microviro&beers

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microviro&beers

microviro&beers

@MicroviroB

the inarticulate musings of a (micro)biologist. BLM. he him

参加日 Nisan 2019
90 フォロー中110 フォロワー
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microviro&beers
microviro&beers@MicroviroB·
I have a Schrodinger's cat joke, but I don't
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Bo Wang
Bo Wang@BoWang87·
This is really cool (and wild): Scientists simulated a complete living cell for the first time. Every molecule, every reaction, from DNA replication to cell division. The paper (Luthey-Schulten et al., Cell 2026, doi.org/10.1016/j.cell…), just out today, used JCVI-Syn3A — a synthetic minimal bacterium with fewer than 500 genes. A 3D+time simulation of the full 105-minute cell cycle: DNA replication, protein translation, metabolism, division. Every gene, protein, RNA, and chemical reaction tracked through physical space. It took years to build. Multiple GPUs. Six days of compute time per run. And this is the simplest possible cell. A human cell has ~20,000 genes. It lives in tissue. It interacts with neighbors. It differentiates. It responds to drugs in ways that depend on context we haven't fully measured. Mechanistic simulation of the minimal cell costs 6 GPU-days for 105 minutes of biology. You cannot scale that to human cells. The complexity isn't 40x harder. It's exponentially harder. This is why the field pivoted to data-driven models. You can't hand-encode the regulatory wiring of a human hepatocyte. But you can learn it — if you have the right perturbation data collected across enough diverse biological contexts. The two approaches aren't competing. Papers like this generate the ground truth that future ML models need for validation. But the path to a clinically useful virtual cell runs through foundation models, not through scaling up mechanistic simulation. Amazing work!
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American Society for Virology
American Society for Virology@AmerSocVirol·
We've come a long way, but current policies risk reversing the progress we've made in the fight on AIDS. You can read more about the decreased access to HAART here: thehill.com/policy/healthc…
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microviro&beers
microviro&beers@MicroviroB·
@AJ12909562 @florian_krammer We do not vaccinate against HIV because there's no effective vaccine. Even assuming that 99.7% measles cases don't develop severe measles symptoms, 0.3% do, with consequenxes that include death. We vaccinate to prevent the severe complications and illness in general
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YoMomma
YoMomma@AJ12909562·
@MicroviroB @florian_krammer Unless the goal is to defeat the virus entirely, but thats impossible with a govt that wont enforce the border depending on whose in charge.If state wont control disease entry whats the point? We vax every gen 4ever and ever? What happened to only intervention if someone is sick?
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microviro&beers
microviro&beers@MicroviroB·
@AJ12909562 @florian_krammer Currently there is no widely available cure for HIV infection but there are very good antiretroviral meds. The measles vaccine provides excellent protection and is very safe. The costs (actual and human) of hospitalization and deaths are way higher than that of vaccination
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YoMomma
YoMomma@AJ12909562·
@MicroviroB @florian_krammer 8% of cases in this outbreak are vaxxed.. 92% unknown aka no papers. Big Pharma has no incentive to develop therapeutics bc every human buying a drug is way more revenue than just the 5% who get sick enough to be hospitalized. We cured AIDS. Why are we using 1960s vax tech still?
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microviro&beers
microviro&beers@MicroviroB·
@AJ12909562 @florian_krammer Huh? Measles vaccination gives virtually lifelong protection. If you get measles you might require hospitalization with the associated costs and potential for lasting damage. "Big pharma" benefits more from lack of vaccination than from the vaccine
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YoMomma
YoMomma@AJ12909562·
@florian_krammer Yes, eliminated in the USA. The virus was no longer here. Then the left decided borders dont matter and tossed generations of sacrifice injecting our babies in the trash. Open borders reintroduced it. R we supposed to just vax forever? Thats the plan? Infinity revenue 4 Pharma?
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Sarah Longwell
Sarah Longwell@SarahLongwell25·
I would offer that Alex Pretti putting his body—with his hands up—between a woman and the BP agent who had just violently shoved her into the snow, offer stark competing visions of manhood. Pretti, a nurse caring for veterans, who took a face full of pepper spray to shield that woman, is a much better masculine ideal that the masked coward shoving the woman and executing a man on his knees. MAGA may venerate the latter, but most people in a healthy society want the former.
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Helen Branswell 🇨🇦
Helen Branswell 🇨🇦@HelenBranswell·
The number of confirmed #measles cases in South Carolina has hit an astonishing 558 in an outbreak that started in October. For context: that is more cases in 4 months than the entire US racked up most years in the past 30+ years. reuters.com/business/healt…
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microviro&beers
microviro&beers@MicroviroB·
@NobelPrize Perhaps this is a good moment to remind @NobelPrize that the peace prize was once handed to Henry Kissinger, who extended the Vietnam war, was behind the Christmas bombing, and has been called a war criminal. So maybe it's best not to receive that prize
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The Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prize@NobelPrize·
Statement from the Nobel Foundation One of the core missions of the Nobel Foundation is to safeguard the dignity of the Nobel Prizes and their administration. The Foundation upholds Alfred Nobel’s will and its stipulations. It states that the prizes shall be awarded to those who "have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind," and it specifies who has the right to award each respective prize. A prize can therefore not, even symbolically, be passed on or further distributed. For additional information, please refer to the Norwegian Nobel Committee: nobelpeaceprize.org/press/press-re…
The Nobel Prize tweet media
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Florian Krammer
Florian Krammer@florian_krammer·
Does anybody remember the Sputnik vaccine? Sustained superior humoral immune responses of mRNA vaccines compared to Sputnik V viral vector COVID-19 vaccines in naïve and convalescent populations sciencedirect.com/science/articl…
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microviro&beers
microviro&beers@MicroviroB·
Mic drop
DrDemetre@dr_demetre

My resignation letter from CDC. Dear Dr. Houry, I am writing to formally resign from my position as Director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), effective August 28, 2025, close of business.   I am happy to stay on for two weeks to provide transition, if requested. This decision has not come easily, as I deeply value the work that the CDC does in safeguarding public health and am proud of my contributions to that critical mission. However, after much contemplation and reflection on recent developments and perspectives brought to light by Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., I find that the views he and his staff have shared challenge my ability to continue in my current role at the agency and in the service of the health of the American people. Enough is enough. While I hold immense respect for the institution and my colleagues, I believe that it is imperative to align my professional responsibilities to my system of ethics and my understanding of the science of infectious disease, immunology, and my promise to serve the American people.  This step is necessary to ensure that I can contribute effectively in a capacity that allows me to remain true to my principles. I am unable to serve in an environment that treats CDC as a tool to generate policies and materials that do not reflect scientific reality and are designed to hurt rather than to improve the public’s health.  The recent change in the adult and children’s immunization schedule threaten the lives of the youngest Americans and pregnant people.   The data analyses that supported this decision have never been shared with CDC despite my respectful requests to HHS and other leadership.  This lack of meaningful engagement was further compounded by a “frequently asked questions” document written to support the Secretary’s directive that was circulated by HHS without input from CDC subject matter experts and that cited studies that did not support the conclusions that were attributed to these authors.  Having worked in local and national public health for years, I have never experienced such radical non-transparency, nor have I seen such unskilled manipulation of data to achieve a political end rather than the good of the American people. It is untenable to serve in an organization that is not afforded the opportunity to discuss decisions of scientific and public health importance released under the moniker of CDC.  The lack of communication by HHS and other CDC political leadership that culminates in social media posts announcing major policy changes without prior notice demonstrate a disregard of normal communication channels and common sense.  Having to retrofit analyses and policy actions to match inadequately thought-out announcements in poorly scripted videos or page long X posts should not be how organizations responsible for the health of people should function.  Some examples include the announcement of the change in the COVID-19 recommendations for children and pregnant people, the firing of scientists from ACIP by X post and an op-ed rather than direct communication with these valuable experts, the announcement of new ACIP members by X before onboarding and vetting have completed, and the release of term of reference for an ACIP workgroup that ignored all feedback from career staff at CDC. The recent term of reference for the COVID vaccine work group created by this ACIP puts people of dubious intent and more dubious scientific rigor in charge of recommending vaccine policy to a director hamstrung and sidelined by an authoritarian leader.   Their desire to please a political base will result in death and disability of vulnerable children and adults.  Their base should be the people they serve not a political voting bloc. I have always been first to challenge scientific and public health dogma in my career and was excited by the opportunity to do so again.  I was optimistic that there would be an opportunity to brief the Secretary about key topics such as measles, avian influenza, and the highly coordinated approach to the respiratory virus season.  Such briefings would allow exchange of ideas and a shared path to support the vision of “Making America Healthy Again.”  We are seven months into the new administration, and no CDC subject matter expert from my Center has ever briefed the Secretary.  I am not sure who the Secretary is listening to, but it is quite certainly not to us.  Unvetted and conflicted outside organizations seem to be the sources HHS use over the gold standard science of CDC and other reputable sources.  At a hearing, Secretary Kennedy said that Americans should not take medical advice from him.  To the contrary, an appropriately briefed and inquisitive Secretary should be a source of health information for the people he serves. As it stands now, I must agree with him, that he should not be considered a source of accurate information. The intentional eroding of trust in low-risk vaccines favoring natural infection and unproven remedies will bring us to a pre-vaccine era where only the strong will survive and many if not all will suffer.  I believe in nutrition and exercise.  I believe in making our food supply healthier, and I also believe in using vaccines to prevent death and disability.  Eugenics plays prominently in the rhetoric being generated and is derivative of a legacy that good medicine and science should continue to shun. The recent shooting at CDC is not why I am resigning.  My grandfather, who I am named after, stood up to fascist forces in Greece and lost his life doing so.  I am resigning to make him and his legacy proud.   I am resigning because of the cowardice of a leader that cannot admit that HIS and his minions’ words over decades created an environment where violence like this can occur.  I reject his and his colleagues’ thoughts and prayers, and advise they direct those to people that they have not actively harmed. For decades, I have been a trusted voice for the LGBTQ community when it comes to critical health topics.  I must also cite the recklessness of the administration in their efforts to erase transgender populations, cease critical domestic and international HIV programming, and terminate key research to support equity as part of my decision. Public health is not merely about the health of the individual, but it is about the health of the community, the nation, the world. The nation’s health security is at risk and is in the hands of people focusing on ideological self-interest. I want to express my heartfelt gratitude for the opportunities for growth, learning, and collaboration that I have been afforded during my time at the CDC. It has been a privilege to work alongside such dedicated professionals who are committed to improving the health and well-being of communities across the nation even when under attack from within both physically and psychologically. Thank you once again for the support and guidance I have received from you and previous CDC leadership throughout my tenure. I wish the CDC continued success in its vital mission and that HHS reverse its dangerous course to dismantle public health as a practice and as an institution.  If they continue the current path, they risk our personal well-being and the security of the United States. Sincerely, Demetre C. Daskalakis MD MPH (he/his/him)

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Helen Branswell 🇨🇦
Helen Branswell 🇨🇦@HelenBranswell·
#CDC has been advised of another 3 children who died from #flu in the 2024-25 season, bringing the confirmed pediatric death toll to 270. This number could rise further; pediatric deaths are often reported months later. Most weren't vaccinated. This is beyond tragic. cdc.gov/fluview/survei…
Helen Branswell 🇨🇦 tweet media
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Helen Branswell 🇨🇦
Helen Branswell 🇨🇦@HelenBranswell·
#NIH director Jay Bhattacharya doubles down on his assertion that the US is moving away from mRNA vaccine research because the public does not trust these vaccines. Distrust of mRNA is not universal; where it exists, the flames have been very actively fanned. washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/…
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Helen Branswell 🇨🇦
Helen Branswell 🇨🇦@HelenBranswell·
Pandemic preparedness in the US has been leveled a crippling blow with the cancellation of multiple #BARDA contracts to help develop mRNA vaccines. No other vaccine platform produces vaccine so quickly; without mRNA, Americans will have a long wait for pandemic vax. statnews.com/2025/08/05/mrn…
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microviro&beers
microviro&beers@MicroviroB·
@jakescottMD I've met Bob Malone and he's not someone I'd listen to. Glad you found the motivation to reply to his gobbledygook
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Jake Scott, MD
Jake Scott, MD@jakescottMD·
As an infectious diseases physician and vaccine specialist, I need to address several serious misrepresentations, baseless assertions, and factual errors in this post. 🧵
Robert W Malone, MD@RWMaloneMD

My experience working in the Ebola response on 2014 re-enforced a very different lesson than that of the COVID policy wonks, who ran Operation Warp Speed and then the Biden White House Response. That is that vaccines would never be the answer to an ongoing viral outbreak. Just to say, once again, the genetic "vaccine" products did not work. They did not stop infection, transmission or death. They may have even driven viral evolution towards vax/antibody escape mutants. In the case of the West African Ebola outbreak, it was controlled using non-pharmaceutical interventions. Not vaccines or drugs. Future outbreak medical countermeasures involving pathogens for which we do not have direct acting anti-pathogen pharmaceuticals must include a response that listens to hands-on physicians tinkering to find medical countermeasures that work in the field. Generic, FDA approved medicines that have worked in the past for early treatments of disease processes will work in the future. They must be the first line of defense. Rather than being suppressed, autopsies and fundamental understanding of pathophysiology of disease caused by novel pathogens must be promoted. Furthermore, non-respiratory infectious diseases versus respiratory infectious diseases will be very different from each other, in terms of public health responses. One size does not fit all. And finally, that the US intelligence community is deeply embedded in the bureaucracy that sets “public health” policies, particularly during infectious disease outbreaks, and works hand-in-glove with Bill Gates, WHO leadership, US State Department, and the giants of the BioPharmaceutical industry, such as "Bio". During COVID, the all-of-government response focused on vaccines and that is what they got (all of government meaning DHS, HHS, DoD, Department of State and CIA/IC). And it was a colossal fail that infringed on fundamental human rights principles. The USA had far more deaths attributed to COVID per capita than most or all other countries. This response was developed and operationalized by Ron Klain and then by Jeff Zients. Zients was both President Biden’s COVID czar and then moved to Chief of Staff. Jeff Zients WAS one of the key COVID puppetmasters. There must be investigations, and there must be consequences.

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