Vaccine News and Research

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A vaccine is a biological preparation that improves immunity to a particular disease. A vaccine typically contains an agent that resembles a disease-causing microorganism, and is often made from weakened or killed forms of the microbe. The agent stimulates the body's immune system to recognize the agent as foreign, destroy it, and "remember" it, so that the immune system can more easily recognize and destroy any of these microorganisms that it later encounters.

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

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.

From Harvard Medical School 23 Apr 2021

SARS-CoV-2 infection produces antibodies that can destroy infected cells

Research teams investigated the antibodies generated in people with symptomatic or asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection.

From Institut Pasteur 23 Apr 2021

Pre-Clinical Vaccine Adjuvant and Therapeutics Manufacturing

Analytik reports how its Microfluidizer® processors are enabling researchers develop a range of therapeutic formulations including vaccine adjuvants, liposomes and lipid nanoparticles.

From Analytik Ltd 22 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

Ebola virus protein changes shape by using human RNA

The human genome contains the instructions to make tens of thousands of proteins. Each protein folds into a precise shape--and biologists are taught that defined shape dictates the protein's destined function. Tens of thousands of singular shapes drive the tens of thousands of needed functions.

15 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.

From Osaka University 14 Apr 2021

Customized tumor cell vaccine produces active immune response in melanoma, neuroblastoma models

A pre-clinical study for melanoma and neuroblastoma shows that a customized tumor cell vaccine technique that targets Myc oncogenes coupled with checkpoint therapy produces an active immune response that bypasses antigen selection and immune privilege.

5 Apr 2021

Novel vaccine uses patient's own tumor cells to train the immune system to fight cancer

Immunotherapy, which recruits the body's own immune system to attack cancer, has given many cancer patients a new avenue to treat the disease.

25 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

Targeted immunotherapy could improve radiotherapy response in cancer cells

Cancers that are resistant to radiotherapy could be rendered susceptible through treatment with immunotherapy, a new study suggests.

9 Mar 2021

Three new COVID-19 variants can evade antibodies that act against original virus

New research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis indicates that three new, fast-spreading variants of the virus that cause COVID-19 can evade antibodies that work against the original form of the virus that sparked the pandemic.

5 Mar 2021

Increased levels of OAS1 protein may reduce the severity of COVID-19

Researchers at the Lady Davis Institute (LDI) at the Jewish General Hospital have discovered that increased levels of the protein OAS1 are associated with reduced mortality and less severe disease requiring ventilation among patients with COVID-19.

1 Mar 2021

Study shows how antibodies fight Zika virus

Zika outbreaks are still having lasting effects on children whose mothers were infected with the Zika virus during their pregnancy.

26 Feb 2021

Human monoclonal antibodies can act as biological substitute for chemical antibiotics

In the course of a new and groundbreaking study, led by Dr, Natalia Freund and the doctoral candidate Avia Waston at the Sackler Medical Faculty, the research group succeeded in isolating monoclonal antibodies, which hindered the growth of tuberculosis germs in laboratory mice.

23 Feb 2021

Genes could help determine the intensity of neutralizing antibodies to COVID-19 virus

While neutralizing antibodies form in less than two weeks of a COVID-19 infection, their intensity and durability can differ from one individual to another.

22 Feb 2021

New hydrogel shrinks tumors in melanoma mice model

Recently, messenger RNA, also called mRNA, vaccines, to combat the COVID-19 infection have made headlines worldwide, but researchers have already been experimenting with mRNA vaccines to prevent or cure other illnesses, including certain types of cancer.

18 Feb 2021

Study suggests a way to improve immunotherapy by altering immune cells’ access to sugar

Cancer cells and immune cells share something in common: They both love sugar. Sugar is an important nutrient. All cells use sugar as a vital source of energy and building blocks. For immune cells, gobbling up sugar is a good thing, since it means getting enough nutrients to grow and divide for stronger immune responses. But cancer cells use sugar for more nefarious ends.

17 Feb 2021

Study suggests the need to characterize patient-specific responses to respiratory syncytial virus

Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine found that while most individuals responded to respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) natural reinfection with a typical sustained antibody response associated with protection, a few individuals surprisingly responded atypically, not being able to sustain the antibody response, which declined to levels that made the individuals susceptible to RSV reinfection.

5 Feb 2021