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.

Low-dose administration of MERS DNA vaccine protects against COVID-19

The Wistar Institute has developed a synthetic DNA vaccine candidate for Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV).

26 Apr 2021

Cell membranes can boost the production of protein-based vaccines

Synthetic biologists have cracked open a cellular membrane, identifying a new method to boost the production yields of protein-based vaccines by five times.

26 Apr 2021

Natural molecule can effectively block the binding of human antibodies to SARS-CoV-2

Researchers have found that a natural molecule can effectively block the binding of a subset of human antibodies to SARS-CoV-2. The discovery may help explain why some COVID-19 patients can become severely ill despite having high levels of antibodies against the virus.

23 Apr 2021

National DNA Day 2021: An Interview with Professor George Church

In celebration of National DNA Day, AZoLifeSciences interviews renowned DNA expert Professor George Church about his life-long career in DNA research.

23 Apr 2021

Sampling environmental DNA and RNA could help determine the presence of pathogens

Conventional techniques lack the potential to easily sample wider geographical areas and huge numbers of individuals.

21 Apr 2021

Study finds raised levels of specific immune cells in asymptomatic people with COVID-19

The largest study of its type in the UK has identified differences in the immune response to COVID-19, between people with no symptoms, compared to those suffering a more serious reaction to the virus.

21 Apr 2021

Interferon-stimulating genes control SARS-CoV-2 replication

Researchers have found a set of human genes that combat infection due to SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for causing COVID-19.

20 Apr 2021

Antibodies may not inhibit SARS-CoV-2 variants from minks

It has been known for about a year that minks can become infected with SARS-CoV-2. The virus had been transmitted from humans to farmed mink and mutated in infected animals. Mutations were acquired in the spike protein, which is crucial for the entry of the virus into host cells and represents the central point of attack for antibodies.

20 Apr 2021

Supporting Minority Women Entrepreneurs in Agriculture

Amy Wu, an award-winning writer for the women’s agriculture movement, speaks to AZoLifeSciences about the need to support women in agriculture.

20 Apr 2021

Supercomputer simulations reveal the behavior of dominant G form SARS-CoV-2 strain

Large-scale supercomputer simulations at the atomic level show that the dominant G form variant of the COVID-19-causing virus is more infectious partly because of its greater ability to readily bind to its target host receptor in the body, compared to other variants.

19 Apr 2021

New simpler, faster system for analyzing mutations in SARS-CoV-2

Although it is known that mutations in the SARS-CoV-2 genome occurred and spread, the effect of those mutations is not yet clear.

14 Apr 2021

Logical next steps to implement a community vision for the future of biodiversity collections

Events such as the COVID-19 pandemic have highlighted the crucial role played by biodiversity collections in enabling rapid responses to crises and in facilitating ongoing research across numerous fields. Despite the recognized value of this infrastructure, the community nevertheless has further opportunities to maximize its value to the scientific enterprise.

8 Apr 2021

Low K777 concentrations inhibit cathepsin L and reduce SARS-CoV-2’s ability to infect host cell lines

For a long time, James McKerrow, MD, PhD, dean of the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at University of California San Diego, has investigated neglected tropical diseases, which are chronic, disabling parasitic infections mainly affecting the poor and underserved communities in developing nations.

5 Apr 2021

Key protein could block the most common cause of food poisoning

Scientists have identified a protein that could be crucial for inhibiting the most common human food poisoning, caused by bacteria, in the United States.

1 Apr 2021

B.1.1.7 variant of SARS-CoV-2 spreading quickly in the United States

The faster-spreading B.1.1.7 variant of SARS-CoV-2 first detected in the United Kingdom, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, is quickly on its way to becoming the dominant variant of the virus in the United States, according to a study from scientists at Scripps Research and the COVID-19 test maker Helix.

31 Mar 2021

Study shows how WAVE2 protein maintains the immune system balance

Sinai Health researchers have reported that they have uncovered a new mechanism that regulates harmful overreactions in the body’s immune system.

26 Mar 2021

Antibody used for COVID-19 therapy can no longer inhibit new SARS-CoV-2 variants

Cell culture studies show that mutated viruses are less susceptible to inhibition by antibodies from recovered or vaccinated individuals.

26 Mar 2021

New label-free immune profiling assay to assess rapidly changing host immune response

Researchers from Critical Analytics for Manufacturing Personalized-Medicine (CAMP), an Interdisciplinary Research Group (IRG) at the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART), MIT's research enterprise in Singapore, have developed a new label-free immune profiling assay that profiles the rapidly changing host immune response in case of infection, in a departure from existing methods that focus on detecting the pathogens themselves, which can often be at low levels within a host.

26 Mar 2021

Study shows SARS-CoV-2 antibodies wane at different rates

Researchers from Duke-NUS Medical School, the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID), and the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) Infectious Diseases Labs have discovered that antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 decline at different speeds, and these antibodies last for only a few days in some people but remain for many years in other individuals.

24 Mar 2021

Revealing clues about the immune system through ancient DNA

AZoLifeSciences speaks to Dr. Gaspard Kerner about tuberculosis, and how ancient DNA could help us to further understand the immune system.

12 Mar 2021

Pandemic News and Research

Low-dose administration of MERS DNA vaccine protects against COVID-19

Cell membranes can boost the production of protein-based vaccines

Natural molecule can effectively block the binding of human antibodies to SARS-CoV-2

National DNA Day 2021: An Interview with Professor George Church

Sampling environmental DNA and RNA could help determine the presence of pathogens

Study finds raised levels of specific immune cells in asymptomatic people with COVID-19

Interferon-stimulating genes control SARS-CoV-2 replication

Antibodies may not inhibit SARS-CoV-2 variants from minks

Supporting Minority Women Entrepreneurs in Agriculture

Supercomputer simulations reveal the behavior of dominant G form SARS-CoV-2 strain

New simpler, faster system for analyzing mutations in SARS-CoV-2

Logical next steps to implement a community vision for the future of biodiversity collections

Low K777 concentrations inhibit cathepsin L and reduce SARS-CoV-2’s ability to infect host cell lines

Key protein could block the most common cause of food poisoning

B.1.1.7 variant of SARS-CoV-2 spreading quickly in the United States

Study shows how WAVE2 protein maintains the immune system balance

Antibody used for COVID-19 therapy can no longer inhibit new SARS-CoV-2 variants

New label-free immune profiling assay to assess rapidly changing host immune response

Study shows SARS-CoV-2 antibodies wane at different rates

Revealing clues about the immune system through ancient DNA

Developing a portable tool to detect street drug ‘spice’

National DNA Day: Importance of DNA in Research

National DNA Day 2021: An Interview with Professor George Church

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