I sat in the green room, 15 minutes before the start of the event, more nervous than I had been for a presentation in recent years. The occasion was the keynote address, which I was about to present before 1500 attendees at the 2018 annual meeting of the American Society for Virology. I was nervous …
Several mutations that arose during the 2013-2016 outbreak of Ebola virus in West Africa were previously found to increase infectivity for human cells. However, a study in two animal models show no effect of these mutations on disease. Among the many mutations identified among the hundreds of genome sequences obtained during the 2013-2016 Ebola virus epidemic, a …
Ebola virus mutations do not affect pathogenicity Read More »
Nearly one year ago I was proud to be part of the March for Science in Washington, DC. This year I March for Science in New York City, where I will be the co-Master of Ceremonies together with Jin Kim Montclare. You can download the event guide here. Please join us and show your support …
The National Institutes of Health is the major funding agency for biomedical research in the United States. Nevertheless, there are shocking disparities in grant awards for investigators according to race, gender, age, institution, and state. Such unbalanced allocations must be corrected as they do not encourage the varied perspectives, creative ideas and experimental approaches that …
The scientists I know realize that they use jargon, both in their writing and in their seminars – but they can’t seem to stop. There is a very good reason to stop using jargon – it has likely lead to a decrease in the readability of scientific texts for the past 100 years (link to …
Scientific jargon and readability: What is your r-index? Read More »
Thirty-five years ago this month, in September 1982, I arrived at Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons to open my virology laboratory. I brought with me an infectious DNA copy of the poliovirus RNA genome, the first of its kind, and a lot of enthusiasm. Over the years we used this infectious DNA to …
