Chimpanzee News and Research

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AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine protects against symptomatic disease

Results from a large clinical trial in the United States and South America indicate that AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine, AZD1222, is well-tolerated and protects against symptomatic COVID-19 disease, including severe disease or hospitalization.

22 Mar 2021

ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 offers less protection against South African SARS-CoV-2 variant

The results of a double-blind, randomized, multisite placebo-controlled trial that was conducted in South Africa show that Oxford’s ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 (AZD1222) vaccine has no efficacy against the B.1.351 variant in preventing mild-to-moderate coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), and shows reduced neutralization properties of developed antibodies. The findings are published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

21 Mar 2021

Delayed second dose strategy with mRNA vaccines may reduce COVID-19 mortality, say researchers

An interesting new preprint shows that even if countries are forced to delay the second dose of the current vaccines administered against SARS-CoV-2, to arrest the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the cumulative mortality would still fall significantly.

3 Mar 2021

Could measles virus vectors be used for a new COVID-19 vaccine?

A research team at the Institut Pasteur in France describes the successful development of such a vaccine utilizing a measles virus vector.

18 Feb 2021

ZyCoV-D DNA vaccine immunogenic against SARS-CoV-2 in animal models

In the absence of effective therapeutics or preventives, vaccines have become the focus of attention. Though over 170 vaccines are in preclinical and about 60 in clinical development, very few are based on plasmid DNA technology. However, a new preprint research paper posted to the bioRxiv* server reports the immunogenicity of a DNA vaccine candidate.

2 Feb 2021

Inhaled single dose vaccine creates antibodies and prevents infection in rhesus macaques

Now, a new preprint research paper describes a chimpanzee adenovirus-vectored vaccine that, when administered intranasally in rhesus macaques, led to a robust immune response and demonstrated protection against infection by the virus that causes COVID-19, namely, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The preprint is published on the bioRxiv server.

1 Feb 2021

What do we know about the SARS-CoV-2 vaccines so far?

A new study surveys what we know so far about SARS-CoV-2 vaccine candidates from advanced clinical trials.

27 Jan 2021

A new approach to identify genomic regions in our brain that contribute to make us human

With only 1% difference, the human and chimpanzee protein-coding genomes are remarkably similar.

16 Dec 2020

Interim results show Oxford COVID-19 vaccine protects against symptomatic disease

First full results from interim analysis confirm that the Oxford COVID-19 vaccine (AZD1222) has an acceptable safety profile and is efficacious against symptomatic COVID-19 disease, with no hospitalizations or severe disease reported in the COVID-19 vaccine group so far.

9 Dec 2020

The intranasal route of immunization may offer effective protection against SARS-CoV-2

Researchers at the School of Medicine, Washington University in Saint Louis, USA, showed that the intranasal route of immunization could provide a more efficient protection against SARS-CoV-2 compared to the intramuscular route (i.e. through ‘jabs’).

7 Dec 2020

Oxford University and AstraZeneca release their COVID-19 vaccine results

AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford have just released their results from its interim analysis of AZD1222, a vaccine being trialed to prevent COVID-19.

From AstraZeneca 23 Nov 2020

Booster dose enhances immunogenicity of ChAdOx1 SARS-CoV-2 vaccine in aged mice

Now, a new study published on the pre-print server bioRxiv* shows that a single dose of the vaccine has induced cellular and humoral immunity in aged or older mice. A second dosage was needed to enhance the vaccine's immune response, showing that a prime-boost strategy may be an essential step to boost immunogenicity in the elderly.

30 Oct 2020

UH and CWRU announce Phase 3 trial of Astrazeneca's investigational COVID-19 vaccine

University Hospitals and Case Western Reserve University announced today that UH Cleveland Medical Center has been selected as a clinical trial site for the Phase 3 global study of an investigational vaccine against SARS-CoV-2, sponsored by AstraZeneca.

29 Oct 2020

Phase 1 trial results of gorilla adenovirus vaccine for COVID-19

A recent study published on the preprint server bioRxiv* in October 2020 reports the development of a novel vaccine based on a simian adenoviral vector obtained from a group C gorilla isolate called GRAd32. This could help speed up vaccine development.

26 Oct 2020

Cognitive elements of language likely to have developed 40 million years ago

Humans are not the only beings that can identify rules in complex language-like constructions - monkeys and great apes can do so, too, a study at the University of Zurich has shown.

21 Oct 2020

The COVID-19 vaccine pipeline

Researchers from Mayo Clinic, United States of America, have reviewed the immunity developed against the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that causes COVID-19 disease.

14 Oct 2020

Researchers decipher evolution of the Y chromosome in great apes

New analysis of the DNA sequence of the male-specific Y chromosomes from all living species of the great ape family helps to clarify our understanding of how this enigmatic chromosome evolved.

6 Oct 2020

Cardiovascular health similarities between chimpanzees and humans found

Doctors like to remind patients not to monkey around with their health, suggesting that a good diet and regular exercise improve longevity.

21 Sep 2020

Study indicates an ancient explanation on link between humans and long-lived primate

Many humans live to see their 70s and 80s, some even reach 100 years old. But life is much shorter for our closest animal relatives. Chimpanzees, for example, rarely make it past age 50, despite sharing almost 99% of our genetic code.

21 Sep 2020

Oxford University and AstraZeneca resume COVID-19 vaccine trial

More than a hundred candidate vaccine trials against the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that causes the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), are underway. About 35 are now undergoing clinical evaluation, and of these, nine are in the final phase of human trials, including the vaccine developed by Oxford University and the biopharmaceutical firm, AstraZeneca.

14 Sep 2020