Mastodawn

Michael Letko Sep 2, 2023

In 2020, we found a few bat sarbecoviruses that could enter human cells without needing ACE2. In our latest study - out now - we isolated one of these viruses from field samples. This information will help develop new ways to thwart pre-emergent risks. https://t.co/2601UBI8ts

Isolation of ACE2-dependent and -independent sarbecoviruses from Chinese horseshoe bats | Journal of Virology

Several coronaviruses have been transmitted from animals to people, and 20 years of virus discovery studies have uncovered thousands of new coronavirus sequences in nature. Most of the animal-derived sarbecoviruses have never been isolated in culture due ...

Journal of Virology

Michael Letko Jul 10, 2023

Excited to join the
@PLOSPathogens
Editorial Board, an #OpenScience journal that explores the breadth and depth of pathogens research from across all disciplines.

Michael Letko Jul 1, 2023

More details about the lab, our work, and open positions (including the new postdoc and student spots) can now be found at our new website: https://labs.wsu.edu/lofv/

Laboratory of Functional Viromics | Washington State University

Michael Letko Jun 23, 2023

Now hiring for a post-doc position in my lab. Help us explore the worlds' viruses - we have developed some exciting new tools and have too many questions to answer! Let's discover something new and use it to start your next step! More details soon - interested candidates send CV

Michael Letko May 21, 2023

Had to condense the move the whole lab to my office in order to save it from a failing HVAC system that flooded other labs. Surprisingly small footprint for what it is!

Michael Letko Apr 21, 2023

Eric Pyrrhus Apr 20, 2023

Holy Crap.

If confirmed, we'll have to figure out how to categorize 180,000 newly discovered viruses.

@RNA has called this the "Platinum Age of Virus Discovery"!

"Identification of #RNA viruses is currently limited to those with sequence similarity to a known #virus, such that... the 'dark matter' of the virosphere remains challenging to detect.

We developed a deep learning algorithm [which] integrates both sequence and structural information..."

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.04.18.537342v1
#virology @virology

Michael Letko Apr 14, 2023

The newest version of NEB cutter (v3) does not always indicate if a restriction site is DAM methylated. Wasted a few days on a doomed cloning strategy. Thankfully, version 2 is still available to point out the issues.

Michael Letko Mar 3, 2023

Has anybody tried the Cell Press Community Review process? If so, I’d love to hear how it went!

Michael Letko Mar 2, 2023

New preprint! Most sarbecoviruses do not use ACE2 and have never been isolated. We have shown how some can infect human cells without ACE2. Using what we have learned, we have now isolated the first ACE2-independent sarbecovirus from bat fecal samples. https://tinyurl.com/ysjtyjwj

Michael Letko Jan 27, 2023

👏 👏 https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/jvi.00089-23