Well, I’ve blown the chronology of my experience, but I must post this one first for me from breakfast this morning. At the fruit table, there was a dish labeled “citrus caviar.” I became intrigued. These are the seeds from a finger lime. What is a finger lime? I’ll let those

Second stop…

This vacation is rapidly coming to an end. This VW bus has served us well. Our last sites together…

Our last lunch…

The handoff is complete. Vacation ends, and science begins. Fortunately for us, the fun of being with friends will continue!

The meeting is about to begin. This will be an interesting experience for me as I’m wearing many hats at this meeting. Our lab is beginning to study helicases again after many years because my UNC colleague, Tim Willson, has created a first-in-class molecule that targets a viral

The meeting is over and after some drama getting through border patrol, we’re at the gate waiting to board. Didn’t see much of Lisbon except what we could see while walking between the hotel and conference site.

Are you doing a PhD or research MSc in Virology? Be part of a community of like-minded researchers from across the UK and Ireland at the first annual conference run by and for postgraduate research students in virology. Please RT! postgradvirologistsnetwork.co.uk/2025-meeting

Had the chance to spend time with David Dulin. Went to a restaurant on the dock, and we sat right on the dock.

More seafood. Had liver Portuguese style for my entrée and an “egg cheese” pie for dessert. Both were delicious and highly recommended.

Spent our last night with Kevin Raney and Jay Marecki at a sports bar on the dock. Forgot the selfie. 🤦🏾‍♂️ Fried pork belly, fried shrimp, and fried cuttlefish for appetizers. Ended the evening back at the hotel with egg pie (flan) and a tawny port. Ready to eat normally again! 😂

This week in #ScienceAdvances, a special issue on printed and musculoskeletal robotics highlights a field that draws on progress in biology, materials science, and robotics—with impacts in health care, environmental exploration, and more: scim.ag/4689iTo

Diffusing protein binders to intrinsically disordered proteins…David Baker does it again. This is so cool. Perhaps we can now also probe the function of virus-encoded IDPs and IDRs. Very, very cool! nature.com/articles/s4158…

Excited to share this review in ACS Bio & Med Chem Au from Rob Cicchillo's lab at Oerth Bio on using PROTACS in plants. Really interesting and well researched. Check it out!! #Openaccess, so no excuses!! @alavasanifar @acsbiomed pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/ac…

I’m extremely honored to be recognized with the WICB Junior Research Award. American Society for Cell Biology and WICB have been key to my career development since I attended my first annual meeting in 2005. Congrats to the other awardees!