Vanessa Smilansky 🐸🦠

I've moved to Bluesky! You can find me there for updates on biosecurity, metagenomics, and One Health:

[Vanessa Smilansky 🐸🦠 @VSmilansky]

I'm pleased to share the latest PARC webinar, presented by @ThatDermoGuy and yours truly. We answer the who, what, where, when, and why of the protistan pathogen Perkinsea, its impact on amphibians, and ways to prevent its spread.

https://t.co/ftQ70LQN85

[Vanessa Smilansky 🐸🦠 @VSmilansky]

I've moved to Bluesky! You can find me there for updates on biosecurity, metagenomics, and One Health: https://t.co/ryrS2D7VIE

[Vanessa Smilansky 🐸🦠 @VSmilansky]

The global risk of zoonotic spillover—when diseases jump from animals to humans—remains high.

Nevertheless, Weng et al. report a low risk associated with bullfrog aquaculture, despite the wide range of pathogens known to infect #amphibians.

https://t.co/N0Vl1BLaVu

[Vanessa Smilansky 🐸🦠 @VSmilansky]

Host-pathogen dynamics are affected by rates of direct contact and/or environmental exposure.
🐸🔁🐸
Contact transmission increases as the host become more competent.
🐸🔁💧
Environmental exposure increases as the pathogen becomes more persistent.

https://t.co/oG5HilzY8O

[Vanessa Smilansky 🐸🦠 @VSmilansky]

A simple yet elegant treatment for the world’s most devastating vertebrate disease:

This DIY brick sauna is helping frogs fight disease https://t.co/BCnYF9wSnR

[Vanessa Smilansky 🐸🦠 @VSmilansky]

New research applies eDNA surveys and uncovers novel diversity in the Perkinsea lineage, including the NAG01 group that encompasses parasites of amphibians.

#SciComm

https://t.co/xgci4gmf1T

[Vanessa Smilansky 🐸🦠 @VSmilansky]

The 2nd Global #Amphibian Assessment finds 40.7% of species are threatened with extinction, up from 39.4% in 2004.

Climate change has emerged as a major driver of decline, compounding the effects of disease and habitat loss.

#scicomm #conservation

https://t.co/4AZ1E7hhkg

[Vanessa Smilansky 🐸🦠 @VSmilansky]

Unlike amphibian Perkinsea, those that infect oysters can easily be grown in the absence of host cells.

As eukaryotic expression systems, they have human applications including #vaccine development.

Murphy et al. describe a new mass production method: https://t.co/2cUpdwqV6S

[Vanessa Smilansky 🐸🦠 @VSmilansky]

Interesting article expanding the use of #amphibians as research models for the ontogeny of immune cells:

Amphibian myelopoiesis https://t.co/9ANSo7a3tv

[Vanessa Smilansky 🐸🦠 @VSmilansky]

If you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you. 🕳👀

#FrogFriday

[Vanessa Smilansky 🐸🦠 @VSmilansky]

Perkinsea are parasitic protists that can cause severe disease in tadpoles. In this guide, we discuss how Perkinsea affect #amphibian populations, where they have spread, and how we can prevent them from spreading further.

#conservation #FrogFriday🐸

https://t.co/fm4fkXCN8u

[Vanessa Smilansky 🐸🦠 @VSmilansky]

@textycoon Sure thing! When I’m unsure of a species, I just search for the most common ones in the area. There are also a handful of apps that will let you submit a picture.

[Vanessa Smilansky 🐸🦠 @VSmilansky]

Spotted this Great Basin gopher #snake (Pituophis catenifer deserticola) on an recent trip to Denver. This is a nonvenomous colubrid found throughout the Western US. 🐍

#snakes #snakesunday #reptiles

[Vanessa Smilansky 🐸🦠 @VSmilansky]

Tadpole Doctor was a hit at the @royalsociety Summer Science Exhibition! Many thanks to our #treefrog (Hyla arborea) ambassadors. To learn more about this #CitizenScience project, please check out https://t.co/6ujv3OIa3I. 🐸 🩺

#tadpoledoctor #conservation #SciComm #FrogFriday

[Vanessa Smilansky 🐸🦠 @VSmilansky]

@Hawkwatcher007 Nice! Different colour pattern.

[Vanessa Smilansky 🐸🦠 @VSmilansky]

The Tadpole Doctor: empowering communities to act on behalf of #biodiversity #conservation by protecting #amphibians from an emerging threat. 💪🐸

https://t.co/aOdsTtRki4 via @YouTube

[Vanessa Smilansky 🐸🦠 @VSmilansky]

#Bsal is wiping out salamanders in Europe. Without better screening, it will likely spread to the US, the centre of #salamander diversity. I proposed to develop rapid detection of Bsal using point-of-care COVID technology; sadly, I was denied funding. 🚫💰 https://t.co/1JuPwVn5AH

[Vanessa Smilansky 🐸🦠 @VSmilansky]

@guyleonard Funny coincidence, I’ve been getting eyelid twitches off and on for a few weeks. I think it’s eye strain from heavy screen time during self-imposed lockdown.

[Vanessa Smilansky 🐸🦠 @VSmilansky]

My view at the top of Mt Bachelor in Central Oregon: a dried up lake and smoke so thick I can’t see past the Sisters. #climatechange

[Vanessa Smilansky 🐸🦠 @VSmilansky]

@Nv_pyromelana I haven't had a chance to use the line. But at least once a week I think about this family court judge who 'doesn't care for children'.