Virus News and Research

Latest Virus News and Research

Hard lessons from a city that tried to privatize public health

If you were growing up in Detroit in the 1970s or '80s, chances are you knew the city's Herman Kiefer public health complex by both sight and reputation.

6 Aug 2021

Clarity on covid count: Pandemic’s toll on seniors extended well beyond nursing homes

As covid-19 resurges across the country, driven by the highly infectious delta variant, experts are extending our understanding of the pandemic's toll on older adults — the age group hit hardest by the pandemic.

6 Aug 2021

Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine offers decreased protection six months after second dose, suggests Israeli study

A recent study published on the preprint server medRxiv* determines whether the time elapsed since the second dose of the BNT162b2 vaccine is associated with an increased risk of breakthrough SARS-CoV-2 infection.

6 Aug 2021

SARS-CoV-2 Beta variant associated with more critical and fatal disease than Alpha, suggests Qatar study

A new study traces the degree to which the Beta variant of this virus is associated with severe, critical or fatal disease, using a case-control model.

6 Aug 2021

Study reports on COVID-19 vaccine-related adverse events in young Japanese population

A new study from Japan, released as a medRxiv* preprint, describes the adverse effects associated with the vaccine. Such data is crucial in delineating the safety and efficacy of this intervention in various age groups.

6 Aug 2021

Affinity maturation of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies make them more powerful and resistant to escape mutations

A new study in the journal Immunity shows in fascinating detail how antibodies elicited by this virus show affinity maturation, a process occurring by somatic hypermutation (SHM) in the lymphoid germinal centers, to become more specific in their recognition of antigens.

6 Aug 2021

Double vaccinated three times less likely to test positive for COVID-19 than unvaccinated, says study

In new research, scientists at Imperial College London report that double vaccinated individuals could be three times less likely than unvaccinated people to test positive for SARS-CoV-2 infection.

6 Aug 2021

Researchers identify genetic markers linked to COVID-19 severity and susceptibility

In collaboration with Northwestern Medicine investigators, an international multi-center study has identified genetic factors associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 severity, according to findings published in Nature.

6 Aug 2021

Multivalent nanobodies show improved neutralization activity against SARS-CoV-2

A state-of-the-art engineering approach toward improving the neutralizing activity of a cross-reactive nanobody, previously generated against the original SARS virus, showed it can be an attractive and viable option against the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The study is published in the journal Advanced Therapeutics.

5 Aug 2021

New method for producing pseudotyped virus particles bearing spike protein of SARS-CoV-2

A new study discusses the development of an improved protocol based on cell lines that can consistently express S proteins.

5 Aug 2021

Activation of NLRP3 inflammasome by the N protein of SARS-CoV-2 to induce hyperinflammation

A new study has revealed the mechanism by which the SARS-CoV-2 N protein activates NLRP3 inflammasomes to induce hyperinflammation.

5 Aug 2021

Zoonotic disease surveillance must be integrated into health security intelligence systems, experts say

The surveillance of zoonotic diseases must be integrated into health security intelligence systems, if future pandemics are to be handled effectively, according to global health practitioners writing in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine.

5 Aug 2021

Vaccination may protect against SARS-CoV-2 infection at the eye surface

Researchers in Australia have conducted a study showing that vaccination against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) induces key antibodies at the eye surface that may help to protect against the transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).

5 Aug 2021

Scientists urge increased attention to persistent COVID-19 infections in immunocompromised people

In an article in the New England Journal of Medicine, scientists from Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Medicine, the U.S. Military HIV Research Program and the Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases at the University of North Carolina urged increased attention to persistent COVID-19 infections in immunocompromised people.

5 Aug 2021

Specific and sensitive biomarker in the blood predicts symptomatic COVID-19 infection

Researchers remain perplexed as to why some patients infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19, remain asymptomatic while other patients develop severe disease symptoms.

5 Aug 2021

Nine things parents should know about the Delta variant to keep children safe as schools reopen

Despite the rise in Delta variant cases, increased hospitalizations and reinstated mask mandates, many schools are set to reopen as early as next week.

5 Aug 2021

Using two different CRISPR enzymes to develop a faster and easier COVID-19 diagnostic test

Frequent, rapid testing for COVID-19 is critical to controlling the spread of outbreaks, especially as new, more transmissible variants emerge.

5 Aug 2021

Vaccinia-based COVID-19 vaccines confer immunity in hamster model

In a paper recently uploaded to the preprint server bioRxiv* by Kulkarni et al. (August 3, 2021), the potential of vaccinia virus-based vaccines expressing the full-length SARS-CoV-2 spike protein is examined in mice and Syrian hamsters. The findings report that the vaccine generates high titers of neutralizing antibodies with good activity towards SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern.

5 Aug 2021

New study examines B cell receptor repertoires in COVID-19 patients

In a paper recently uploaded to the preprint server bioRxiv* by Kim et al. (August 2, 2021), the B cell receptor repertoire of 1,060 COVID-19 patients is compared to that of an equal number of healthy volunteers in a novel manner, utilizing computational deep-learning-based protein embedding techniques, which demonstrate a resolution capable of tracking the changes in immunity in an individual over the course of infection.

5 Aug 2021

How does the mRNA/lipid nanoparticle platform promote protective adaptive immunity against SARS-CoV-2?

Modified mRNA combined with lipid nanoparticles may be beneficial in boosting adaptive immunity against SARS-CoV-2. Research led by Botond Z. Igyártó from Thomas Jefferson University’s Department of Microbiology and Immunology in Pennsylvania recently found that the lipid nanoparticles induce protective adaptive immune responses with antibody titers against lethal doses of the virus.

5 Aug 2021

Virus News and Research

Latest Virus News and Research

Hard lessons from a city that tried to privatize public health

Clarity on covid count: Pandemic’s toll on seniors extended well beyond nursing homes

Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine offers decreased protection six months after second dose, suggests Israeli study

SARS-CoV-2 Beta variant associated with more critical and fatal disease than Alpha, suggests Qatar study

Study reports on COVID-19 vaccine-related adverse events in young Japanese population

Affinity maturation of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies make them more powerful and resistant to escape mutations

Double vaccinated three times less likely to test positive for COVID-19 than unvaccinated, says study

Researchers identify genetic markers linked to COVID-19 severity and susceptibility

Multivalent nanobodies show improved neutralization activity against SARS-CoV-2

New method for producing pseudotyped virus particles bearing spike protein of SARS-CoV-2

Activation of NLRP3 inflammasome by the N protein of SARS-CoV-2 to induce hyperinflammation

Zoonotic disease surveillance must be integrated into health security intelligence systems, experts say

Vaccination may protect against SARS-CoV-2 infection at the eye surface

Scientists urge increased attention to persistent COVID-19 infections in immunocompromised people

Specific and sensitive biomarker in the blood predicts symptomatic COVID-19 infection

Nine things parents should know about the Delta variant to keep children safe as schools reopen

Using two different CRISPR enzymes to develop a faster and easier COVID-19 diagnostic test

Vaccinia-based COVID-19 vaccines confer immunity in hamster model

New study examines B cell receptor repertoires in COVID-19 patients

How does the mRNA/lipid nanoparticle platform promote protective adaptive immunity against SARS-CoV-2?

A new way of characterising biomolecules eBook

Innovating for impact: Jordi Labs on aligning methodologies with FDA expectation

Exploring the role of confocal-based high-content imaging in advancing core facilities

Transforming Cardiovascular Care: Insights from Mina Makar at AstraZeneca

Virus News and Research

Latest Virus News and Research

A new way of characterising biomolecules eBook

Innovating for impact: Jordi Labs on aligning methodologies with FDA expectation

Exploring the role of confocal-based high-content imaging in advancing core facilities

Transforming Cardiovascular Care: Insights from Mina Makar at AstraZeneca

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