1/ Last week we focused on non-infectious disease in California. This week, viruses are on the move, so we have a lot to talk about. But first, let's break down the threats to California HIV prevention programs👇
Not spending money that is appropriated for science is a tricky subject to explain, but for people in limbo (like myself, as I mentioned yesterday), it can have cause serious career harm.
Many celebrated the NIH budget bill. It’s not supporting science when an unchecked bottleneck still remains.
Indeed. New grants are not getting funded, already funded grants are not getting paid, and non-competitive renewals are being held up.
Focusing on the top line budget, instead of looking at what is really happening on “the ground” is deeply misguided.
Emerging datasets from large human cohorts are dissecting the underlying mechanisms of microbiome–host interactions and accelerating progress in targeted microbiome therapeutics go.nature.com/4akDuef
#NatMicroPicks
C. diff vaccine! 🦠💉
A protective mucosal vaccine formulation that provides sterilizing immunity to clear C. difficile from the host.
#MicroSky
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#NatMicroPicks
A microbial signature of health! 🦠⚕️
A large meta-analysis highlights the importance of previously unknown and uncultured gut bacteria in maintaining human health
#MicroSky
www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...
“It’s a major advance, on the scale of an AlphaFold4. The problem, of course, is that we know nothing of the details.”
Isomorphic Lab’s proprietary drug-discovery model is a major advance
go.nature.com/4kHrHeR
The findings of a study in Nature Immunology shed vital insight into the role of CD8+ T cells in multiple sclerosis and support an important role of Epstein–Barr virus in MS immunopathology. #Immunosky #medsky 🧪
"The judiciousness of stepping away from WHO and other multinational public health entities, rather than working to improve and supplement them, is likely to be tested by the next pandemic," writes Seth Berkley in a new #ScienceExpertVoices article. https://scim.ag/4aW8SkS
New online! The International Scientific Association for Probiotics and Prebiotics (ISAPP) consensus statement on the definition and scope of gut health
Early registration discount deadline March 13.
Register for the Cell Press Symposia #CSMicrobiome2026 (10–12 May 2026, Bruges).
Join leading experts exploring host–microbiome interactions and therapeutic innovation. @cellpressevents.bsky.social
http://dlvr.it/TQzzqt
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I worked at WHO: the USA leaving will not make America healthier
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Our podcast team chats about some of the week's top science news, including caffeine intake and dementia risk, and using AI to decode an ancient board game
go.nature.com/4tC5ov9
Figure showing tetanus pathophysiology. Elsevier Ltd. All rights are reserved, including those for text and data mining, AI training, and similar technologies.
Tetanus, although preventable by a highly effective vaccine, continues to cause 30,000-50,000 deaths annually.
A recent Seminar explores the current state of tetanus, underscoring the importance of sustained immunisation efforts & improved access to care: spkl.io/63321AtXJW
👋Our February issue is out!
Cover: spatial #transcriptomics
👉Review: telomeric #chromatin
🔬 #mitochondria #mitophagy #senescence #p53 #epigenetics #glioblastoma #IDR #immunotherapy #cGASSTING #apoptosis #lysosomes & more!
www.nature.com/ncb/volumes/...
Almost all of the scientists were previously at US institutions
go.nature.com/4tzxGX5
The chief of NIAMS, Lindsey Criswell, has told her staff that her 5-year leadership appointment had not been renewed, meaning 16 out of 27 NIH institutes and centers will be operating without a permanent director. https://scim.ag/4cr5wHI
Researchers fear this will lead to further political interference in US science
go.nature.com/4kxFjJK
JAMA and JAMA Network Editor in Chief Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, MD, PhD, MAS, recently interviewed @mcuban.bsky.social, cofounder of @costplusdrugs.com, to discuss the complex realities of U.S. prescription drug pricing.
🔗 Watch more video highlights and listen to the full podcast: ja.ma/3Okk8P9
Since becoming Japan’s first female prime minister, Sanae Takaichi has pledged to make her homeland “a technology-driven nation.”
That ambition has the science community cheering a landslide victory by Takaichi’s Liberal Democratic Party in parliamentary elections this week. https://scim.ag/3M5hRa5
Happy 134th birthday to humans knowing that viruses exist! OTD in 1892 Dmitri Ivanovsky presented his evidence of a tobacco mosaic disease caused by filterable agents (not bacteria!). Martinus Beijerinck confirmed this independently in 1898. And voila, virology is born!
The Potential Effect of Ending CDC Funding for HIV Tests: A Modeling Study in 18 States
✅ Just Accepted
🔗 https://bit.ly/4trboGZ
The transition to cleaner forms of energy are not happening fast enough to avoid dangerous climate change
go.nature.com/3MDQYdp
ICYMI Out Now! Host factors dictate gut microbiome alterations in chronic kidney disease more strongly than kidney function #MicroSky
ICYMI Out Now! The building blocks of one of the most complex flagellar nanomachines #MicroSky
Rush for funds to relocate laboratories to Europe is the latest hint of a US brain drain.
go.nature.com/45S5Mvz
To be safe and effective, medical #AI must adapt to new contexts — differences in users, health systems, geographies, diseases.
Our latest Review proposes strategies and opportunities for context-switching in medical AI. Marinka Zitnik
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-025-04184-7
