Collaborative research advances what is known about influenza B

CVM labs combine forces to show that flu B is a complex foe

By University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine Amy H. Carter

January 30^th, 2026

Great works of art are often solo endeavors, but groundbreaking scientific discoveries are team efforts. Scientists build on the real-world discoveries of their predecessors and peers to advance our understanding of the world.

That is how the Center for Vaccines and Immunology in the University of Georgia’s College of Veterinary Medicine achieved recognition for a second peer-reviewed paper describing its research into the mechanics of influenza B infection.

The latest paper, featured in the Journal of Virology, offers a clearer picture of how Flu B viruses evolve and adapt in humans, which can help improve public health preparedness, surveillance, vaccine design, and the ability to predict future changes in the virus, according to co-author Caroline Page (PhD, ‘25).

Headshot of M.H.M. Mubassir

Smiling woman in a white lab coat with — Headshot of Caroline Page (PhD, ‘25)

The piece was designated an “Editor’s Pick” by noted flu researcher Colin R. Parrish, the John M. Olin Professor of Virology in the College of Veterinary Medicine at Cornell University. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and has been an editor at the Journal of Virology since 2019.

Parrish said via email that he chose to highlight the UGA study for its potential to inspire other researchers exploring the ways that viruses connect with their hosts.

“I thought this manuscript was particularly interesting in that it examined how cell-produced modifications of the viral protein influence key properties of the viral:host interaction - the binding to host cell receptors which can differ between different hosts,” Parrish said. “Since the details of the glycan structure are not encoded directly into the protein sequence, this can introduce variation into the properties of the virus depending on the host or the specific cell that it is being produced in.”

The study “highlighted this property in a particularly interesting way, which may induce other people to look out for this variation in the viruses and hosts they are studying,” Parrish said.

"Without these collaborations, we would not have been able to advance the field of influenza B receptor specificity as effectively."

Flu B at UGA

Page, now a post-doctoral researcher in the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, led research into the presumed disappearance of the Yamagata line of flu B after the Covid pandemic as part of her doctoral thesis with Mark Tompkins, director of the Center for Vaccines and Immunology.

The results of that study – predicting a possible end to flu B – were featured in the journal Science Advances in early 2025. Her latest study of the virus rebuilt adaptations of it collected over 50 years by an international lab and modeled the outcomes of further mutations using materials and techniques developed in the labs of CVM faculty Geert-Jan Boons, Daniel Perez and Justin Bahl.

Page’s co-author, MHM Mubassir – a doctoral student in Bahl’s bioinformatics lab – designed computer-based 3D models of the virus to demonstrate how tiny changes in the sugars on the virus surface affect which receptors it targets in host cells to cause infection.

“I think I enjoyed working on this project so much because of the multilayered collaboration involved,” Page said. “Without these collaborations, we would not have been able to advance the field of influenza B receptor specificity as effectively.”

Four rows of influenza B models show molecular dynamics simulations. Each row depicts the Victoria or Yamagata strain with either α2,3 or α2,6 sialoside. The models, labeled by simulation frame (1-1000), show N-Glycan, α2,3, and α2,6 sialosides. — 3-D models of the different binding behaviors of flu B Victoria and Yamagata. (MHM Mubassir/UGA CVM)

A riddle wrapped in an enigma

Flu B has circulated in humans for 80 years. It is hardest on children and the elderly, accounting for up to 25 percent of influenza-related infections and hospitalizations each year.

Prior to the Covid pandemic, two strains of flu B – Victoria and Yamagata – circulated seasonally and were included in the annual flu vaccine, making a quadrivalent mix. After Yamagata went largely undetected over several flu seasons post-pandemic, it was removed from the vaccine mix.

Despite its impact, flu B was a rare visitor to research labs prior to Covid because it does not affect animals and does not cause pandemics. Proving that minute changes to the virus allow it to target different host receptors – including the same type that avian influenza hijacks to infect birds – doesn’t change those facts, “but this expanded binding may explain why certain flu B strains might cause different patterns of illness,” such as gastrointestinal versus respiratory, Page said.

Mubassir said there is a lot of hidden complexity in how different flu viruses behave and who they affect. “The idea that a single site on one viral protein, a small sugar added at just the right spot can change how the virus interacts with our airway receptors is fascinating to me,” he said. “It’s a very small change with potentially big consequences for which viruses do well and which ones fade out.”

Thanks to the CVI and its research partners, more is known about flu B than ever before, but there is more to learn, Tompkins said.

“What will Victoria do now since her cousin, Yamagata, is no longer in the picture? Will she continue her curious evolutionary trajectory or stabilize? And is Yamagata gone or will the absent cousin surprise us with a re-emergence?” he posited.

“That is the beauty of influenza viruses. Beyond the elegant viral dynamics and public and agricultural health importance, it really is a soap opera with (avian influenza) surprising us all in dairy cattle less than two years ago. Yamagata may appear in a cliff-hanger at the end of the next flu season.”