R. C. Edgar

Viroid-like colonists of human microbiomes

The paper identifies a new class of viroid-like elements, Obelisks, prevalent in human microbiomes and capable of persistent colonization.

On-target, dual aminopeptidase inhibition provides cross-species antimalarial activity.

This paper identifies MMV1557817 as a dual aminopeptidase inhibitor effective against multiple Plasmodium species and highlights its potential as a multi-target antimalarial drug.

Extant hybrids of RNA viruses and viroid-like elements

The paper identifies ambiviruses as viroid-like elements with rolling circle replication and their own viral RdRP, suggesting a hybrid evolutionary origin between RNA viruses and sub-viral elements.

Known phyla dominate the RNA virome in Tara Oceans data, not new phyla as claimed

The paper challenges claims of discovering new RNA virus phyla in Tara Oceans data, showing most sequences belong to known phyla and questioning the validity of the new phyla claims.

Capturing and Recreating Diverse Antibody Repertoires as Multivalent Recombinant Polyclonal Antibody Drugs

This paper demonstrates a technology to capture and recreate diverse antibody repertoires as multivalent recombinant drugs, showing applications against SARS-CoV-2, Zika virus, and graft-versus-host disease.

Taxonomy annotation and guide tree errors in 16S rRNA databases

The paper evaluates taxonomy annotation errors in 16S rRNA databases, finding ~15% error rates in SILVA and Greengenes and ~10% in RDP.