What we know and what we need to know about Antarctic marine viruses

Ocean-Land-Atmosphere Research (OLAR)

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Viruses are abundant and diverse across Antarctic sea ice, surface waters, and deep ocean habitats, with many unique polar populations. They employ both lytic and lysogenic strategies, with community composition and infection modes shifting markedly during phytoplankton blooms. Antarctic marine viruses play critical roles in nutrient cycling and carry adaptive auxiliary metabolic genes (AMGs) that enhance host survival under extreme polar conditions.

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Credit: Chuan Zhai, Fraser Kennedy & OLAR

Though our understanding of Antarctic marine viruses has come a long way thanks to recent scientific advances, there is still much to be learned to form a complete picture, especially in light of continued climate change

The Antarctic is a harsh and unforgiving climate for many, though there is no shortage of important biological activity happening in the frigid temperatures. Antarctic marine viruses, while proven to be important players in the ecosystem, are not completely understood. Here, researchers aim to fill in the gap between what is known and what is unknown, with a primary focus on RNA viruses, the influence of climate change and what the implications might mean for the rest of the world.

 

Results were published in Ocean-Land-Atmosphere Research in July 2025.

 

The synthesis of recent information regarding Antarctic marine viruses has led researchers to determine where more focus needs to be placed to bolster our knowledge on the ecological importance of these viruses.

 

“Antarctic marine viruses are central players in polar ecosystems, driving microbial mortality, nutrient regeneration, and biogeochemical cycling. Yet, our understanding is still incomplete—especially regarding RNA viruses and their role during phytoplankton blooms,” said Chuan Zhai, researcher and first author of the study.

 

RNA viruses have been pinpointed to be important contributors to the community of Antarctic oceans, despite there being little available knowledge on them compared to other viruses, such as those in the Caudovirales family. Some RNA viruses appear to align with the seasonal peaks of phytoplankton blooms, suggesting these types of viruses could be crucial to maintaining the food web in Antarctic oceans, as well as contributing to the overall global carbon cycle.

 

The viruses are also key players in nutrient regeneration. When a virus infects a host, there comes a time when the host cell will rupture (or lyse) and its contents, like newly formed viruses and cellular components, are released into the environment in a process called viral lysis. This process introduces nutrients like carbon and iron into the water, which helps to maintain the ever-important microbial population, setting the stage for the rest of the food web. Viruses might also enhance their host’s survival in the harsh and extreme conditions of the Antarctic thanks to auxiliary metabolic genes (AMGs).

 

Though this information is integral to the base knowledge of Antarctic marine viruses, more information is always preferred. Work towards determining the diversity and abundance of viruses in the Southern Ocean could open many more avenues to work towards a more holistic view of the ocean and its viral inhabitants. Researchers believe viral tagging (employing the use of fluorescence to label viruses) and single-cell RNA sequencing can help identify the viral hosts. Another aspect of utmost importance is studying the marginal ice zone (MIZ), an area with steep gradients in the chemical composition of the water and high productivity that shifts seasonally.

 

“The next step is to expand research on RNA viruses and virus–host interactions in underexplored regions of the Southern Ocean, using approaches such as large-scale metatranscriptomics and single-cell sequencing,” said Dr. Fraser Kennedy, researcher and corresponding author of the study.

 

Additionally, researchers hope to use the expanded research and predictive climate modeling to gain insight into the effects climate change might have on Antarctic marine viruses and how it can impact the global carbon cycle. It is already suggested that temperature shifts and the extent of sea ice will impact the dynamics of host-virus interactions and influence the balance of viruses in the Southern Ocean, and filling in these blind spots of knowledge will most likely prove to be an essential piece of the puzzle for addressing the likely change in Antarctic marine ecosystems as the climate continues to warm.

 

Chuan Zhai, Fraser Kennedy and Andrew McMinn of the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies at the University of Tasmania and The Australian Centre for Excellence in Antarctic Science at the University of Tasmania, Yantao Liang, Min Wang and Andrew McMinn of the College of Marine Life Sciences at the Institute of Evolution and Marine Biodiversity, Frontiers Science Center for Deep Ocean Multispheres and Earth System and Key Lab of Polar Oceanography and Global Ocean Change at the Ocean University of China, with Yantao Liang and Min Wang of the UMT-OUC Joint Centre for Marine Studies and Min Wang also of the Haide College at the Ocean University of China and The Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University contributed to this research.

 

The Australian Research Council Special Research Initiative and the Australian Centre for Excellence in Antarctic Science made this research possible.

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Journal

Ocean-Land-Atmosphere Research

DOI

10.34133/olar.0101 

Method of Research

Literature review

Article Title

Antarctic Marine Viruses: A Review and Future Perspectives

Ex-smokers who relapse may simply be tired of the effort of not smoking

STUDIES IN IRONY

Society for the Study of Addiction

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XLinkedInWeChatBlueskyMessageWhatsAppEmaiThe most reliable predictor of an ex-smoker’s relapse isn’t strong urges to smoke or low confidence in the ability to stay off tobacco – it’s weariness with the efforts to remain a non-smoker, according to a new study published today in Addiction.  Ex-smokers appear to return to smoking most often because they’re exhausted from the constant vigilance needed to remain a non-smoker. 

This effect is called psychological cessation fatigue, and its influence on ex-smokers is not affected by how long you’ve been an ex-smoker or whether you vape to reduce cravings.  Even after years of not smoking, after withdrawal symptoms and conditioned responses are no longer strong, and even with regular hits of nicotine from vaping, the cumulative mental and emotional cost of sustaining not smoking can become so high that it overwhelms your coping skills and motivation to stay quit.

This study followed almost 2,000 adult ex-smokers in Australia, Canada, England, and the United States.  Most participants had quit smoking years before the study began.  At the start of the study, each participant expressed 1) how tired he or she was with trying to stay quit, 2) how strong the urge to smoke was in the past 24 hours, and 3) how confident he or she was in remaining an ex-smoker. 

Two years later, 9.2% of the ex-smokers had begun smoking again.  The odds of relapse among ex-smokers with high fatigue were 1.64 times higher than those with low fatigue.  In other words, the ex-smokers who were most tired of trying to sustain not smoking had a 64% higher likelihood of relapse than ex-smokers who expressed no cessation fatigue.

High urge to smoke and low confidence with remaining an ex-smoker also predicted smoking relapse, but the predictive strength of cessation fatigue was both stronger and at least partly independent of these other two measures.

Lead author Dr Hua Yong, of Deakin University in Australia, says “Smoking is notoriously hard to quit.  About 95% of unassisted attempts to quit ultimately end in relapse, and even when evidence-based treatments like nicotine patches are used, relapse rates are still high.  Our research suggests that ‘tiredness with efforts to remain not smoking’ can be a useful screening tool to catch ex-smokers who are at higher risk of relapse and give them support when they need it.  We could incorporate assessment of cessation fatigue in routine health checks and be ready to provide relapse prevention interventions where needed. Ex-smokers might also be advised to seek more help when they begin to experience fatigue.” 

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For editors:

This Open Access paper is available on the Wiley Online Library after the embargo has lifted (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/add.70196) or you may request an early copy from Jean O’Reilly, Editorial Manager, Addiction, jean@addictionjournal.org.

To speak with lead author Dr Hua Yong, please contact him at Deakin University, Victoria, Australia, by telephone (+61-3-9244-6909) or e-mail (hua.yong@deakin.edu.au).

Full citation for article: Yong H-H, Borland R, Le Grande M, Hu CC-Y, Gartner C, Hyland A, and Cummings KM. Understanding the Role of Cessation Fatigue in Smoking Relapse: Findings from the International Tobacco Control Four Country Smoking and Vaping Survey.  Addiction. 2025. DOI: 10.1111/add.70196.

Primary funding:  The ITC Four Country Smoking and Vaping Survey was supported by grants from the US National Cancer Institute (P01 CA200512), the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (FDN-148477), and the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia (GTN1106451; GTN1198301).

Declaration of interests: K. Michael Cummings has in the past and continues to serve as a paid witness in litigation filed against cigarette manufacturers. None of the other authors has any conflict of interest to declare.

Addiction is a monthly international scientific journal publishing peer-reviewed research reports on alcohol, substances, tobacco, gambling, editorials, and other debate pieces. Owned by the Society for the Study of Addiction, it has been in continuous publication since 1884.

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Journal

Addiction

DOI

10.1111/add.70196 

Method of Research

Observational study

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Understanding the Role of Cessation Fatigue in Smoking Relapse: Findings from the International Tobacco Control Four Country Smoking and Vaping Survey.

Article Publication Date

16-Oct-2025

Sniffer dogs tested in real-world scenarios reveal need for wider access to explosives, study finds

Access to range of explosives to train with would boost performance of detection dogs, suggests first validating study

Frontiers

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Dogs aren’t just our best friends, they’re also key allies in the fight against terrorism. Thousands of teams of explosive detection dogs and their handlers work 24/7 at airports, transit systems, cargo facilities, and public events around the globe to keep us safe. But canine detection is an art as well as a science: success depends not only on the skill of both dog and human, but also on their bond, and may vary with their physiological state and environmental conditions. Practices are often passed down informally between handlers, which can further hamper the consistency of performance across teams.

To remedy this, the American Academy of Forensic Science Academy Standard Board (ASB) published a new US standard in 2021. Titled ‘Standard 092 for training and certification of canine detection of explosives’, this standard has been added to the OSAC Registry in 2022.

But does it deliver on its promise? That’s what a team of researchers from the US set to found out. They published their findings in Frontiers in Veterinary Science.

“Here we show that the performance of canine teams in the new official assessment is indeed informative, in that it may predict their performance in real-world scenarios,” said Dr Lauryn E DeGreeff, an associate professor at the Global Forensic and Justice Center of Florida International University.

“However, we also show that passing the assessments is still challenging, and we have recommendations for improving training to make it easier to meet the benchmark.”

Working like a dog

Between July 2024 and May 2025, DeGreeff et al. put 56 canine/handler teams through their paces at an undisclosed office building, university, and prison in the southwestern, southeastern, and western US. The dogs were females and males between two and 10 years old from eight different breeds, including German shepherds, Malinois, Labradors, and German shorthair pointers. Each dog/handler team was tested over two days in up to 19 trials, including official ‘standard 092’ assessments and real-world scenarios. Six types of explosives were tested, either separately or in combination. 

An example of the first challenge was to detect a 115g of explosive inside an odor-permeable jar inside a room, with identical jars containing air (a ‘blank’) and steak seasoning, hair conditioner, and coffee grounds (‘distractors’). One real-world scenario was the search of a vehicle, where 115g of another explosive and 61 cm of fuse wrapped in plastic had to be found amidst empty wraps and wrapped Play-Doh.

Performance in the ‘standard 092’ assessments and real-world scenarios was correlated: teams who did well on the first tended to do well on the second, and vice versa. This, the first step in successfully validating the new standard, shows that these assessments measure meaningful aspects of performance, which can be extrapolated to the wider world.

However, the trials proved very challenging for the teams, and none currently met the official OSAC requirement of successfully detecting 90% of the explosives with a false alert rate below 10%. Performance depended on region, day of the trials, and the kind of explosive tested, and was highly variable across teams. The eight best-performing teams achieved a detection rate of 79% to 86%, with a false alert rate of 7% to 14%.

One assessment that proved particularly hard were parcel searches, where teams had to locate two explosives hidden in a line-up of 10 boxes, as per the standard 092 assessments. The dogs also found it more difficult when boxes had been taped closed than when they were only folded shut. They showed the highest rate of false alerts when sharpies and anti-static bags were used as distractors.

Old dogs learning new tricks

“We found that limited access to explosive training materials and training opportunities were the primary challenges for the teams and largely explained the geographic variation seen in the data,” said Dr Paola A Prada-Tiedemann, the second corresponding author and an associate professor at Texas Tech University.

Many handlers expressed their enthusiasm about participating as it let them work with explosive materials and search scenarios to which they did not regularly have access.

“The trial helped Gimmy and I understand more about us and provide a good training/trial to see where we are as a team,” said Geoff, the handler of English Labrador Gimmy.

Toni, the handler of German shepherd Odin, added: “It's always a valuable experience for both me and my dog to train in new locations, encounter new odors, and work in different contexts. I also appreciate the opportunity to support the scientific community in advancing research that benefits the K9 community.”

And as for the good girls and boys themselves: as the rightful stars of the study, they received a well-deserved special treat: for example, a fun tennis ball with rope for Gimmy, and an red Kong toy for Odin.

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Journal

Frontiers in Veterinary Science

DOI

10.3389/fvets.2025.1668317 

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

Animals

Article Title

Explosive Detection Canines in the Field: A Multi-Site Black Box Validation Study

Article Publication Date

16-Oct-2025

 

The European project to reduce the number of animals used in experimentation, VICT3R, adds new partners and increases its budget to €30 million

The public-private initiative coordinated by Pompeu Fabra University and the pharmaceutical company Bayern AG incorporates new partner organisations and reaches a budget of €30 million.

Universitat Pompeu Fabra - Barcelona

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Project partners at one of the consortium meetings. 

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Credit: Synapse

The VICT3R project is expanding its consortium by adding new beneficiaries and organisations to the network of contract research organisations (CROs) associated with the project. This expansion increases the project budget to €30 million and reinforces VICT3R's mission to transform the way safety is assessed in drug and chemical development, reducing reliance on laboratory animals.

New beneficiaries include leading industrial partners such as Servier Group and Zoetis Belgium SA. Servier is an independent international pharmaceutical group governed by a foundation, committed to therapeutic innovation, while Zoetis is the world's leading animal health company.

In addition, the project welcomes CAATevents gGmbH, an SME established in Germany as a non-profit organisation to support CAAT-US and CAAT-Europe, which focus on the development and validation of alternatives to animal testing.

These additions bring the total number of organisations associated with the VICT3R consortium to 37 in 12 countries, including six academic institutions, eight SMEs and 23 industrial partners from the human, veterinary and agricultural sciences sectors. With this expansion, the total project budget has increased to €30 million.

Other organisations have formally joined the VICT3R community by signing associated CRO agreements: Charles River Laboratories International Inc., a leading global provider of solutions for drug discovery, development and manufacturing;  Scantox A/S, a contract preclinical research organisation supporting pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device companies in drug development; and Labcorp, a global leader in innovative and comprehensive laboratory services. 

These organisations contribute valuable data from studies and decades of experience to support the development of virtual control groups (VCGs), a cornerstone of the VICT3R project.

Ferran Sanz (Pompeu Fabra University, Spain) VICT3R Project Coordinator: “Given its potential for reducing the number of animals used in toxicology testing, the VICT3R project is generating great interest from industry stakeholders across different sectors, as reflected in the high number of companies involved in the project.”  

Thomas Steger-Hartmann (Bayer, Germany), VICT3R Project Lead: “With the addition of the new partners, VICT3R will increase its outreach and momentum. The CROs and laboratory will contribute to the speed of uptake of VCGs in pre-clinical testing.”

Frank Bringezu (Merck Healthcare KGaA, Germany), VICT3R Co Lead: “With these new partners, the project substantially increases its impact and positions the VICT3R consortium at the forefront of transformative advancements in animal reduction, replacement and refinement.”

 

About VICT3R

VICT3R (Developing and Implementing Virtual Control Groups to Reduce Animal Use in Toxicology Research) is a public-private partnership funded by the Innovative Health Initiative (IHI JU). The 3.5-year project, led by Pompeu Fabra University (Barcelona, Spain) and Bayer AG (Berlin, Germany), launched in September 2024, aims to reduce the use of animals in safety testing by replacing traditional control groups of live animals with Virtual Control Groups (VCGs) − statistically robust alternatives generated from historical study data, advanced statistics, and artificial intelligence.

In non-clinical safety studies, animals are often used as untreated controls for comparison purposes, with experiments typically including three treatment groups and one control group. VICT3R’s goal is to replace these control animals with virtual equivalents, thereby reducing the overall number of animals required − by up to 25% in some cases − while maintaining scientific rigor and regulatory acceptance.

By building a shared database of high-quality historical control data and working in close collaboration with regulators, contract research organisations, and industry, VICT3R is laying the foundation for a more ethical, efficient, and sustainable approach to toxicology.

Inari Soininen (SYNAPSE Research Management Partners S.L., Spain), VICT3R Project Manager: “The VCG concept is more than a technological advance – it represents a shift toward a more ethical and sustainable approach to safety testing, benefiting both the research community and society at large.”

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Method of Research

Meta-analysis