Asher Leeks
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asherleeks.bsky.social
Asher Leeks
@asherleeks.bsky.social
We study social evolution in viruses.

Assistant Professor @zoology.ubc.ca & @ubcbiodiversity.bsky.social

asherleeks.com
@rowancallumg.bsky.social and @liyamiksovsky.bsky.social demonstrating our newest lab tradition - creating virus snowflakes (designed by @socialinfluenza.bsky.social ) out of submitted grants and fellowships.

🧪 #socialviruses
October 31, 2025 at 9:51 PM
You might appreciate this one it generated for me illustrating important Hominid fossil discoveries and their locations…
August 14, 2025 at 2:21 PM
Cheat therapy turns out to be highly effective at treating viruses in vivo. The question is no longer 'can it work?', but rather 'how do we do it safely?'

We discuss why cheats seem to work better in viruses than in bacteria, and the next steps for bringing cheat therapy to the clinic.

3/3
March 28, 2025 at 6:03 PM
Bacteria and viruses often rely on shared molecules, or 'public goods'. Mutants can emerge that do not produce these molecules, but still benefit from them. These 'cheat' mutants can naturally invade populations... but could we also deploy cheats deliberately as a new type of therapeutic?

2/3
March 28, 2025 at 6:03 PM
Announcing the Social Lives of Viruses 2024!

Do you study social evolution in viruses? Do you want to?

Join us in Puerto Rico this June for a 50-person meeting dedicated to viral sociality. All costs covered.

Apply here: forms.gle/sHTEcHJjryDh...

#ViroSky
#MicroSky
#EvoSky
#SocialViruses
January 22, 2024 at 8:34 PM
Finally, this review and the resulting conversation emerged from our 2022 meeting on #SocialViruses. We’re very grateful to all who made that meeting so energetic, as well as to ESEB for funding (and @szparalab.bsky.social for remembering to take the only group photo...)

(9/n)
November 30, 2023 at 5:56 PM