Ian Barr

This study reports neutralization titers from 355 human sera against 148 influenza strains, showing reduced neutralization of new H3N2 and H1N1 variants.

The paper analyzes the antigenic evolution of influenza B virus hemagglutinin over 8 decades, identifying epistatic networks that balance antigenic novelty with viral fitness.

The paper investigates the ecology of low pathogenicity H7 avian influenza virus in wild birds in southeast Australia before the emergence of high pathogenicity H7 in poultry, finding weak evidence of prior changes in prevalence and diversity but strong support for a rainfall pattern association with outbreak probability.

The study surveils migratory shorebirds and seabirds in Australia in 2024, finding no HPAI H5N1 but detecting diverse LPAI viruses, including mosaic H3N7 and H4N7 from Red-necked Stints and a Eurasian H1N7.

The paper examines pre-existing antibodies against avian H5 influenza A viruses in individuals born between 1928-1999, showing variations based on childhood exposure and birth year.

A sequencing-based neutralization assay across 78 H3N2 HA strains and 150 sera shows strain growth in 2023 tracks the fraction of sera with low titers, but not pooled-serum titers.

This paper develops an improved long amplicon method for nanopore-based RSV whole genome sequencing, achieving 85.9% success rate and comparable results to short amplicon methods.

The paper quantifies neutralizing antibody responses to influenza strains using sera collected in 2024-2025 to inform vaccine-strain selection for 2025.

The paper reports the continued absence of HPAI H5N1 lineage 2.3.4.4b and antibodies against it in migratory birds in Australia during October-December 2023.

The paper compares two avian influenza virus incursions in Australia, showing contrasting evolutionary dynamics between H4 and H10 viruses.

The paper develops a simplified amplicon-based method for whole genome sequencing of RSV viruses, achieving high success rates and coverage with reduced cost and time.