Nicholas Wu
@wchnicholas.bsky.social
Associate Professor at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign studying influenza, SARS-CoV-2, antibodies, evolution, and protein structures. wchnicholas.github.io
Reposted by Nicholas Wu
Anyone else getting grant termination notices for gain-of-function concerns at 5pm two days before thanksgiving?
November 25, 2025 at 11:05 PM
Anyone else getting grant termination notices for gain-of-function concerns at 5pm two days before thanksgiving?
Reposted by Nicholas Wu
This preprint just came out. @wchnicholas.bsky.social and team reconstructed and tested the NJ Spike and found that it has the tightest ACE2 binding of any SC2 Spike ever measured.
2/
www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...
2/
www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.medrxiv.org
November 21, 2025 at 3:19 PM
This preprint just came out. @wchnicholas.bsky.social and team reconstructed and tested the NJ Spike and found that it has the tightest ACE2 binding of any SC2 Spike ever measured.
2/
www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...
2/
www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Nicholas Wu
This is wild.
Remember the NJ crytic lineage?
I posted 18 months ago that the Spike was too divergent to predict ACE2 binding, and asked if someone else could figure it out.
Some colleagues took me up on it.
Guess what they found?
1/
Remember the NJ crytic lineage?
I posted 18 months ago that the Spike was too divergent to predict ACE2 binding, and asked if someone else could figure it out.
Some colleagues took me up on it.
Guess what they found?
1/
November 21, 2025 at 3:19 PM
This is wild.
Remember the NJ crytic lineage?
I posted 18 months ago that the Spike was too divergent to predict ACE2 binding, and asked if someone else could figure it out.
Some colleagues took me up on it.
Guess what they found?
1/
Remember the NJ crytic lineage?
I posted 18 months ago that the Spike was too divergent to predict ACE2 binding, and asked if someone else could figure it out.
Some colleagues took me up on it.
Guess what they found?
1/
Reposted by Nicholas Wu
Evolution of Ab cross-reactivity to influenza H5N1 NA:
Isolation & characterization of protective antibody against influenza neuraminidase that acquires cross-reactivity to avian H5N1 as a byproduct of affinity maturation against human H3N2 @wchnicholas.bsky.social
www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...
Isolation & characterization of protective antibody against influenza neuraminidase that acquires cross-reactivity to avian H5N1 as a byproduct of affinity maturation against human H3N2 @wchnicholas.bsky.social
www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...
Evolution of antibody cross-reactivity to influenza H5N1 neuraminidase from an N2-specific germline
Lv et al. isolated a protective antibody against influenza neuraminidase that acquires
cross-reactivity to avian H5N1 as a byproduct of affinity maturation against human
H3N2. Along with structural an...
www.cell.com
November 19, 2025 at 8:09 PM
Evolution of Ab cross-reactivity to influenza H5N1 NA:
Isolation & characterization of protective antibody against influenza neuraminidase that acquires cross-reactivity to avian H5N1 as a byproduct of affinity maturation against human H3N2 @wchnicholas.bsky.social
www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...
Isolation & characterization of protective antibody against influenza neuraminidase that acquires cross-reactivity to avian H5N1 as a byproduct of affinity maturation against human H3N2 @wchnicholas.bsky.social
www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...
Reposted by Nicholas Wu
First big piece of research from our SG lab: Fadi's work with Chris Brooke's lab. Flu serially passaged 80X selects a defective genome with improved competition, but is nonviable as a full virus!
Notable improvement & safety for DVGs as antiviral RNA therapies!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Notable improvement & safety for DVGs as antiviral RNA therapies!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Longitudinal analysis of influenza A virus deletion-containing viral genomes reveals key determinants of co-evolutionary dynamics and interference
The substantial genetic diversity generated during influenza A virus replication facilitates both evasion of pre-existing host immunity and cross-species emergence. A major contributor to this diversi...
www.biorxiv.org
November 4, 2025 at 3:17 AM
First big piece of research from our SG lab: Fadi's work with Chris Brooke's lab. Flu serially passaged 80X selects a defective genome with improved competition, but is nonviable as a full virus!
Notable improvement & safety for DVGs as antiviral RNA therapies!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Notable improvement & safety for DVGs as antiviral RNA therapies!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Nicholas Wu
excited to announce that this January we are relocating to Yale to start a theory initiative at the Center for Systems and Engineering Immunology (CSEI): @yalecsei.bsky.social
looking to hire 2 postdocs to join us in this endeavor.
more details can be found here: sites.google.com/uw.edu/statp...
looking to hire 2 postdocs to join us in this endeavor.
more details can be found here: sites.google.com/uw.edu/statp...
SPE - join us
Postdoctoral position:
In January 2026, we are relocating to Yale university to start a theory initiative at the Center for Systems and Engineering Immunology (CSEI).
We are looking for talented postd...
sites.google.com
October 27, 2025 at 8:47 PM
excited to announce that this January we are relocating to Yale to start a theory initiative at the Center for Systems and Engineering Immunology (CSEI): @yalecsei.bsky.social
looking to hire 2 postdocs to join us in this endeavor.
more details can be found here: sites.google.com/uw.edu/statp...
looking to hire 2 postdocs to join us in this endeavor.
more details can be found here: sites.google.com/uw.edu/statp...
Reposted by Nicholas Wu
Evolution of Ab cross-reactivity to influenza H5N1 NA
New work isolates & characterizes protective antibody against influenza neuraminidase that acquires cross-reactivity to avian H5N1 as a byproduct of affinity maturation against human H3N2 @wchnicholas.bsky.social
www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...
New work isolates & characterizes protective antibody against influenza neuraminidase that acquires cross-reactivity to avian H5N1 as a byproduct of affinity maturation against human H3N2 @wchnicholas.bsky.social
www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...
Evolution of antibody cross-reactivity to influenza H5N1 neuraminidase from an N2-specific germline
Lv et al. isolated a protective antibody against influenza neuraminidase that acquires
cross-reactivity to avian H5N1 as a byproduct of affinity maturation against human
H3N2. Along with structural an...
www.cell.com
October 22, 2025 at 11:38 AM
Evolution of Ab cross-reactivity to influenza H5N1 NA
New work isolates & characterizes protective antibody against influenza neuraminidase that acquires cross-reactivity to avian H5N1 as a byproduct of affinity maturation against human H3N2 @wchnicholas.bsky.social
www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...
New work isolates & characterizes protective antibody against influenza neuraminidase that acquires cross-reactivity to avian H5N1 as a byproduct of affinity maturation against human H3N2 @wchnicholas.bsky.social
www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...
Reposted by Nicholas Wu
I'm thrilled to share that the oPool⁺ display is on the cover of this week's #ScienceTranslationalMedicine! We hope that the future use of this platform can accelerate antibody characterization, benefit therapeutic & vaccine development, and facilitate iterative refinements of antibody AI models.
Don't miss the new issue of #ScienceTranslationalMedicine!
A clinical study in Nepal shows that waning immunity to Japanese encephalitis virus can worse the severity of dengue, a new platform leapfrogs laborious obstacles in antibody discovery, and more. https://scim.ag/47qcFpw
A clinical study in Nepal shows that waning immunity to Japanese encephalitis virus can worse the severity of dengue, a new platform leapfrogs laborious obstacles in antibody discovery, and more. https://scim.ag/47qcFpw
September 4, 2025 at 2:05 AM
I'm thrilled to share that the oPool⁺ display is on the cover of this week's #ScienceTranslationalMedicine! We hope that the future use of this platform can accelerate antibody characterization, benefit therapeutic & vaccine development, and facilitate iterative refinements of antibody AI models.
Reposted by Nicholas Wu
The labs of Krammer, @wchnicholas.bsky.social, Ellebedy et al. identify a neuraminidase-targeting human monoclonal antibody (mAb-297) induced by seasonal #influenza vaccination that broadly protects against multiple influenza A & B strains, incl. avian #H5N1. rupress.org/jem/article/...
April 3, 2025 at 4:18 PM
The labs of Krammer, @wchnicholas.bsky.social, Ellebedy et al. identify a neuraminidase-targeting human monoclonal antibody (mAb-297) induced by seasonal #influenza vaccination that broadly protects against multiple influenza A & B strains, incl. avian #H5N1. rupress.org/jem/article/...
Reposted by Nicholas Wu
Excited to share @joelrc.bsky.social 's new paper examining the factors underlying cell-to-cell heterogeneity in interferon induction during flu infection:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Intrinsic OASL expression licenses interferon induction during influenza A virus infection
Effective control of viral infection requires rapid induction of the innate immune response, especially the type I and type III interferon (IFN) systems. Despite the critical role of IFN induction in ...
www.biorxiv.org
March 18, 2025 at 6:47 PM
Excited to share @joelrc.bsky.social 's new paper examining the factors underlying cell-to-cell heterogeneity in interferon induction during flu infection:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Nicholas Wu
In this updated manuscript, now available on bioRxiv, we are excited to (re)introduce oPool+ display, a high-throughput cell-free platform that enables rapid synthesis and specificity characterization of natively paired antibodies at an unprecedented scale: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... (1/)
High-throughput synthesis and specificity characterization of natively paired antibodies using oPool+ display
Antibody discovery is crucial for developing therapeutics and vaccines as well as understanding adaptive immunity. However, the lack of approaches to synthesize antibodies with defined sequences in a ...
www.biorxiv.org
March 3, 2025 at 2:05 PM
In this updated manuscript, now available on bioRxiv, we are excited to (re)introduce oPool+ display, a high-throughput cell-free platform that enables rapid synthesis and specificity characterization of natively paired antibodies at an unprecedented scale: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... (1/)
Reposted by Nicholas Wu
@joelrc.bsky.social 's paper on differences between the seasonal H1N1 and H3N2 lineages in their relative capacity to antagonize IFN induction and signaling at the single cell level is out now in PLOS Pathogens:
journals.plos.org/plospathogen...
journals.plos.org/plospathogen...
Seasonal influenza a virus lineages exhibit divergent abilities to antagonize interferon induction and signaling
Author summary Successful replication and transmission of influenza A viruses (IAVs) requires effective subversion of the innate immune response. We developed a new single cell method to examine the i...
journals.plos.org
December 12, 2024 at 6:58 PM
@joelrc.bsky.social 's paper on differences between the seasonal H1N1 and H3N2 lineages in their relative capacity to antagonize IFN induction and signaling at the single cell level is out now in PLOS Pathogens:
journals.plos.org/plospathogen...
journals.plos.org/plospathogen...
Reposted by Nicholas Wu
We have an open faculty search for TWO positions in microbiology and virology at the University of Illinois! We have world class core facilities and a fantastic collaborative group of young faculty...you could be next!
Please re-post/skeet!
Please re-post/skeet!
September 9, 2024 at 8:36 PM
We have an open faculty search for TWO positions in microbiology and virology at the University of Illinois! We have world class core facilities and a fantastic collaborative group of young faculty...you could be next!
Please re-post/skeet!
Please re-post/skeet!
Reposted by Nicholas Wu
Check out
@joelrc.bsky.social
's new preprint examining how the seasonal H1N1 and H3N2 lineages of IAV differ in their ability to antagonize IFN induction and signaling, and how these phenotypes have evolved over decades of circulation in humans:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
@joelrc.bsky.social
's new preprint examining how the seasonal H1N1 and H3N2 lineages of IAV differ in their ability to antagonize IFN induction and signaling, and how these phenotypes have evolved over decades of circulation in humans:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Seasonal influenza A virus lineages exhibit divergent abilities to antagonize interferon induction and signaling
bioRxiv - the preprint server for biology, operated by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, a research and educational institution
www.biorxiv.org
July 13, 2024 at 3:11 PM
Check out
@joelrc.bsky.social
's new preprint examining how the seasonal H1N1 and H3N2 lineages of IAV differ in their ability to antagonize IFN induction and signaling, and how these phenotypes have evolved over decades of circulation in humans:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
@joelrc.bsky.social
's new preprint examining how the seasonal H1N1 and H3N2 lineages of IAV differ in their ability to antagonize IFN induction and signaling, and how these phenotypes have evolved over decades of circulation in humans:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Nicholas Wu
Check out @tonyl1415.bsky.social 's new paper on how the evolutionary potential of the seasonal H1N1 HA gene is influenced by its interactions with neuraminidase!
academic.oup.com/ve/article/1...
academic.oup.com/ve/article/1...
Natural variation in neuraminidase activity influences the evolutionary potential of the seasonal H1N1 lineage hemagglutinin
Abstract. The antigenic evolution of the influenza A virus hemagglutinin (HA) gene poses a major challenge for the development of vaccines capable of elici
academic.oup.com
June 25, 2024 at 6:59 PM
Check out @tonyl1415.bsky.social 's new paper on how the evolutionary potential of the seasonal H1N1 HA gene is influenced by its interactions with neuraminidase!
academic.oup.com/ve/article/1...
academic.oup.com/ve/article/1...
Reposted by Nicholas Wu
Natural variation in neuraminidase activity influences the evolutionary potential of the seasonal H1N1 lineage hemagglutinin https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.03.18.585603v1
Natural variation in neuraminidase activity influences the evolutionary potential of the seasonal H1N1 lineage hemagglutinin https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.03.18.585603v1
The antigenic evolution of the influenza A virus hemagglutinin (HA) gene poses a major challenge for
www.biorxiv.org
March 19, 2024 at 2:17 AM
Natural variation in neuraminidase activity influences the evolutionary potential of the seasonal H1N1 lineage hemagglutinin https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.03.18.585603v1
Reposted by Nicholas Wu
Excited to announce a postdoc position in my group! 🦠📈🧪 Come help us understand variability in immune responses to influenza vaccination, especially repeat vaccination, using data from a randomized trial and more.
Great collaborators, methods, and problem.
cobeylab.uchicago.edu/p/join-us
Great collaborators, methods, and problem.
cobeylab.uchicago.edu/p/join-us
February 22, 2024 at 5:21 PM
Excited to announce a postdoc position in my group! 🦠📈🧪 Come help us understand variability in immune responses to influenza vaccination, especially repeat vaccination, using data from a randomized trial and more.
Great collaborators, methods, and problem.
cobeylab.uchicago.edu/p/join-us
Great collaborators, methods, and problem.
cobeylab.uchicago.edu/p/join-us
Reposted by Nicholas Wu
Excited to *finally* have @mfarjo.bsky.social 's fantastic paper on SARS-CoV-2 within-host evolutionary dynamics during acute infection published at JVI: journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
journals.asm.org
January 5, 2024 at 12:29 AM
Excited to *finally* have @mfarjo.bsky.social 's fantastic paper on SARS-CoV-2 within-host evolutionary dynamics during acute infection published at JVI: journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...