropractor.bsky.social · 26/07/2025
‘The doses of rAAV used in clinical trials for DMD have ranged from 5×10^13 to 2×10^14 vector genomes (vg) per kilogram of body weight. After treatment with doses within this range, a number of toxic syndromes have been observed’ www.nejm.org/doi/full/10....
nejm.org
Death after High-Dose rAAV9 Gene Therapy in a Patient with Duchenne’s Muscular Dystrophy | NEJM
We treated a 27-year-old patient with Duchenne’s muscular dystrophy (DMD) with recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV) serotype 9 containing dSaCas9 (i.e., “dead” Staphylococcus aureus Cas9, in w...
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job news times @jobnewstimes.bsky.social · 04/07/2025
Research Associate in Viral #Immunology ✨ University of Bristol -School of Cellular and Molecular Medicine #Applynow www.bristol.ac.uk/jobs/find/de... * #Hiring* ! Research Jobs: Golden Opportunity! #PhD & #Postdoc Latest Updates: jobnewstimes.com/phd-postdoc/ #UKJOBS #BiologicalSciences
research job opportunity
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Erik Karlsson @eakarlsson.bsky.social · 11/07/2025
**JOBS ALERT** The Virology Unit at @PasteurCambodia hiring 1 Scientist and 2 Postdocs to join our fast-moving, field-connected, research-driven team on emerging viruses and zoonoses. 🧪🧬🥼🦠🔬🐓💉🦇😷 Limited time to apply — and we need people to start ASAP.**👇
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ibmb-csic.bsky.social @ibmb-csic.bsky.social · 11/07/2025
***JOB OFFER*** The Protein Design and Modeling lab at IBMB offers a postdoc position at the intersection of computational protein design, biophysics and structural biology. Please share with colleagues and anyone you know that might be interested. ibmb.csic.es/en/jobs/post...
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Mark A. Hanson @hansonmark.bsky.social · 10/07/2025
The "reproducibility crisis" in science constantly makes headlines. Repro efforts are often limited. What if you could assess reproducibility of an entire field? That's what @brunolemaitre.bsky.social et al. have done. Fly immunity is highly replicable & offers lessons for #metascience A 🧵 1/n
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John Lukens @lukensjohnr.bsky.social · 05/07/2025
Microglial cGAS-STING-TBK1 activation in paraventricular thalamus mediates sleep and emotional disturbances in lupus mice www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
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Thiago Carvalho @cyrilpedia.bsky.social · 01/07/2025
ICYMI: Junior PI positions in Kyoto at @ccii-kyoto.bsky.social, a new center led by Tasuku Honjo (DIrector) & Sidonia Fagarasan (Vice Director) #Immunology #Immunotherapy #ScienceJobs
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Brian Ferguson @viropractor.bsky.social · 25/06/2025
Super cool long lasting ADC-based anti-flu drug with great new trial data: 'CD388 is an antibody that targets neuraminidase (NA). Zanamivir, a neuraminidase inhibitor, is conjugated to the Fc fragment to create CD388' biz.chosun.com/en/en-scienc...
biz.chosun.com
Cidara's CD388 flu drug outperforms vaccines, shows 76% prevention rate
Cidaras CD388 flu drug outperforms vaccines, shows 76% prevention rate Cidaras new flu treatment shows promise as a single-dose alternative to vaccines with strong results.
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James Thaventhiran @thav-lab.bsky.social · 19/06/2025
Honoured to receive this prize alongside an inspiring group of scientists. This will support our work to improve mRNA therapies for precision medicine. #mRNA #immunoSky #Science
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Benoit Bruneau @benoitbruneau.bsky.social · 15/06/2025
Weizmann Institute rn
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Lucas Waltzer @lucaswaltzer.bsky.social · 03/06/2025
#drosophila @flybase.bsky.social request emergency funding: "As it stands, by the end of July, 2025, there will be no future updates to FlyBase, and in the worst case scenario access to the website will also be lost" => please donate! www.philanthropy.cam.ac.uk/give-to-camb...
philanthropy.cam.ac.uk
Drosophila Genetic Database
The Drosophila Genetic Database, FlyBase, is on the brink of collapse due to the sudden termination of the FlyBase NIH grant, which includes salaries for 5 literature curators based at the University ...
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Brian Ferguson @viropractor.bsky.social · 31/05/2025
Good fun to contribute to this super paper from Yorgo Modis' lab where we looked at the impact of disease-associated MDA5 mutations on its structure, biochemistry and antiviral functions #immunosky www.cell.com/cell-reports...
cell.com
Molecular basis of autoimmune disease protection by MDA5 variants
Loss-of-function MDA5 variants increase the risk of chronic inflammation but protect against autoimmune disease. Singh et al. show that autoimmune-protective variants impair MDA5 signaling via differe...
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Rod Rahimi @rodrahimi.bsky.social · 29/05/2025
This is cool! #Immunology 🧪
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Edward Nirenberg @enirenberg.bsky.social · 27/05/2025
I've been yelling for a while about how imprinting is not the problem with our immune responses to Omicron, and the issue is much more about the intrinsic immunogenicity of Omicron's spike protein (which is poor). This freshly published study provides pretty definitive proof of that 🧵
nature.com
Intrinsic immunogenicity is a major determinant of type-specific responses in SARS-CoV-2 infections - Nature Immunology
Bhattacharya and colleagues assess the impact of antigenic imprinting using samples from mRNA vaccinated or unvaccinated individuals primarily infected with the SARS-CoV-2 variants Delta and Omicron B...
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Mark A. Hanson @hansonmark.bsky.social · 15/05/2025
The final piece in a 27-year fly immunity puzzle. Yao describes "Paillotin" (Pai), the name given to #Drosophila "IM18." With this paper, all 24 Immune-induced Molecules (IMs) from Uttenweiler-Joseph et al. (1998) have been named & characterized. 🎊 Pai is an HDP conserved across fly 🪰 species 1/n
biorxiv.org
Functional Characterization of Paillotin: An Immune Peptide Regulated by the Imd Pathway with Pathogen-Specific Roles in Drosophila Immunity
Insects, such as Drosophila melanogaster, rely on innate immune defenses to combat microbial threats. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) play an important role in limiting pathogen entry and colonization. ...
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Brian Ferguson @viropractor.bsky.social · 26/04/2025
‘The results from this study suggest that many, if not all, of the reported associations between HLA alleles and SARS-CoV-2 infection may be spurious, owing to confounding factors.’
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Thiago Carvalho @cyrilpedia.bsky.social · 26/04/2025
"Immune signaling through nucleotide-based second messengers is a widespread defense mechanism observed across organisms, from bacteria to animals. Zeng et al. discovered a base-modified nucleotide, deoxyinosine 5′-triphosphate (dITP), that acts as an antiviral immune signal in bacteria" #Immunology
science.org
Base-modified nucleotides mediate immune signaling in bacteria
Signaling from pathogen sensing to effector activation is a fundamental principle of cellular immunity. Whereas cyclic (oligo)nucleotides have emerged as key signaling molecules, the existence of othe...
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Viki Male @vikilovesfacs.bsky.social · 24/04/2025
👶🏼 Many #vaccines are not effective in newborns. So how do we protect them from infectious disease? 🤰🏽 By vaccination in #pregnancy! Here we review… 💉 Established campaigns vs whooping cough, flu, COVID 💡 New approaches to RSV, GBS 🌈 Future challenges, opportunities #ReproSky #ImmunoSky #IDSky
nature.com
Vaccination in pregnancy to protect the newborn - Nature Reviews Immunology
In this Review, Male and Jones provide an overview of the current vaccines that are offered during pregnancy and to newborns, explaining the rationale behind the different vaccination programmes and t...
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Silvia von Karstedt @vonkarstedtlab.bsky.social · 26/04/2025
What do cells undergoing #ferroptosis #celldeath release? Read all about it in our atlas on ferroptosis #secretomes out now in Cell Death and Differentiation #CDDpress Great collaboration with @cecad.bsky.social @frezzalab.bsky.social @kreuzaler.bsky.social @almutschulze.bsky.social rdcu.be/ejp9C
rdcu.be
An atlas of ferroptosis-induced secretomes
Cell Death & Differentiation - An atlas of ferroptosis-induced secretomes
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Vienna Airway Lab @viennaairwaylab.bsky.social · 14/04/2025
Inflammation of the skin can prime humoral IgE responses via to bystander antigens in the gut of mice via IL-33 axis - is this how we become sensitized? www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... #immunosky #immunology #allergy
science.org
Skin damage signals mediate allergic sensitization to spatially unlinked antigen
Skin injury releases damage-encoded systemic signals that can initiate immunity to novel antigens introduced at distal barrier sites.
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Brian Ferguson @viropractor.bsky.social · 06/04/2025
RFK Jr refreshingly publicly states the truth about MMR vaccination after a second child dies of measles in Texas:
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Lucas Farnung @lucas.farnunglab.com · 06/04/2025
🔬 New from the Farnung Lab: We established a fully in vitro reconstituted chromatin replication system and report the first cryo-EM snapshots of the human replisome engaging nucleosomes. Brilliant work by @felixsteinruecke.bsky.social with support from @jonmarkert.bsky.social! tinyurl.com/replisome
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Philipp Markolin @philippmarkolin.eurosky.social · 05/04/2025
Guess the cat is out of the bag. Today marks the beginning of the end of the false lab leak narrative. Read what I have been working on over the last years: www.protagonist-science.com/p/exclusive-...
protagonist-science.com
Exclusive: The inside story behind the search for the origins of COVID-19
An big screen documentary movie, an announcement, and an exclusive excerpt from "Lab Leak Fever", the definitive book unraveling the pandemic origin controversy
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Thiago Carvalho @cyrilpedia.bsky.social · 05/04/2025
'(...) IFN-I production, and immune-mediated tumor control, STING signaling appears to play an ambiguous role in the TME. For example, intratumoral administration of a high amount of STING agonist resulted in the death of CD8+ T cells and consequently compromised immune-mediated tumor control'
cell.com
Cancer-cell-derived cGAMP limits the activity of tumor-associated CD8+ T cells
Using a mouse tumor model with inducible cGAS expression, Herbst et al. show that cancer-cell-derived cGAMP triggers a sustained type I interferon response, enhancing CD8+ T cell-dependent tumor restr...
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Feargal Ryan @feargalr.bsky.social · 03/04/2025
Delighted our study (7+ years in the making) is out today in Nature. In a nutshell, 48 hours of antibiotics in week 1 led to impaired vaccine responses up to 15 months later in infants. We show (in-vivo) a probiotic can fix it #microbiome #science #immunology www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Bifidobacteria support optimal infant vaccine responses - Nature
Neonatal antibiotic use is shown to reduce immune response to infant vaccines, accompanied by reduced abundance of Bifidobacteria in the gut microbiota, with experiments in mice indicating that probio...
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Eric Topol @erictopol.bsky.social · 02/04/2025
The vaccine against Shingles helps protect against dementia, results of a natural experiment, adding to prior evidence "implications are profound" New @nature.com www.nature.com/articles/d41... nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
A natural experiment on the effect of herpes zoster vaccination on dementia - Nature
Using a natural experiment that avoids common bias concerns, this study finds that the live-attenuated shingles vaccine reduced the probability of a new dementia diagnosis within a follow-up period of...
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RSPB @rspb.bsky.social · 01/04/2025
WORLD-FIRST: Ground-breaking research published today in the Ornithologist Journal has, for the first time, translated common UK bird vocalisations into equivalent phrases in the human language. The results tell us a lot! Extracts below... 🧵
The front cover of a scientific journal titled Ornithologist, dated 1 April 2025. The main headline reads: “BIRDS: DECODED - Groundbreaking New Science.” Below that, a subheading says: “What are the UK’s birds really saying? Pioneering new research provides the answers.”
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Trish Greenhalgh @trishgreenhalgh.bsky.social · 31/03/2025
Wondering whether to get your kids vaccinated? Wondering whether to delay your baby's jabs till s/he's a little older? Worried about your unvaccinated relatives? See our new @independentsage.bsky.social report on Preventable Diseases, Preventable Tragedies. independentsage.org/wp-content/u... 🧪
independentsage.org
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