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Study helps explain why mRNA vaccines have been successful at preventing severe COVID-19

Washington University in St. Louis student Julian McCall receives a dose of Pfizer's mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine.

24 Dec 2021

Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 manifests striking antibody evasion

A new study from Columbia researchers, in collaboration with scientists at the University of Hong Kong, adds more evidence that the omicron variant can evade the immune protection conferred by vaccines and natural infection and suggests the need for new vaccines and treatments that anticipate how the virus may soon evolve.

24 Dec 2021

Study hints subtle differences in the quality of immune response based on COVID-19 severity

Infection-fighting B cells retain better memory of the coronavirus spike protein in University Hospital patients who recover from less-severe cases of COVID-19 than in those recovering from severe COVID-19, a new study suggests.

24 Dec 2021

Children with pre-existing immunity to common cold demonstrate better protection against COVID-19

New data shows that, compared to adults, children infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) preferentially activate pre-existing acquired immunity to prevalent common cold coronaviruses that cross-react with SARS-CoV-2 and protect them from severe disease.

24 Dec 2021

SARS-CoV-2 spreads through cell-to-cell transmission, study finds

The virus that causes COVID-19 has adopted some stealth moves to stay alive and kicking, and one secret to its success is hiding from the immune system by spreading through cell-to-cell transmission, a new study has found.

23 Dec 2021

Cryo-EM of Omicron variant reveals antibody evasion by spike-ACE2 complex

Researchers compare the obtained binding affinities to wild-type and Delta spike proteins to determine the impact of Omicron mutations.

23 Dec 2021

Allele-specific RT-qPCR assay to identify SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant in wastewater

Researchers develop a new allele-specific RT-qPCR to detect the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant in wastewater.

23 Dec 2021

Researchers report loss of antibody potency against SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant

Researchers find that vaccine-mediated protection against SARS-CoV-2 is significantly reduced against the Omicron variant.

23 Dec 2021

Exploring immunity and severe disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant

A new study describes the findings of a seroprevalence survey intended to establish the infection rates and the incidence of severe COVID-19 through December 15, 2021, in Gauteng, a crowded province that compresses a quarter of the country’s people into less than 2% of its area.

23 Dec 2021

Study reports that children develop sustained cross-reactive adaptive immunity against coronaviruses

A new study shows that both antibody and cellular arms of the adaptive immune response against SARS-CoV-2 are displayed strong, sustained, and cross-reactive against other coronaviruses, in young children than the immune responses in adults.

23 Dec 2021

Decline in protection against SARS-CoV-2 Omicron in prior infected and fully vaccinated

In a recent study posted to the medRxiv* preprint server, researchers investigated the distribution of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Delta and Omicron variants among coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) positive individuals who were either naive, fully vaccinated, or had a previous infection to further investigate possible escape from vaccine- or infection-induced immunity by Omicron compared to Delta.

22 Dec 2021

rVSV-based bivalent vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 delta variant and influenza

Researchers developed four distinct recombinant vesicular stomatitis virus (rVSV)-based bivalent vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 and influenza virus.

22 Dec 2021

Importance of booster vaccine doses for maintaining protection against the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant

A new study shows that although the Omicron variant exhibits significant immune escape compared to other SARS-CoV-2 variants, antibody neutralization can be largely restored with booster doses of mRNA vaccines.

22 Dec 2021

Study suggests nitazoxanide fails to reduce the severity of SARS-CoV-2

A new study shows that the optimization of nitazoxanide formulations may allow the review of the potential use of the drug for the treatment of SARS-CoV-2 infection.

22 Dec 2021

Scientists identify a panel of nanobodies with good neutralizing efficacy against SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern

A team of scientists from Canada has recently characterized a panel of nanobodies against the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2.

22 Dec 2021

Defensosomes can act as decoys to protect against SARS-CoV-2

In a new study, researchers from New York University have been examining the ability of defensosomes to combat SARS-CoV-2 infection.

22 Dec 2021

Furin cleavage site similarities in SARS-CoV-2 and rodent coronavirus indicate common wildlife host

New study findings show that AcCoV-JC34 is the only luchacovirus containing a –RR-R- motif that is identical to the one found in SARS-CoV-2.

22 Dec 2021

Researchers identify new mechanism for DNA invasion of adenoviral COVID-19 vaccines

Adenoviruses have a linchpin protein that stabilizes their DNA until it reaches the infected cell's nucleus. The protein then detaches from the viral genome, and the virus uncoats. Only then are the genes released into the nucleus, which is necessary for the production of new viruses.

22 Dec 2021

Broad neutralization of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein by an unconventional antibody fragment

A new preprint research paper posted to the bioRxiv* server examines the nature and effects of the spike mutations and identifies a vulnerable point that could help develop broad-spectrum protection against circulating variants.

21 Dec 2021

National U.S trial confirms effectiveness of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines

In a recent study, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, scientists conducted a target trial emulation study and documented that among the elderly in the U.S. (with significant comorbidities), the efficacy of messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines was much lower in terms of preventing infection, than previously reported. However, the effectiveness against death was found to be high.

21 Dec 2021

Spike Protein News and Research

Study helps explain why mRNA vaccines have been successful at preventing severe COVID-19

Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 manifests striking antibody evasion

Study hints subtle differences in the quality of immune response based on COVID-19 severity

Children with pre-existing immunity to common cold demonstrate better protection against COVID-19

SARS-CoV-2 spreads through cell-to-cell transmission, study finds

Cryo-EM of Omicron variant reveals antibody evasion by spike-ACE2 complex

Allele-specific RT-qPCR assay to identify SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant in wastewater

Researchers report loss of antibody potency against SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant

Exploring immunity and severe disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant

Study reports that children develop sustained cross-reactive adaptive immunity against coronaviruses

Decline in protection against SARS-CoV-2 Omicron in prior infected and fully vaccinated

rVSV-based bivalent vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 delta variant and influenza

Importance of booster vaccine doses for maintaining protection against the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant

Study suggests nitazoxanide fails to reduce the severity of SARS-CoV-2

Scientists identify a panel of nanobodies with good neutralizing efficacy against SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern

Defensosomes can act as decoys to protect against SARS-CoV-2

Furin cleavage site similarities in SARS-CoV-2 and rodent coronavirus indicate common wildlife host

Researchers identify new mechanism for DNA invasion of adenoviral COVID-19 vaccines

Broad neutralization of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein by an unconventional antibody fragment

National U.S trial confirms effectiveness of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines

Bringing real-time analytics to downstream bioprocess monitoring

Designing fluidic architecture for scalable diagnostic platforms

Evaluating new approaches for rare disease genomics

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