user avatar
Michael Lin, MD PhD 🧬
@michaelzlin
Professor of Neurobiology & Bioengineering @Stanford ☘️🧪🦠🧠🌈🔬📖🇺🇲🌏Neurons, viruses, medicines. Invented predecessor of nirmatrelvir. Also @MichaelLinLab
Harvard→UCLA→HMS→UCSD→Stanford
Joined July 2015
Posts
  • Pinned
    user avatar
    Click the thread below to get to my SARS-CoV-2 mega-metathread. That thread previously had its own intro tweet, but I deleted it by mistake. This being Twitter, there are no free undos. So instead this tweet will parachute you into it.
    Replying to @michaelzlin
    First, a link to the COVID-19 metathread of 2020-2021 x.com/michaelzlin/st…
  • user avatar
    Our NIH grant to discover coronavirus antiviral meds was terminated today. With this grant, we had developed a better SARSCoV2 inhibitor than Paxlovid, and we recently discovered an improved drug that looks better than Pfizer's own second-generation inhibitor.
  • user avatar
    We used to be told that healthy people getting flu shots helped older vulnerable people by reducing viral circulation (i.e. herdish immunity). The same logic would apply to COVID, especially for those taking care of older family members.
    BREAKING: U.S. regulators say annual COVID-19 shots for healthy younger adults and children will no longer be routinely approved. Companies that want to market their vaccines to those Americans will need to conduct large, new studies. apnews.com/article/vaccin…
  • user avatar
    What I don't get is, why did taxpayers spend all this money training people to understand both medicine and molecular biology (e.g. MD-PhDs), when the only people government will listen to in a new viral epidemic are company CEOs who are neither MDs nor PhDs?
  • user avatar
    Finally, what we've been waiting for: age-controlled data on Omicron severity, courtesy SA health ministry. Across all ages, deaths among hospitalized pts are 2/3 lower in Omicron wave. If more mild cases are admitted, this # goes down, but doesn't seem likely that's the reason
  • user avatar
    Flew in from Asia today to learn the exciting news that Novavax's JN.1 booster has been approved! So happy that the delay relative to RNA vaccines is less than a week. People will finally have a choice of RNA vs protein vaccines this fall. What are the differences?
    Novavax has received Emergency Use Authorization from the U.S. #FDA for its updated COVID-19 vaccine in individuals aged 12 and older. Pre-filled syringes are expected to be available in thousands of locations across the U.S. in the coming days. Read the press release:
    00:00
  • user avatar
    FDA has granted regular approval to the Novavax vaccine. What does this mean? A lot of things, all good. 1- It proves Novavax has met efficacy and safety criteria to merit approval outside of the emergency use situation.
  • user avatar
    Sad but true: "Right now the single most effective intervention is to wear a mask. That's unfortunate, because two years in, we should have been past this point.”
  • user avatar
    About monkeypox: you can finally put all that hand sanitizer to good use
  • user avatar
    For a new year tried out a new mask, the 3M Aura N95 mask. Wow what a night and day difference. Didn't realize a mask could be this comfortable. Most amazing thing: speech comes through clearly. My colleague @AbraarKaran is correct: CDC should be pushing better masks like these
  • user avatar
    Would you prefer (1) we get back to normal activities sometime, or (2) we make new vaccine-evading coronaviruses continuously, suffer widespread breakthrough waves, and wear masks forever? If you chose #1, then know this: Merck's molnupiravir should not be approved.
  • user avatar
    Last week Pfizer completed submitting data to FDA on their vax for <5-year-olds, >1mo after Moderna. The more I chew on the whole <5yo vax issue, the worse it tastes. In fact it seems like moving the goalposts to favor one company in the most egregious way. A short thread.
  • user avatar
    24h after my Novavax COVID shot (and flu shot), and very happy. Much milder side effects than my 5 earlier COVID vaccines. It's just my experience of course, but I'm hopeful we may finally have a sustainable and acceptable format for annual vaccinations. A short 🧵
  • user avatar
    Japanese can get a COVID19 treatment, ensitrelvir, that appears to hasten recovery and reduce risk of long COVID, something not yet seen with Paxlovid. Doesn't give you metal mouth either But we can't get it here because FDA is slow-walking its approval