Bloom Lab

In new study, we show that SARS-CoV-2 has evolved decreased inherent antigenicity in humans, as quantified by a ~3-fold decrease in the number of naïve human B cells that can bind the spike RBD.

doi.org/10.64898/2026.…

We have measured 47,851 neutralization titers of current human sera vs current influenza strains to inform vaccine update & analyses of viral evolution.

New H1N1 strains (eg, D.3.1.1 + G155E) have reduced neutralization, as do some H3N2 subclade K descendants.

biorxiv.org/content/10.648…

Here is a link to slides I will present today at Options XIII Conference for Control of Influenza meeting: slides.com/jbloom/options…

Slides describe using sequencing-based neutralization assays to characterize human neutralizing antibody landscape to seasonal influenza virus in near real time.

Measurements are informative for vaccine strain choice.

Our latest data from last few weeks identifies emerging variants of seasonal H3N2 & H1N1 to which current human sera has reduced titers. These include H3N2 subclade K variants w V223I, and H1N1 subclade D.3.1.1 variants including w G155E.

All raw data along with interactive visualizations are available at links in the slides. The section on our latest unpublished data starts on slide 19.

In new study led by Bernadeta Dadonaite, we show many influenza HAs (H5, H7, H9, H1, H2, H3) can use avian or human MHC-II to enter cells.

We then use novel combo of deep mutational scanning & cryoEM to define how H5 HA binds tufted duck MHC-II

Preprint: doi.org/10.64898/2026.…

Here are the slides I am presenting at this morning's @CEIRRNetwork seminar related to characterizing the human neutralizing antibody landscape to human seasonal influenza for purposes such as vaccine strain selection:

slides.com/jbloom/flu-seq…