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.

MIT Engineers Develop Model to Decode Complex Biological Systems

Over the past two decades, new technologies have helped scientists generate a vast amount of biological data. Large-scale experiments in genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and cytometry can produce enormous quantities of data from a given cellular or multicellular system.

6 Nov 2024

Researchers Develop Innovative Human Macrophage Model for Disease Study

A human cell culture model of the lung's most important immune cells, alveolar macrophages, helped make a key finding that is prompting researchers to rethink the role of another immune protein in infectious disease.

15 Oct 2024

De Novo Antibody Protein Sequencing Reveals Novel Functional and Neutralizing Antibodies Post-SARS-CoV-2 Vaccination

Rapid Novor has published a study that highlights the power of combining de novo antibody protein sequencing with conventional proteomics to uncover functional and neutralizing antibodies in human plasma following SARS-CoV-2 vaccination.

From Rapid Novor Inc 14 Oct 2024

Researchers Develop Highly Selective SARS-CoV-2 Mpro Inhibitors

New research from The Wistar Institute's Salvino lab -; led by professor Joseph Salvino, Ph.D. -; has identified a novel series of SARS-CoV-2 Mpro inhibitors that may lead to potential new COVID-19 treatments that, according to preclinical testing, effectively inhibits COVID-19 and synergizes with existing anti-COVID therapies.

9 Oct 2024

Zinc Inhibits Plasmid Transfer in Gut Microbes

Genes responsible for antimicrobial resistance (AMR) can spread from microbe to microbe through circular genetic material called plasmids, and this lateral transfer occurs in the gut. This week in Applied and Environmental Microbiology, researchers in Iowa report that the transmission of some AMR plasmids may be inhibited by a readily available source-;dietary zinc supplements.

4 Oct 2024

Understanding the Impact of Natural Flu Infections on Vaccine Effectiveness

Researchers from the University of Georgia discovered in a recent study supported by the National Institutes of Health that the effectiveness of upcoming influenza vaccinations is significantly influenced by the body's innate immunity from prior flu episodes.

1 Oct 2024

New Tool START Enables Precision Mapping of Neuronal Connectivity

Scientists at the Salk Institute are unveiling a new brain-mapping neurotechnology called Single Transcriptome Assisted Rabies Tracing (START). The cutting-edge tool combines two advanced technologies-;monosynaptic rabies virus tracing and single-cell transcriptomics-;to map the brain's intricate neuronal connections with unparalleled precision.

1 Oct 2024

IgM Antibodies Offer Protection Against Staph Infections

One of the main sources of community- and hospital-acquired infections is Staphylococcus aureus, well known for its antibiotic-resistant variation Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)

18 Sep 2024

Modified Nucleotides Boost saRNA Vaccine Efficacy and Protection Against SARS-CoV-2

Modified nucleotides like m5C in saRNA enhance vaccine efficacy, stability, and reduce inflammation, offering a promising approach for SARS-CoV-2 protection.

18 Sep 2024

Monoclonal Antibody SC27 Shows Broad Effectiveness Against SARS-CoV-2 Variants

A monoclonal antibody appears effective at neutralizing the numerous variants of SARS-CoV-2, as well as related viruses in animals that could pose a threat if they were to begin spreading in people.

10 Sep 2024

Atypical B Cells Play a Central Role in COVID-19 Vaccine Response

Vaccines function by strengthening defenses against viruses that invade human bodies. Vaccination against COVID-19 teaches the human immune system's specialized B cells how to identify the virus.

5 Sep 2024

Gut Microbiota Modulates Rotavirus Vaccine Effectiveness

Scientists at Georgia State University's Institute for Biomedical Sciences have shown that some gut flora can reduce the effectiveness of the rotavirus vaccine.

27 Aug 2024

The Role of DNA Repair Pathways in Antibody Somatic Hypermutation

In a recent online publication in SCIENCE CHINA Life Sciences, researchers from the laboratory of Leng-Siew Yeap at the Shanghai Institute of Immunology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine published a review article entitled "Molecular Mechanisms of DNA Lesion and Repair During Antibody Somatic Hypermutation". This review comprehensively summarizes the mechanisms involved in the generation of antigen-specific diversified antibodies, with a particular focus on the mechanisms that generate high-frequency point mutations and low-frequency deletions and insertions (indels) in antibody genes.

22 Aug 2024

Geographic Origin Plays Key Role in Tuberculosis Infection, Harvard Study Finds

For some forms of tuberculosis, the chances that an exposed person will get infected depend on whether the individual and the bacteria share a hometown, according to a new study comparing how different strains move through mixed populations in cosmopolitan cities.

2 Aug 2024

Swabbing Technique Reveals Diversity of Immune Cells in the Upper Airway

Scientists at La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI) have published the first-ever, in-depth analysis of immune cell memory in the upper airways of adult volunteers. Among these immune cells, the researcher spotted "tissue resident" memory cells, which stand ready to defend the airway from SARS-CoV-2 and other respiratory diseases.

1 Aug 2024

Effective Plasmid DNA Delivery Achieved with Zwitterionic Polymer Complex

Researchers from Tokyo Metropolitan University have created a new drug delivering molecule, a zwitterionic polymer complex that can help get plasmid DNA inside cells when injected into skeletal muscle, a crucial step in the expression of therapeutic RNA and proteins. The new compound effectively bound to plasmid DNA without affecting its structure. Injected into mouse muscles, the team observed widespread gene expression, promising applications to treatments of serious muscle diseases.

29 Jul 2024

UNC Charlotte Study: SARS-CoV-2 Variants BA.2.86 and JN.1 Show Minimal Immune Evasion

New research from UNC Charlotte's Center for Computational Intelligence to Predict Health and Environmental Risks (CIPHER) has found that the two recent and prevalent strains of the virus that cause COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2 variants BA.2.86 and JN.1, are not significantly better than their predecessor Omicron at evading immune responses and causing infections despite having a high number of mutations compared to Omicron.

22 Jul 2024

Marginal Zone B Cells Unveiled as Key Players in TB Vaccine Strategy

An "unconventional" immune response now identified by scientists from the Hackensack Meridian Center for Discovery and Innovation (CDI) is a potential new pathway for developing new vaccines for tuberculosis (TB), according to a new publication.

16 Jul 2024

Breakthrough Study Reveals How Toxoplasma gondii Alters Host Cell Metabolism

Toxoplasma gondii is a parasite responsible for toxoplasmosis, a lifelong chronic infection prevalent in about 30% of the human population.

12 Jul 2024

Scientists develop first fully functional human immune system in mouse model

Researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio have produced a mouse model that is humanized, complete with a human immune system and a gut microbiome that resembles that of a human being and is able to elicit particular antibody responses.

8 Jul 2024