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Scientists map direct interactions between SARS-CoV-2 RNA and human host cells

Scientists from Würzburg and the US have charted the first global atlas of direct interactions between SARS-CoV-2 RNA and human host cells. This may provide a starting point for novel treatments.

21 Dec 2020

Many US health experts underestimated the coronavirus … until it was too late

A year ago, while many Americans were finishing their holiday shopping and finalizing travel plans, doctors in Wuhan, China, were battling a mysterious outbreak of pneumonia with no known cause.

21 Dec 2020

COVID-19 spread in cities driven by socioeconomically weaker groups, study finds

Researchers in Sweden have conducted a study showing that the transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) within cities is driven by socioeconomically weaker and high-mobility groups. They used Basel, Switzerland as their case study.

21 Dec 2020

SARS-CoV-2 spike protein remains remarkably conserved among 37 variants from Hong Kong

As the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic continues to intensify in many parts of the world, vaccine development is proceeding apace.

21 Dec 2020

South Korean city shows SARS-CoV-2 clade shift from V to GH over time

A new paper from South Korea describes the evolving SARS-CoV-2 genome in a single city, that of Gwangju, in the southwestern region of this country.

21 Dec 2020

Detecting SARS-CoV-2 sequences in blood monocytes

A meeting with doctors from Wuhan presented a compelling observation to Professor Laura Manuelidis, MD, from the Yale Medical School early in 2020.

21 Dec 2020

Research may lead to better treatment and vaccines for Ebola, COVID-19

In the midst of a global pandemic with COVID-19, it's hard to appreciate how lucky those outside of Africa have been to avoid the deadly Ebola virus disease.

21 Dec 2020

New understanding of physical properties of chromatin may show how genome is encoded and decoded

University of Alberta researchers have found an answer to a fundamental question in genomic biology that has eluded scientists since the discovery of DNA: Within the nucleus of our cells, is the complex package of DNA and proteins called chromatin a solid or a liquid?

20 Dec 2020

Research at Advanced Photon Source laid the groundwork for effective COVID-19 vaccines

There is light at the end of the COVID-19 pandemic tunnel. Several vaccines against the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19 are now in clinical trials, with one -- developed by Pfizer/BioNTech -- already having been approved for emergency use in the United States.

18 Dec 2020

Remdesivir inhibits SARS-CoV-2 replication by preventing RdRp-mediated RNA translocation

A new study describes the in vitro mechanism by which remdesivir kinetically inhibits the replication of the virus that causes COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2.

18 Dec 2020

Rapid no-frills detection of SARS-CoV-2 in saliva with LAMP-Cas13

A new paper that appeared as a preprint on the medRxiv* server in December 2020 describes a nucleic acid test validated on saliva samples.

18 Dec 2020

Cell atlas helps better understand the biology of tropical disease parasite

The first cell atlas of an important life stage of Schistosoma mansoni, a parasitic worm that poses a risk to hundreds of millions of people each year, has been developed by researchers at the Wellcome Sanger Institute and their collaborators.

18 Dec 2020

Pig stem cells offer a new way to grow human organs for transplantation

In a new paper published in Stem Cell Reports, Bhanu Telugu and co-inventor Chi-Hun Park of the University of Maryland (UMD) Department of Animal and Avian Sciences show for the first time that newly established stem cells from pigs, when injected into embryos, contributed to the development of only the organ of interest (the embryonic gut and liver), laying the groundwork for stem cell therapeutics and organ transplantation.

18 Dec 2020

Discovery of protein function could be important for future chemotherapy treatment

Chemotherapy attacks all cells in our body and not just cancer cells, which is why patients undergoing the treatment often experience side effects such as physical weakness, hair loss and nausea.

17 Dec 2020

Supercomputer simulations lead to an important viral inhibitor discovery

University of New Hampshire researchers recently used Comet at the San Diego Supercomputer Center at UC San Diego and Stampede2 at the Texas Advanced Computing Center to identify new inhibitor binding/unbinding pathways in an RNA-based virus.

17 Dec 2020

Researchers discover cells responsible for resistance to T-ALL treatment

T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) is a cancer of the blood that affects mainly children, but also less frequently adults. In adults, although the response to treatment might be initially positive, relapses are common and have a poor prognosis.

17 Dec 2020