Diphtheria is a disease caused by a bacterium, Corynebacterium diphtheriae, that usually affects the tonsils, throat, nose and/or skin. It is passed from person to person by droplet transmission, usually by breathing in diphtheria bacteria after an infected person has coughed or sneezed. Although diphtheria disease is rare in the U.S., it appears that C diphtheriae continues to circulate in areas of the country with previously endemic diphtheria. Diphtheria also occurs in many other parts of the world.
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.
Diphthamide is a biomolecule required for the correct synthesis of proteins in cells.
Oxygen and sugar are the basis of life for animals, plants, fungi and many bacteria. The metabolic process called respiration makes it possible to convert food into energy for the cells.
A common strategy to make vaccines more powerful is to deliver them along with an adjuvant -; a compound that stimulates the immune system to produce a stronger response.
Researchers have been wondering for several decades how molecules like proteins travel through cell walls, also called plasma membranes, without any trace.
The cell membrane is impermeable to viruses: to get inside and infect a cell, they use a range of strategies to exploit the cellular and biochemical properties of the membranes.
Designing a vaccine starts with finding the right ingredients. Every infectious agent has molecules, called antigens, that the immune system could potentially recognize and attack. So scientists must carefully consider which antigens should go into a vaccine.
Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine evaluated several human antibodies to determine the most potent combination to be mixed in a cocktail and used as a promising anti-viral therapy against the virus that causes COVID-19.
A group of researchers has developed a new way to deliver molecules that target specific genes within cells.