COVID 19 News and Research

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Detecting the extent of natural selection over time

Institut Pasteur, Université Paris Cité, the CNRS, and the Collège de France researchers have employed paleogenomics to trace 10,000 years of human immune system evolution. They examined the genomes of over 2,800 individuals who lived in Europe over the past 10 millennia.

From Institut Pasteur 18 Jan 2023

Innovative approach to mRNA delivery

A group of scientists spearheaded by The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center has created a unique messenger RNA (mRNA) delivery system utilizing extracellular vesicles (EVs).

16 Jan 2023

Emerging viruses could be easily detected with a simple nasal swab

As the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated, potentially harmful new viruses can spread throughout the population long before the system for monitoring global public health can catch them.

5 Jan 2023

Discovery of a new cellular element crucial to sense of smell

Researchers at Umeå University have found an organelle, a previously unidentified cellular component, inside the neurons that are responsible for the ability to smell. The finding might have repercussions for future studies on COVID-19 symptoms like impaired smell sense.

5 Jan 2023

Acute infection disrupts the healthy balance between the good and bad gut microbes

Rutgers researchers examined the impact of COVID-19 on patients’ microbiomes, the group of microbes that live in and on the human body.

From Rutgers University 30 Nov 2022

AI creates artificial DNA to control cell protein production

Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden have developed synthetic DNA that uses artificial intelligence to control the production of proteins in cells.

25 Nov 2022

Novel approach increases the protein production efficiency of synthetic mRNAs

A group of synthetic biologists at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) recently figured out a way to improve the efficiency of synthetic mRNA protein production by up to tenfold.

24 Nov 2022

Chemically attenuated live DNA virus vaccine prevents viral infection

Rutgers researchers have devised a new way to prevent viral infections: a live-attenuated, replication-defective DNA virus vaccine that utilizes the substance centanamycin to create an altered virus for vaccine development.

From Rutgers University 22 Nov 2022

Atypical antibody shows extremely potent zika-resistant activity

A group of researchers led by Weill Cornell Medicine, New York-Presbyterian, and National Institutes of Health (NIH) investigators has discovered an unusual type of antibody that, even at extremely low concentrations, neutralizes the Zika virus and renders the virus infection undetectable in preclinical models.

22 Nov 2022

Applying “programmable molecular scissors” to combat COVID-19 infection

As an approach that could be used to create a new class of antiviral drugs, synthetic biology was used by Cambridge scientists to artificially create enzymes programmed to attack the genetic code of SARS-CoV-2 and eliminate the virus.

17 Nov 2022

NIH funds research on mRNA vaccines to stop cancer development

The National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health has awarded a multidisciplinary team of Weill Cornell Medicine researchers a five-year $5.7 million grant to support a center dedicated to creating messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines to prevent the development of cancer in at-risk groups.

15 Nov 2022

IBS team uncovers new antiviral compounds derived from two Korean native plants

Codonopsis lanceolata, more commonly referred to as "deodeok", is used as a medicinal herb in South Korea.

14 Nov 2022

Genetic predisposition for SLE protective against severe COVID-19 infection

Some genetic polymorphisms might expose individuals to the risk of autoimmune diseases while also protecting them against the effects of viral infection.

4 Nov 2022

Role of VWF in triggering inflammation

The blood clotting protein von Willebrand Factor (VWF) has a new function that has been identified by researchers at RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences.

4 Nov 2022

Quantifying microanatomical tissue structures without human intervention

Scientists at Weill Cornell Medicine have created a computational method for mapping the architecture of human tissues in extraordinary detail. Their method guarantees to expedite research on organ-scale cellular interactions and could lead to strong new diagnostic strategies for a variety of disorders.

1 Nov 2022

Potential SARS-CoV-2 therapy based on banana protein

A study praising the development of a potential treatment that might be applied to combat all recognized influenza strains was published online on January 13th, 2020.

25 Oct 2022

Genome Editing Has A New Code

In this interview, we speak to Samantha Maragh, the leader of the genome editing program at NIST, about the genome editing vocabulary and what this means for researchers worldwide.

From National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) 21 Oct 2022

Innovative method opens myriad new avenues for understanding the biology behind COVID-19

A highly innovative method using the latest technology has generated a comprehensive list of SARS-CoV-2 viral and human proteins that interact with each other, with one such interaction showing the virus directly influencing proteins that regulate the human immune system.

18 Oct 2022

Brain-resident and recruited macrophages exhibit diverging responses

Prof. Kiavash Movahedi (VUB, VIB) headed a group that outlined how the immune system responds to infections entering the brain. The results offer new information on host-pathogen interactions as well as the long-term effects of brain infections.

14 Oct 2022

Genomic research helps in tackling the fatal complications of fungal infections

An important genetic discovery made by a research team led by a University of Massachusetts Amherst scientist sheds new light on the application of the drug caspofungin to treat the deadly fungal infection Aspergillus fumigatus, which claims the lives of about 100,000 severely immunocompromised individuals every year.

7 Oct 2022