SARS CoV 2 News and Research

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Researchers develop lab-grown lung model to study SARS-CoV-2 infection

A team of Duke University researchers has developed a lab-grown living lung model that mimics the tiny air sacs of the lungs where coronavirus infection and serious lung damage take place.

23 Oct 2020

New method can detect high levels of COVID-19 antibodies

A more efficient and much faster method to assess high levels of neutralizing antibodies to COVID-19 could point the way to better understanding and treatment of the disease, according to new published findings by scientists from the Hackensack Meridian Center for Discovery and Innovation (CDI) and the University of Michigan (U-M).

23 Oct 2020

Researchers use viral signatures to reveal transmission patterns of SARS-CoV-2

The coronavirus, responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic, has one official name--SARS-CoV-2. But according to virologists, mutations lead to hundreds of genetically-distinct versions of the virus.

23 Oct 2020

Vitamin C and COVID-19: A Review

In a recent review published in Preprints*, Patrick Holford et al. address vitamin C's role as adjunctive therapy for respiratory infection, sepsis, and COVID-19.

23 Oct 2020

Seropositivity to SARS-CoV-2 among asymptomatic blood donors in New York

New York was the hardest-hit U.S. state during the peak of the outbreak in the country. Now, a team of researchers from the New York Blood Center and Serimmune, an immune intelligence company, aimed to determine the prevalence of seropositive people for the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that causes COVID-19, among healthy blood donors.

23 Oct 2020

Biomimetic virus-like particles for safer positive controls in SARS-CoV-2 detection

In an attempt to overcome these issues, a team of researchers from various departments at the University of California San Diego recently proposed using biomimetic virus-like particles (VLPs) as positive controls for assays used in SARS-CoV-2 detection. Their study is published on the preprint server bioRxiv.

23 Oct 2020

Study raises new questions about viral load in asymptomatic children with COVID-19

New questions are at the forefront as a study published in the Journal of Clinical Microbiology from nine children's hospitals finds that most asymptomatic children who tested positive for COVID-19 had relatively low levels of the virus compared to symptomatic children.

22 Oct 2020

Nutritional status may impact susceptibility to COVID-19, study says

Now, a team of researchers at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and the University of Oxford wanted to provide a systematic review of the latest evidence on how malnutrition across all forms, including undernutrition, obesity, and micronutrient status, may influence the susceptibility and severity of COVID-19.

22 Oct 2020

Initial lockdown in France substantially curbed COVID-19, but many remain susceptible to the virus

Now, a new study by researchers at the Santé Publique France conducted seroprevalence estimates in France, one of the countries with high COVID-19 cases in Europe.

22 Oct 2020

DNA vaccine-induced antibodies neutralize SARS-CoV-2

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is far from over as the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) continues to ravage across the globe. With the vast spread of the virus, many countries who reported flattening the curve over the past months have reported clusters of new cases and second waves of the outbreak.

22 Oct 2020

$2 million NCI SeroNet grant aims to increase diversity in COVID-19 immunology research

A new, $2 million grant from the NCI Serological Sciences Network for COVID-19 (SeroNet) is aimed at enhancing representation of Black and Hispanic people in SARS-CoV-2 immunology research through the use of storytelling--an approach in which community members become "video stars" and provide honest messages about the importance of being represented in COVID-19 research studies.

22 Oct 2020

Recovered COVID-19 patients exhibit cognitive deficits

Researchers in the UK and the United States have reported concerning findings showing that patients who had recovered from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) exhibited significant cognitive deficits.

22 Oct 2020

'Mini-lungs' can provide important insights into how COVID-19 damages the lungs

'Mini-lungs' grown from tissue donated to Cambridge hospitals has provided a team of scientists from South Korea and the UK with important insights into how COVID-19 damages the lungs.

22 Oct 2020

COVID-19 patient's immune response may underlie the effects on the nervous system

It is probably the immune response to, rather than the virus in itself, that causes sudden confusion and other symptoms from the nervous system in some patients with COVID-19. This is shown by a study of cases involving six Swedish patients, now published in the journal Neurology.

22 Oct 2020

Study shows how genome sequencing can track mutations in SARS-CoV-2 virus

A study published in Cell Reports shows how next generation genetic sequencing can track mutations in the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which can in effect help with transmission tracing, diagnostic testing accuracy and vaccine effectiveness.

22 Oct 2020

Study may help develop effective therapeutic strategies against COVID-19

People have different susceptibilities to SARS-CoV-2, the virus behind the COVID-19 pandemic, and develop varying degrees of fever, fatigue, and breathing problems -- common symptoms of the illness. What might explain this variation?

22 Oct 2020

Researchers use molecular dynamics simulations to identify secrets of SARS-CoV-2 virus

The virus wreaking havoc on our lives is an efficient infection machine. Comprised of only 29 proteins (compared to our 400,000), with a genome 1/200,000 the size of ours, SARS-CoV-2 is expertly evolved to trick our cells to contribute its machinery to assist in its propagation.

22 Oct 2020

Studies examine impact of COVID-19 on neonatal intensive care units

Two studies examining the impact of COVID-19 on neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) found the prevalence of COVID-19 in NICU infants is low, yet many hospitals at the start of the pandemic put in place strict parental visitation policies and scaled back NICU services such as lactation support and therapy.

22 Oct 2020

Researchers assess molecular basis of SARS-CoV-2 severity and poor outcomes in lung disease

A recent study published on the preprint server bioRxiv in October 2020 shows that in patients with chronic lung disease, the pattern of gene expression in the different types of cell changes such that the lung epithelium is prepared to tackle SARS-CoV-2 infection. Also, the altered gene programs have an impact on the immune response.

22 Oct 2020

Non-pharmaceutical interventions can reduce spread of SARS-CoV-2 virus

Non-pharmaceutical interventions such as voluntary shelter-in-place, quarantines, and other steps taken to control the SARS-CoV-2 virus can reduce the peak number of infections, daily infection rates, cumulative infections, and overall deaths, a new study published in the journal PLOS ONE has found.

22 Oct 2020