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Tim Sheahan @timothysheahan.bsky.social · May 28

Grant writing w ballet rehearsal on the side. #coronavirus #exonuclease is cool shit. Guides replication fidelity and we think masterminds control of the host response. Oh my. If only my 12 pages were done? #grantwriting #acadreamia #nih #coronavirus

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Tim Sheahan @timothysheahan.bsky.social · May 28

MERBelous? I’m SARSy for the bad jokes.

Tim Sheahan @timothysheahan.bsky.social · May 28

New paper about ACE2 using Merbecovirus. Hot stuff. So hot but you can't Letko. @fviromics.bsky.social and Nick Catanzaro. www.nature.com/articles/s41... #ACE2 #emergingviruses #bats #batman #MERS #HKU5

ACE2 from Pipistrellus abramus bats is a receptor for HKU5 coronaviruses - Nature Communications

This work shows that receptor use in merbecovirus is clade-specific by clustering them into clades based on the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of their spike proteins. While MERS-CoV and its close rela...

www.nature.com

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Tim Sheahan @timothysheahan.bsky.social · May 22

@mattfrieman.bsky.social taped this to my lab notebook almost 20 years ago. It’s not untrue 🤣Vestiges of simpler times. #lovevirology #virology #lablife #sars #laboratory #science #biology #academia

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Tim Sheahan @timothysheahan.bsky.social · May 19

So nice to be teamed up with @wrapplab.bsky.social on this mAb project! It's been a delight. Some may say a Wrapper's Delight? #antibodies #virology #lovevirology #229E #coronavirus #therapeutics #vaccination #emergingviruses

Daniel Wrapp @wrapplab.bsky.social · May 19

Very excited to share our latest preprint describing the isolation and characterization of neutralizing HCoV-229E-directed antibodies from a human donor! Great collaboration between DHVI and the Baric and Sheahan (@timothysheahan.bsky.social) labs at UNC.

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

A neutralizing human antibody induces movement of the HCoV-229E receptor binding domain

HCoV-229E is an endemic Alphacoronavirus that typically causes common cold-like disease in most healthy adults, but can also cause severe respiratory disease in the very young and the elderly. Althoug...

www.biorxiv.org

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Reposted by Tim Sheahan

Chiara Masnovo @chiaramasnovophd.bsky.social · May 16

Having a hard time processing this. HHMI is pausing all competitions. Very demoralizing for early career scientists like me @hhmi.org

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Reposted by Tim Sheahan

Helen Branswell 🇨🇦 @helenbranswell.bsky.social · May 8

How much federal research funding has been axed so far in the new administration? An early estimate is $1.8B, but that's likely an underestimate, @aniloza.bsky.social reports. www.statnews.com/2025/05/08/t...

NIH grant terminations under Trump have totaled at least $1.8 billion, analysis finds

Researchers calculated that $1.8 billion in National Institutes of Health grants were terminated in just over one month

www.statnews.com

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Tim Sheahan @timothysheahan.bsky.social · May 1

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Exclusive: NIH to suspend funds for research abroad as it overhauls policy

Move by US biomedical agency threatens thousands of projects on infectious diseases, cancer and more.

www.nature.com

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Tim Sheahan @timothysheahan.bsky.social · Apr 14

One of the many things I lack…

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Tim Sheahan @timothysheahan.bsky.social · Apr 14

How does one determine EC50 w a curve like this? #antivirals #coronavirus #cell www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

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Tim Sheahan @timothysheahan.bsky.social · Apr 8

Thank you @holdenthorp.bsky.social for being a voice which eventually we can hopefully build into a chorus. It's hard to not fall into a daily bleakness black hole (DBBH).

Reposted by Tim Sheahan

Liz Borkowski @lizborkowski.bsky.social · Mar 29

NIH has rescinded its scientific integrity policy. Hard to see this as anything other than clearing the way for shoddy research on things like vaccines. Regardless of the rationale, it's bad news for public health.

grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...

NOT-OD-25-080: Rescission of the Final Scientific Integrity Policy of the National Institutes of Health

NIH Funding Opportunities and Notices in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts: Rescission of the Final Scientific Integrity Policy of the National Institutes of Health NOT-OD-25-080. OD

grants.nih.gov

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Carl Zimmer @carlzimmer.com · Mar 26

"Angry, disappointed, frustrated"--Scientists were making progress on vaccines and antivirals for the next pandemic--until this week, when the Trump administration abruptly told them to stop. Here's my story with @apoorvanyt.bsky.social Gift link: nyti.ms/43Xz77q

H.H.S. Scraps Studies of Vaccines and Treatments for Future Pandemics (Gift Article)

Federal officials cited the end of the Covid-19 pandemic in halting the research. But much of the work was focused on preventing outbreaks of other pathogens.

nyti.ms

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Tim Sheahan @timothysheahan.bsky.social · Mar 25

The damage being done to the biomedical community will probably not be appreciated for years

Jon Cohen @cohenjon.bsky.social · Mar 25

...a “pointless, ill-advised move that will hurt U.S. science and pandemic readiness,” says Charles Rice, a Nobel Prize–winning virologist at Rockefeller University

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

Saying ‘pandemic is over,’ NIH institute starts cutting COVID-19 research

Grant terminations halt research on improving vaccinations and preventing future pandemics

www.science.org

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Tim Sheahan @timothysheahan.bsky.social · Feb 26

FYI @veeslerlab.bsky.social We showed remdesivir worked against HKU5 in the paper linked below. Nice you have confirmed this! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Broad-spectrum antiviral GS-5734 inhibits both epidemic and zoonotic coronaviruses

Broad-spectrum antiviral GS-5734 inhibits both epidemic and zoonotic coronaviruses in vitro and in vivo.

www.science.org

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Reposted by Tim Sheahan

Angie Voyles Askham @avaskham.bsky.social · Feb 18

I just covered this for @thetransmitter.bsky.social — will keep following! www.thetransmitter.org/funding/fede...

Federal Register hold makes ‘end run’ around court pause on NIH funding freeze

www.thetransmitter.org

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Tim Sheahan @timothysheahan.bsky.social · Jan 30

Saved from death in the paper grave yard! Started in 2016. MERS-CoV infects epithelial cells, they die, pathology is wicked bad. Adaptive immune cells both control replication and drive pathogenesis. #coronavirus #MERSCoV #pathogenesis #LoveVirology #viruses #virus journals.asm.org/eprint/ZZEIT...

Dysregulation of lung epithelial cell homeostasis and immunity contributes to Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus disease severity | mSphere

Emerging coronaviruses like SARS-CoV, SARS-CoV-2, and MERS-CoV cause a range of disease outcomes in humans from an asymptomatic, moderate, and severe respiratory disease that can progress to death but...

journals.asm.org

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Reposted by Tim Sheahan

Carl Zimmer @carlzimmer.com · Jan 23

Trump hits NIH with ‘devastating’ freezes on meetings, travel, communications, and hiring www.science.org/content/arti...

Trump hits NIH with ‘devastating’ freezes on meetings, travel, communications, and hiring

Researchers facing

www.science.org

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Tim Sheahan @timothysheahan.bsky.social · Jan 19

“Rob” is now transcribed as “Ellen”?

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Tim Sheahan @timothysheahan.bsky.social · Dec 20

When was the last MHV pandemic?

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Tim Sheahan @timothysheahan.bsky.social · Dec 20

There is a lot of nuance to this policy and the local IBCs now seem to have a lot more decision making power. This says any manipulation or modification of the virus requires IBC risk assessment. Stringency of IBC review probably varies depending on institution. This is a problem.

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Tim Sheahan @timothysheahan.bsky.social · Dec 13

Just when you though Apple’s #Siri was the most annoying and egregiously offensive Siri…https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/13/health/aaron-siri-rfk-jr-vaccines.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&sgrp=c-cb

RFK Jr.’s Lawyer Has Asked the FDA to Revoke Polio Vaccine Approval

Aaron Siri, who specializes in vaccine lawsuits, has been at Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s side reviewing candidates for top jobs at the Department of Health and Human Services.

www.nytimes.com

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Tim Sheahan @timothysheahan.bsky.social · Nov 22

Can one get both jobs? $$$$ hahahahaha

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Reposted by Tim Sheahan

Ryan Langlois @langloislab.bsky.social · Nov 22

Excited for my first bluesky post announcing TWO openings for tenure track positions in virology! I am chair of the search committee and with a new department head Mike Gale we are in an exciting building phase.

Please share with anyone who might be interested: hr.myu.umn.edu/jobs/ext/365...

hr.myu.umn.edu

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Tim Sheahan @timothysheahan.bsky.social · Nov 18

Firing forgotten neurons teaching my 12 year old daughter how to plate bacteria and calculate colony forming units! #stem #scienceolympiad #SciOly #cfu #ecoli #lablife #microbiology

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