Pandemic News and Research

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A pandemic is a global disease outbreak. During a pandemic, transmission can be anticipated in the workplace, not only from patient to workers in health care settings, but also among co-workers in general work settings. A pandemic would cause high levels of illness, death, social disruption, and economic loss. Everyday life would be disrupted because so many people in so many places become seriously ill at the same time. Impacts could range from school and business closings to the interruption of basic services such as public transportation and food delivery.

Trinity Scientists Discover New Mechanisms Involved in Establishing Cellular Identity

A team of scientists led by those in Trinity College Dublin has discovered new mechanisms involved in establishing cellular identity, a process that ensures the billions of different cells in our bodies do the correct job.

10 Apr 2023

Researchers Identify Antibody that may Block Infection by All Dominant SARS-CoV-2 Variants

A team led by researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine, the University of Wisconsin-Madison; Scripps Research and the University of Chicago has identified an antibody that appears to block infection by all dominant variants of the virus that causes COVID-19, including Omicron, the most recent.

10 Apr 2023

Research Reveals Why Viruses can Reinfect a Population of Previously Immune Hosts

The human body is capable of creating a vast, diverse repertoire of antibodies-;the Y-shaped sniffer dogs of the immune system that can find and flag foreign invaders.

7 Apr 2023

Using Purified Curcumin to Create Probiotic Yogurt that Contains No Artificial Preservatives

Researchers have succeeded for the first time in adding a highly purified form of curcumin to yogurt in a way that ensures it remains dissolved in the dairy product and preserves it, while tasting good.

4 Apr 2023

Study brings into sharper focus the structural details of SARS-COV-2 virus

A new study led by Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) brings into sharper focus the structural details of the COVID-19 virus, revealing an elliptical shape that "breathes," or changes shape, as it moves in the body.

31 Mar 2023

New inhibitor molecule disrupts the infection mechanism of SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus

A team of scientists led by the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory designed a molecule that disrupts the infection mechanism of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus and could be used to develop new treatments for COVID-19 and other viral diseases.

29 Mar 2023

Human cells shed light on basic squid biology

Squids and octopuses are masters of camouflage, blending into their environment to evade predators or surprise prey.

28 Mar 2023

New insights into how different countries' research establishments respond to disease outbreaks

In a new study, researchers examined how a country's number of published 3D protein structures for coronaviruses, including the one responsible for COVID-19, correlated with its economic output and population.

27 Mar 2023

No more needles? Future vaccines could be delivered by a puff of air

In the future, vaccines may be delivered with a puff of air rather than a needle, according to the promising results of new research presented at a meeting of the American Chemistry Society this March.

27 Mar 2023

Study describes why COVID-19 subvariants accelerated the pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has killed nearly 7 million people worldwide (1.1 million in the United States) and severely harmed many millions more, though vaccines and antiviral treatments measurably reduced the potential loss of life and health.

23 Mar 2023

Blunted inflammatory response in obese individuals responsible for susceptibility to severe COVID-19

Individuals who are obese may be more susceptible to severe COVID-19 because of a poorer inflammatory immune response, say Cambridge scientists.

23 Mar 2023

How can the adoption of AI technology accelerate drug discovery?

In this interview, we speak to SLAS 2023 keynote speaker Joshua Smith from IBM Research about the importance of AI in accelerating drug discovery.

From Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening (SLAS) 22 Mar 2023

LabWare - Pittcon press conference 10a Rm 201B

LabWare® announces today at Pittcon 2023, the premier annual conference on laboratory science, that it is making data science and machine learning foundational to its software.

From LabWare, Inc. 22 Mar 2023

Blunted inflammatory response could make obese patients more susceptible to severe COVID-19

Individuals who are obese may be more susceptible to severe COVID-19 because of a poorer inflammatory immune response, say Cambridge scientists.

21 Mar 2023

Emergence and spread of a deadly fungus among African amphibians

For the past few years, how a virus triggered a global pandemic has dominated conversations. Now, thanks to the TV show "The Last of Us" (about an apocalypse triggered by brain-eating 'shrooms), fungi have infected popular culture.

16 Mar 2023

Study reveals: Coronaviruses that cause common colds boost immune response to COVID-19

During the pandemic, it became clear that children who contracted COVID-19 became less ill than adults. One hypothesis has been that common colds would give children immunity protecting against a severe form of the disease. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet are now able to show that OC43, one of the coronaviruses that cause common colds, boosts the immune response to COVID-19. The study, which is published in PNAS, could give rise to more tailored vaccine programmes for children and adults.

16 Mar 2023

Study evaluates the risk posed by the fungus Bd to amphibians across the continent of Africa

Mass fungus infections that drive populations worldwide to near-collapse don't just occur in science fiction. Chytridiomycosis, the worst vertebrate disease in recorded history, has already wiped out hundreds of species of amphibians around the world. Due to a large part to this fungal disease, 41% of amphibians are currently threatened with extinction. Only species living in Africa seemed to have been relatively spared from the scourge of chytridiomycosis – at least so far.

15 Mar 2023

Rice biologists embark on a three-year project to create genetically encoded antibiotics

Synthetic biologists at Rice University are embarking on a three-year project to create "genetically encoded antibiotics," strands of RNA that bacteria will readily copy and share that will selectively kill only disease-causing, pathogenic bacteria.

14 Mar 2023

New framework to identify possible viral hazards to human health

The majority of what scientists know about viruses in animals comes from the list of nucleotides that constitute their genomic sequence, which, although useful, provides relatively few signals about a virus’ propensity to infect people.