News & Comment

The SARS-CoV-2 Africa dashboard is an interactive tool that enables visualization of SARS-CoV-2 genomic information in African countries. The customizable app allows users to visualize the number of sequences deposited in each country, and the variants circulating over time. Our dashboard enables near real-time exploration of public data that can inform policymakers, healthcare professionals and the public about the ongoing pandemic.

Reports of diphtheria cases in asylum seekers in the UK remind us that understanding and mitigating the risks posed by infectious diseases to disadvantaged peoples remain important.

We present a series of commissioned articles authored by people from groups that are under-represented in research, to highlight past and present scientific contributions in microbiology and to increase the diversity of Nature Microbiology authors.

Ariangela Kozik is a research investigator at the University of Michigan where she studies the role of the respiratory microbiome, and host–microbiome interactions, in asthma pathogenesis and treatment response. Ariangela is also the vice president and a co-founder of the Black Microbiologists Association.

Methods for monitoring wastewater for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and emerging variants have risen to prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic. Routine monitoring of wastewater should be deployed around the world to mitigate the spread of pathogens, both old and new.

Increasing awareness and better technology bodes for a more positive future for scientists who are deaf or hard of hearing, explains John Dennehy.

Being a postdoctoral researcher opens many doors, but it can also bring feelings of loneliness and uncertainty, which are exacerbated during a pandemic. Making career choices that support and strengthen mental health should be normalized, writes Ann Gregory.

Crewed missions to other planets are currently being planned, and fully automated, robotic missions are likely to return samples from other planets to Earth, so it will be important to carefully evaluate and minimize any associated microbiological risks.

Focused research efforts provide important advances in science, but huge global problems will only be solved through interdisciplinary collaborations, argues David Ng.

Here the implications of gender inequity in the face of infectious disease outbreaks such as Ebola and SARS-CoV-2 in Africa are discussed, with a proposal as to how we can address the unequal burden of outbreaks on women.

Elizabeth Anne Bukusi is a research professor in obstetrics and gynaecology and global health at the University of Washington and a senior principal clinical research scientist at the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI). Her research focuses on sexually transmitted infections, reproductive health and HIV prevention, care and treatment.

Despite evidence of sex-specific pathogenesis, few studies of infectious diseases report or analyse sex or gender, unless it is the primary focus. Using HIV as an example, it is argued here that this leaves potentially informative data unexplored and that integrating sex and gender in analyses may accelerate research in microbial pathogenesis.

Many women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) need to make decisions about marital name change, and have to consider how this might affect their publication record and future career. Mentorship that considers race, ethnicity, culture, religion and parenting, as well as a centralized system to dynamically and retroactively streamline name change, will promote agency and choice for women navigating STEM careers, writes Bala Chaudhary.

Francine Ntoumi is a Congolese parasitologist, founder, chair and executive director of the Congolese Foundation for Medical Research, Republic of Congo, and research group leader at the University of Tübingen, Germany. She established the first research centre on infectious diseases in the Republic of Congo.

We present a specially commissioned set of articles to mark UN International Women’s Day that highlight gender inequalities that impact women in academia, clinical research and healthcare, and celebrate the achievements of female microbiologists.