The Veesler Lab

In new work in @jbloom_lab , we asked: how does endemic coronavirus keep evolving to erode human antibodies without disrupting spike function? biorxiv.org/content/10.648…

First vaccine targeting SARS virus family enters human trials ipd.uw.edu/2026/02/gbp511… via @UWproteindesign

Delighted to share the peer-reviewed version of our article describing a prefusion-stabilized MARV GP vaccine immunogen and a best-in-class MARV neutralizing and protective antibody! Led by Amin Addetia with @VirBiotech @HHMINEWS nature.com/articles/s4158…

Today in @ScienceMagazine, we report a new DNA editing technology to seamlessly write massive changes into the right place in the human genome. The reason gene editing hasn't transformed human health is that current gene editing technologies like CRISPR are very limited. The problem with CRISPR is that it cuts up your DNA, and then hopes that unreliable cellular DNA repair will make the wanted edit. @geochurch famously called it genome vandalism. More precise versions of CRISPR only edit less than 100 bases - often only a single base. Therefore, it's not suited to make large changes safely. However, most diseases are not the result of mutations in one location. Instead, their causes are spread all across the 3 billion base pairs in the genome. We found bridge RNAs in bacterial “jumping genes” that allow us to make safe and arbitrary changes (insert, cut out, or flip) to every nucleotide within (up to) a 1 million bp sequence in your DNA. In the paper, we show that we can correct the disease-causing DNA repeats that cause Friedreich's ataxia (which is a rare neurological disease). The same approach could be applied to Huntington’s and other repeat expansion disorders. At @arcinstitute, we're working towards a full Turing machine for biology. Evo, our DNA foundation model, helps us design the optimal healthy DNA sequences. And Bridge recombination gives us the ability to seamlessly write these changes into the right place in the genome. This work was a wonderful collaboration with my @arcinstitute cofounder @SKonermann and led by the indefatigable @ntperry13, alongside our amazing bridge editing team: @BartieLiam @dhruvakatrekar @Gabogonzalez515 @mgdurrant @james_jw_pai @AlisonFanton Juliana Martins Masa Hiraizumi @chiaroscurale @hnisimasu

Incredibly honoured to be taking up an exciting new chair of Global Health here at Cambridge and co-directorship of the Hong Kong Jockey Club Global Health Institute based out of Hong Kong in partnership with HKU and International Vaccine Institute (IVI). @HKU_SPH @Cambridge_Uni

@bblarsen1 @CaelanRadford @VUMC_Vaccines @veeslerlab The final version of our pseudovirus deep mutational scanning of the Nipah virus receptor-binding protein is now published. sciencedirect.com/science/articl…

Delighted to see @arcinstitute research highlighted by Vox's Future Perfect 50 list!

Thank you to everyone involved and for reading! 6/6

We found that even an antibody targeting the S N-terminal domain (S2L20) and preventing the receptor-binding domain from closing promotes S ratcheting and fusogenic triggering! 5/6

Excited to share our latest work elucidating the mechanisms of coronavirus entry into cells! Led by @Dr_MattMcCallum on our side in collaboration with Huan Yan's lab (TaiKang Center for Life and Medical Sciences) nature.com/articles/s4158… 1/5

Thank you to the whole team and collaborators! 7/7

Collectively, these data indicate that receptor interference is a primary mechanism of PDCoV neutralization, inform immunity against deltacoronaviruses and will guide the design of vaccines for swine & human populations 6/7

The peer-reviewed version of our study describing monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) inhibiting porcine deltacoronavirus, which jumped to humans multiple times recently, is now online 1/7 sciencedirect.com/science/articl…