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Brian Wasik Profile picture
Brian Wasik
@BrianRWasik
Researcher in Virus Tropism and Evolution. Opinions are my own... but should be yours too. Avatar: Joshua Chamberlain. RT = Reverse Transcriptase
Apr 18 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
Lots of fair questions in this article. I do not envy the heavy task of the USDA and supporting labs and researchers, but there has to be more information sharing to the best of their ability. #influenza #H5N1

statnews.com/2024/04/18/h5n… This thread from @DuckSwabber (via Richard Wrbby, St Jude) has some great historical items on #influenza in the mammary glands of ruminants (ie human flu in cow, PR8 lab strain in goats). #H5N1

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Mar 9, 2023 • 8 tweets • 3 min read
That SARS-CoV-2 came to be extremely efficient at human-to-human transmission after emergence (more so than 2003 SARS-CoV-1 or MERS) is not evidence of pre-adaptation. That's post hoc reasoning.

Evolution does not care how you think 'this should work.' Studying mechanisms of spillover and emergence, I've been stuck on the concept of correlated fitness evolution (re: host shifts).

Viral populations do not exist in evolutionary stasis in their 'natural' host environment.
Jan 9, 2022 • 6 tweets • 4 min read
Please do not make #Deltacron a thing. It's not a thing. Some of you should know better.

Summary: Cyprus uploaded 24 genomes to GISAID on Jan 7 that appear to be Delta-Omicron recombinants. This is likely contamination from single sequencing run.

Some tweet sources below: Tom was right on top of this at the start. There seems to be a biased PCR amplicon from the ARTIC primer set that put a particular fragment of Omicron in with Delta fragments. #Deltacron
Jan 1, 2022 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
My 365 Best Films, 2022

Did this 5 years ago on FB. Updating. The best 365 films I've ever seen (no order). Based on my ratings (4.5 or 5 stars) on @letterboxd. I post one a day in a thread with an image.

I'm at: boxd.it/781V 001 01-January

PARASITE (2019)
Director: Bong Joon-ho
Cinematography: Hong Kyung-pyo Image
Sep 26, 2020 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
Is everyone just trying to piss me off? To be clear, because I've collapsed into exasperation tweets:

This headline is not just incorrect, but false and misleading. #SARSCoV2 D614G has been a present lineage in Europe and NAmerica since the beginning of the pandemic. G has become more dominant than D. /1
Sep 10, 2020 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
I keep being left with the weight of this brilliant @edyong209 piece. It's about this pandemic, but it really correctly pokes at the raw nerve that is the American experiment at this moment.
theatlantic.com/health/archive… We've arrived at some impasse. By a series of disasters and failures, the future of American hegemony is unclear to a majority of Americans. It's a point that Americans have not really collectively grappled with since before WWII. Some have with good reason, but not nearly all.
Aug 18, 2020 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
I don't bemoan college students for anything. They were handed a deal from the bottom of the deck in many ways.

They have seen for the last 6 months that there are no 'adults' in leadership, no consequences or accountability. There is no strong and consistent modeling. /1 I'm sure the majority of college students do their best to take part in good practices, while a minority of transgressions get all the oxygen. In that way, their demographic is no different than any other over this pandemic. /2
Jul 28, 2020 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
Today at @bakercornell we received sad news that Prof LeLand 'Skip' Carmichael passed away last night in Ithaca.

Skip was cherished family of Baker Institute and @cornellvet.

Instrumental in identification of epizootic Canine Parvovirus, development of the vaccine.
#virology In ~1976 a severe haemorrhagic enteritis broke out in dogs and quickly spread worldwide. Skip and his team were key in identifying the parvovirus, and recognizing its likely homology to feline panleukopenia virus.

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/516347/
Jul 11, 2020 • 23 tweets • 5 min read
Gonna start @criterionchannl WESTERN NOIR series. First up: BLOOD ON THE MOON (1948) with Robert Mitchum. Dir: Robeet Wise. The cinematography of Musuraca in BLOOD ON THE MOON is soooooo dark. Really amazing work. And looks so good on Mitchum, where Musuraca also lit him in the amazing Noir, OUT OF THE PAST.
Jul 5, 2020 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
I love JAWS. Never tire of rewatching it. Image 'Here's to swimmin' with bow-legged women.'
Jul 4, 2020 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
I started a rewatch of THE AGE OF INNOCENCE (1993) last night. Easily been more than a decade since I'd seen it last, on a poor DVD. The new Criterion edition streams at @criterionchannl. /1 It's even better than I remember. I have to go back to Wharton's novel, but the film evokes amazing drama and emotion for me.

Scorsese and Ballhaus use the camera so well and subtly to aid the performances. The story has much dialogue but is really told in body language. /2
Jun 8, 2020 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
This is a good and decent act by Sen Romney.

Asked to do good in the moment before him, he has delivered and will have an influence on broad solidarity for the movement. But, I do want to address this nonsense.

I'm convinced that lack of understanding and accommodation between partisans is far more driven by 'centrist' media gatekeepers. Obsessed with hypocrisy of details, without perspective.

May 21, 2020 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
Listen, I'm concerned about vaccination schedules too... but this headline is misleading, right?

Bad back-of-evelope calculation means roughly 10.5% of kids are behind on their vaccinations... by at most 2 months.

Do I have something wrong?

nytimes.com/2020/05/20/nyr… 2/ Article notes 63% reduction in vaccinations scheduled *relative to last year, over just the sheltering period in March/April.*

Assuming staggered patient scheduling, just 16.7% kids would have gotten annual shots in March and April. 63% of THOSE didn't. ie 10.5% are behind.
May 19, 2020 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
Juror 8 dissents. Gene Hackman eavesdrops.
May 11, 2020 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
I start all my reviews with 'Call me Ishmael' just a heads up. Little Easter egg. Joking aside, I have a consistent stylized #peerreview format that isnt perfect, works for me:

Paragraph 1
'<First Author> et al have described...' and give my best 3-4 elevator pitch of what I think authors want the reader to take away. My draft of a SPOTLIGHT summary.
(1/3)
May 6, 2020 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
Boy, I like this thread from @trvrb who gives some really helpful context, potential for the Korber et al. findings.

Obviously my <yelling tweet> was more about the media coverage and false narrative resolution of 'strains.'

Some other thoughts on this (which no one asked for): Scientifically, I'm just far more conservative on moving towards a strain definition... and particularly resolving an issue of change in THE BIG THREE: virulence, transmission, antigenicity. (2/x)
May 5, 2020 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
This LATimes article is INFURIATING. So much misinformation based on just that preprint. They took quotes from the author's PERSONAL FACEBOOK PAGE. An anonymous quote that this is 'classic Darwinian evolution.' Commentary on viral load and pathogenesis from a toxicologist. As I've said before, my academic career is based in virus evolution. I've written papers and reviews on adaptations that can underlie emergent viruses. Could always use the citations!

But at this point everyone is misinterpreting likely stochastic drift effects, sampling bias.
May 4, 2020 • 10 tweets • 6 min read
As follow-up, see new paper in @Virus_Evolution by @robertson_lab and others at @CVRinfo

'No evidence for distinct types in the evolution of #SARSCoV2 '

academic.oup.com/ve/advance-art… I just passed along this paper by @robertson_lab and others as context to my commentary about #SARSCoV2.

The paper is in response to Tang et al (ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/P…), implying two 'strains' S and L, having differential transmission based on prevelance. (2/x)
May 3, 2020 • 5 tweets • 3 min read
Great new method paper on pooled sampling for #COVID19 tests. #SARSCoV2

Evaluation of COVID-19 RT-qPCR test in multi-sample pools
academic.oup.com/cid/advance-ar… There is a lot of discussion around taking #COVID19 tests 'private' for businesses to test employees.

That is a privacy RED FLAG for me... UNLESS you do community, cohort testing.

Pool and test small offices, break larger groups into cohorts (floor, wing, group on same shift).
May 1, 2020 • 5 tweets • 3 min read
We have NO EVIDENCE of different 'strains' of #SARSCoV2. All viruses have mutations. You can see unique genotypes, they give rise to geographic lineages by transmission chains.

We have nothing to show that one lineage is functionally different than the other. In anything. On #SARSCoV2 mutations vs 'strains':

You look at a mug-shot and say, 'nah, our guy has a mustache.' Or, 'but, he's in a blue jacket.' Or, 'he used a knife.'

He shaved. He changed clothes. He bought a gun. It's the same guy.

Show me evidence this is a different person.