Research Focus: From the spread of African swine fever to the use of dating apps during the COVID-19 pandemic

African Swine Fever virus (ASFV) is a deadly pathogen devastating pig farming worldwide. Since no safe vaccine exists, researchers from the Roslin Institute used the virus genome to understand how the current global panzootic progressed, after the first identification of this strain in Georgia in 2007. It was shown that ASFV spreads across continents primarily through human movement, likely in contaminated pork or equipment, travelling long distances in short amount of time. In Europe, this has led to at least seven separate introductions, of which at least three happened in Italy. 

These findings highlight that genomic surveillance is our most effective tool to understand the global ASFV transmission patterns.

Citation: Gianluigi Rossi, E Carol McWilliam Leitch, Jake Graham, Roberta Biccheri, Carmen Iscaro, Claudia Torresi, Samantha J Lycett, Francesco Feliziani, Monica Giammarioli, Virus Evolution, 2025

Diagnostic tests that can detect pre-clinical or sub-clinical infection, are one of the most powerful tools in our armoury of weapons to control infectious diseases. Considerable effort has been paid to improving diagnostic testing for human, plant and animal diseases, including strategies for targeting the use of diagnostic tests towards individuals who are more likely to be infected. Researchers from the Roslin Institute use machine learning to assess the surrounding risk landscape under which a diagnostic test is applied to augment its interpretation. 

They develop this to predict the occurrence of bovine tuberculosis incidents in cattle herds, exploiting the availability of exceptionally detailed testing records. Researchers show that, without compromising test specificity, test sensitivity can be improved so that the proportion of infected herds detected improves by over 5 percentage points, or 240 additional infected herds detected in one year beyond those detected by the skin test alone. They also use feature importance testing for assessing the weighting of risk factors. While many factors are associated with increased risk of incidents, of note are several factors that suggest that in some herds there is a higher risk of infection going undetected.

Citation: Banks CJ, Sanchez A, Stewart V, Bowen K, Doherty T, Tearne O, Smith G, Kao RR. PLoS Comput Biol. 2025 Nov 4;21(11):e1013651. doi: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1013651. PMID: 41187210; PMCID: PMC12646444.

Indigenous communities can face disproportionate animal and environmental health risks, and barriers in accessing preventative health care. One Health offers an effective way to address multifaceted health risks – such as zoonotic diseases – however, meaningful integration of One Health within Indigenous health fields has been limited to date. 

Researchers from the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies and the Roslin Institute in collaboration with colleagues from The Australian Nation University present research that combines Indigenous methodologies with One Health approaches to assess animal–human–environmental health risks, with a focus on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populations in Australia.

This paper introduces an Indigenous One Health model to inform preventative health efforts and outlines priorities for future research to support health equity.

Citation: Riley,Tamara and Meredith,Anna and Anderson,Neil E. and Cumming,Bonny and Thandrayen,Joanne and Lovett,Raymond, cabionehealth.2026.0002, CABI One Health, doi:10.1079/cabionehealth.2026.0002, CABI

The magnitude and specificity of naturally acquired antibody responses to Plasmodium falciparum merozoite surface proteins (cruicial proteins on the surface of the malaria parasite's invasive stage) could influence the clinical presentation of malaria in young children. Lack of antibodies to the infective parasite genotype could lead to immune evasion.

Researchers from the Institute of Immunology and Infection Research studied how well immune responses (IgG antibodies) matched the malaria parasite types in 269 children with different forms of malaria in Malawi. They found that the antibodies usually matched the parasites, especially after recovery, though the levels dropped after the parasites were cleared.

Mismatched antibodies were linked to neurological issues after cerebral malaria. 

Overall, less matching was seen in severe cases, suggesting parasite diversity could impact immunity and disease severity.

Citation: Dobaño C, Rogerson SJ, Cavanagh DR, Taylor TE, McBride JS. Malar J. 2025 Nov 17;24(1):401. doi: 10.1186/s12936-025-05660-8. PMID: 41250165; PMCID: PMC12621371.

During the earliest stages of development, cells do not yet have a fully functioning immune system. In particular, a key antiviral defence mechanism, called the type I interferon response, is switched off until later in development, leaving cells in early development vulnerable to viral infections.

In this study, researchers from the School of Biological Sciences and the Institute of Genetics and Cancer show that mouse embryonic stem cells deliberately silence the primary virus-sensing pathway that would normally detect virus derived double-stranded RNA. These cells do this by silencing the expression of the dsRNA sensor protein MDA5. This suppression is important because embryonic stem cells produce large amounts of double-stranded RNA which is both unavoidable and necessary for normal cellular development. However, if the normal dsRNA sensors were present these molecules could mistakenly trigger an immune response.

When MDA5 is artificially restored in embryonic stem cells, these endogenous dsRNAs are incorrectly recognised as threats, activating an interferon response. This immune activation disrupts normal stem cell behaviour, inducing premature differentiation and changing the expression of genes that maintain pluripotency.

Overall, the findings show that shutting down this antiviral sensing pathway during early development is essential to prevent inappropriate immune activation by endogenous dsRNAs, ensuring normal development.

Citation: Witteveldt J, Liu Z, Ariza-Cosano A, Ramirez C, Walters JL, Marchante PG, Maas L, Friman ET, Ivens A, Tebaldi T, Heras SR, Marks H, Macias S. Nat Commun. 2025 Dec 11;16(1):11438. doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-66352-0. PMID: 41381491; PMCID: PMC12749073.

Argonautes are ancient proteins with well-characterised functions in cell-autonomous gene regulation and genome defence, but less clear roles in non-cell-autonomous processes which involves cellular activities, signals, or factors originating outside a specific cell. Extracellular Argonautes have been reported across plants, animals and protozoa, yet their biochemical and functional properties remain elusive.

Researchers from the School of Biological Sciences demonstrated that an extracellular Argonaute released by the rodent-infective nematode is detectable inside mouse cells during the natural infection.

Using the protein, researchers demonstrate that non-vesicular protein is internalised by mouse cells in vitro and that immunisation of mice with this protein confers partial protection against subsequent parasite infection and generates antibodies that block the protein uptake into cells.

Together, this work expands the context in which Argonautes function and illuminates an RNA-binding protein as a vaccine target for parasitic nematodes.

Citation: Neophytou K, Martínez-Ugalde I, Fenton TM, Robertson E, Strachan LJ, Jayaraman V, Harcus Y, Naar CM, Wright D, Price DRG, White R, Evans MJ, Bermúdez-Barrientos JR, Li H, Maizels RM, Aroian RV, Nisbet AJ, Abreu-Goodger C, Buck AH. EMBO Rep. 2025 Dec 9. doi: 10.1038/s44319-025-00620-4. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 41366100.

Citation: Lima J, McNeilly TN, Auffret MD, Steele P, Frew D, Martínez-Álvaro M, Dewhurst RJ, Watson M, Roehe R. Sci Rep. 2025 Dec 8;16(1):1067. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-30604-2. PMID: 41360901; PMCID: PMC12783138.

Citation: Bertolini M, Iijima K, Karmakar U, González Pico L, Martin E, Giai V, Vendrell M. J Am Chem Soc. 2025 Dec 24;147(51):47783-47790. doi: 10.1021/jacs.5c18237. Epub 2025 Dec 10. PMID: 41372099.

This mixed-methods UK study by researchers from the Usher Institute examines how dating app users negotiated viral risk, intimacy, and trust during COVID-19 social distancing restrictions. It draws on a quasi-representative national survey and interviews with heterosexual and LGBQ+ dating app users.

Meeting in person during restrictions was common across all groups, particularly among more frequent app users. However, most participants who met others reported taking precautions against COVID-19, indicating that in-person contact typically involved negotiated risk rather than straightforward non-compliance with public health guidance. Precaution-taking differed by gender and sexuality: LGBQ+ women reported the highest levels, while heterosexual women and GBQ+ men reported lower levels, particularly when meeting for sex. These differences appear to reflect broader gendered and sexual power dynamics that shape who is able to negotiate safety in intimate encounters.

Interview data show that decisions about meeting were shaped not only by perceptions of infection risk, but also by loneliness, mental wellbeing, concern for vulnerable others, and competing safety priorities such as fear of harassment or violence. Trust emerged as central—both trust in public health expertise and in other app users’ honesty. While dating apps promoted COVID-19 safety messaging, users often viewed platforms as commercially driven and insufficiently equipped to verify health claims. The findings suggest that effective pandemic health promotion must account for trust, relational power, and the social contexts of intimacy, not solely individual risk awareness.

Citation: García-Iglesias J, Heaphy B, Yodovich N, Xiong Q. Soc Sci Med. 2026 Jan;389:118799. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118799. Epub 2025 Nov 14. PMID: 41308524.