Have you ever wondered why you have to get a flu shot every year, but some vaccines are one-and-done? It all has to do with how and how fast viruses evolve - and that depends on mutation rates.

Helen Branswell covers issues broadly related to infectious diseases, including outbreaks, preparedness, research, and vaccine development. Follow her on Mastodon and Bluesky. You can reach Helen on ...

This month’s story comes from the Bloom lab using their signature deep mutational scanning technique to identify mutations in the surface protein of Lassa virus -called glycoprotein- that escape ...

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently recommended that everyone 6 months and older get an updated vaccination this fall against COVID-19 that is formulated to combat the most ...

A phylogenetic tree of SARS-CoV-2 sequences, built with Nextstrain, displays sequences colored by their clade and organized by collection date. Over time, sequences mutate and diverge, forming new ...