Connor G G Bamford

Apes, lice and prehistory Although most epidemic human infectious diseases are caused by recently introduced pathogens, cospeciation of parasite and host is commonplace for endemic infections. Occasional host infidelity, however, provides the endemic parasite with an ...

Apes, lice and prehistory - by Robin Weiss in 2009 pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...

Now this is a right mess - how to sink your national surveillance system by refusing to review pathogen classification when a disease moves from "exotic" to endemic

www.vettimes.com/news/vets/li...

Lovely work Kevin and co. Thanks for sharing it with us last year when you spoke at our seminar series. Very intriguing findings on the adaptation by gene loss in these viruses.

Can safely way this is the craziest and coolest study I have led. We chart the evolution of sheeppox virus, finding it in the Eurasian steppe ~3700 years ago, and also in a LOT of parchment from medieval Europe (made from a range of animals skins!) #aDNA

Excited to be hosting Dr Nicola Fletcher (UCD) today at our QUB School of Biological Sciences to discuss one health virology

Measles cases are resurging globally, but genomic surveillance at the global scale is sparse. In our new preprint, we show wastewater can provide population-level and low-cost data on virus spread and evolution.

See @kgandersen.bsky.social's post for a high level summary, more detail here though!🧵

Graphic with a red background. Text reads: ‘Did you know?’ Below it, large white text reads: ‘Measles, mumps and chickenpox can all lead to a serious condition called encephalitis, which can damage the brain.’ In the bottom right corner, there is a white outline illustration of a brain with lightning bolts above it and a warning symbol below.

Measles, mumps, and chickenpox are 3 viruses that can cause encephalitis, an uncommon but serious swelling of the brain.

The MMRV vaccine protects you against all-3 of these viruses, as well as rubella. 🔴🧠
#Red4WED #WorldEncephalitisDay

Two great 4y positions up for grabs with us and Ross working on his BBSRC MosquitoNI project, with collaborators in GB. Deadlines in a week (research fellow) and 2 weeks (RA). Lots of vector ecology and modelling but also looking at what viruses can we find in our 🦟!

New modelling suggests chikungunya transmission in Europe may be possible at lower temperatures than previously thought—expanding the seasonal and geographic risk as the Asian tiger mosquito spreads north with warming climate.
: royalsocietypublishing.org/rsif/article...

Rhinovirus triggers distinct host responses through differential engagement of epithelial innate immune signaling Rhinoviruses are the most frequent cause of common colds and also a major cause of respiratory distress in high-risk groups. Using single-cell sequencing of rhinovirus-infected nasal epithelial organo...

Why does the common cold knock some of us down while others barely sniffle?

Excited to share our new paper published in @cellpressblue.bsky.social revealing how nasal epithelial cells coordinate to defend against Rhinovirus.

Read here: www.cell.com/cell-press-b... #Virology #ScienceSky

Get ready for the 4th IMAV meeting!

I’m excited to recruit a postdoc to join my lab at NIAID (Rocky Mountain Labs). We study mucosal immunity and vaccine responses to respiratory viruses in a collaborative, supportive environment.
Details & apply: www.training.nih.gov/jobs/pdf-miv...
#Postdoc #Immunology #Virology #NIHJobs

There are 4 distinct viruses species. Not that they don’t exist at all 😃

Global Epidemiology and Disease Burden of Human Parainfluenza Virus in Adults: A Systematic Review Parainfluenza virus (PIV) is a common cause of respiratory illness in children and immunocompromised adults, but little is known about its epidemiology or disease burden in the general adult populati...

Major problem with this review is that there is no such thing as “human parainfluenza virus” onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Bird flu antibodies found in cow in the Netherlands, a first outside of U.S. Dead cat led to discovery, but officials stress no further spread of H5N1 has been detected

A dairy cow in the Netherlands appears to have been infected with H5N1, the first report of this deadly avian influenza virus having spread to cattle outside of the United States

🧪🦠

www.science.org/content/arti...

🦟 New project | Mosquitoes, their viruses and associated disease risk in NI

MosquitoNI will be co-led by a multi-institutional team including @UofGlasgow's CVR (@emipondeville), @QUBelfast & @UK_CEH.

www.gla.ac.uk/research/az/...

Great to have our ‘MosquitoNI’ project funded by a BBSRC New Investigator Award

This £1.5M project will unravel how mosquitoes, their viruses, and associated pathogens respond to environmental changes. It also addresses knowledge needs in a data-poor temperate region

www.qub.ac.uk/schools/Scho...

QUARTILES DLA: Understanding phage-host dynamics in cyanobacteria for sustainable biocontrol of harmful algal blooms at Queen’s University Belfast on FindAPhD.com PhD Project - QUARTILES DLA: Understanding phage-host dynamics in cyanobacteria for sustainable biocontrol of harmful algal blooms at Queen’s University Belfast, listed on FindAPhD.com

One Week left to apply for this exciting PhD via the QUARTILES DLA w/ @micecoevo.bsky.social , @timskvortsov.bsky.social & Julianne Megaw) on understanding drivers of virus ecology in the largest freshwater lake in the British Isles, Lough Neagh! www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

Happy Little Christmas! While Nollaig na mBan is a relatively new* thing, the Feast of the Epiphany, January 6th, was known as Notlaic Becc ‘Little Christmas’ or Notlaic Stéille, ‘Christmas of the star’, in early Irish texts. It seems to have marked the end of the season, & 'back to work' time! 1/

A Robin perches proudly on a snow-dusted wooden post, its bright orange-red breast glowing like a beacon of warmth against the frosty, pale winter backdrop. With its feathers fluffed against the cold and beak open in song, this little garden friend perfectly captures the timeless winter cheer of Robins on #NationalRobinDay.

Happy Winter Solstice - and Happy #NationalRobinDay!

What better bird to cheer up the shortest day? Reply with your favourite snaps of these beloved garden friends...

Let's fill our feeds with Robins. 😍

2000 yr old rotavirus!

Oncolytic Reovirus mediates innate-driven SARS-CoV-2 elimination in the absence of cell toxicity Interplay between type I interferon (IFN) driven innate responses and viral antagonism strongly influences SARS-CoV-2 transmission and the COVID-19 disease course. Hence, variant adaptation includes d...

Sometimes, viruses don't have to be the bad guys...
Sometimes we can use one to treat another!

Chuffed to present excellent work from Dr Samantha Garcia-Cardenas showing how the innate immune system can be "rewired" by a benign Reovirus to eliminate SARS2 infection.

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

I am sure it is being done and it would be a nice natural experiment

Darren - has anyone compared NI and RoI RSV outcomes with regards to different immunisation strategies?

Inter-Clade Recombinant Mpox Virus Detected in England in a Traveller Recently Returned from Asia Inter-Clade Recombinant Mpox Virus Detected in England in a Traveller Recently Returned from Asia Authors: Steven T. Pullan1, Isobel Everall1, Rebecca Doherty1, Lucy Crossman1, Emma Wise1, Hassan Ha...

Amazing novel mpox recombination between epidemic clade 1 and 2 in returning traveller detected in UK: virological.org/t/inter-clad...

A big thank you to Kevin Daly @gingerhowley.bsky.social who came to us last week and presented his lab’s exciting work on using aDNA to study livestock domestication and pathogen ecology!

PDB101: Browse: HIV and AIDS PDB-101: Training, Outreach, and Education portal of RCSB PDB

Using PDB structures, researchers designed treatments for HIV infection, which are now part of effective drug regimens that halt the growth of the virus. Learn more at PDB-101
pdb101.rcsb.org/brow...
#WorldAIDSDay

Our umpteenth cold or the season this week but oddly the cat has also started sneezing! 🤔

Bluetongue in Europe: How climate change is shifting disease patterns Spread of bluetongue in Europe prompts concern; explore climate change’s impact on vector populations and how to safeguard livestock.

www.woah.org/en/article/b...

Indeed / been watching this for a while. Our AdV paper was tough to get through and had 5 reviewers!