B Cell News and Research

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Scientists unlock a new approach to kill hard-to-treat cancers

In a paper appearing in Nature today, an international group of scientists have unlocked a new way to kill hard to treat cancers. These tumors resist current immunotherapies, including those using Nobel Prize winning check-point blocking antibodies.

26 May 2022

Risk factors for COVID-19 in patients with hematological malignancies

Researchers investigate the risk factors present in individuals suffering from hematological malignancies and COVID-19.

26 May 2022

Study shows how synchronization contributes to transmission, processing of information in the brain

In the early 20th century scientists began to record brain activity using electrodes attached to the scalp. To their surprise, they saw that brain activity is characterized by slow and rapid ascending and descending signals which were subsequently called "brain waves".

26 May 2022

Cell membrane-bound enzyme is essential for SARS-CoV-2 infectivity, study shows

The membrane-bound form of angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) is essential for enabling infection with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, according to a study published in the journal Cell.

26 May 2022

Children from historically marginalized groups or poor backgrounds less likely to survive neuroblastoma

Children with high-risk neuroblastoma had worse outcomes if they were from certain racial/ethnic groups or were on public rather than private insurance, despite being treated in clinical trials with standardized protocols, according to a study led by investigators from Dana-Farber/Boston Children's Cancer and Blood Disorders Center.

26 May 2022

New evidence confirms that enterovirus D68 causes acute flaccid myelitis

A case report published in the New England Journal of Medicine provides evidence that enterovirus D68 directly infects spinal cord neurons and that a corresponding robust immune response is present – a direct causation to the polio-like paralyzing illness, acute flaccid myelitis (AFM).

26 May 2022

HMA therapy for patients with myelodysplastic syndrome could potentially activate a sleeping oncogene

Hypomethylating agents (HMA) are currently used as a first-line treatment for patients with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) - a group of disorders where there is insufficient production of healthy mature blood cells in the bone marrow - and increasingly in other diseases, but their mechanism of action remains unclear.

26 May 2022

Aston University’s new antibiotic combination forms part of a lifesaving treatment for cystic fibrosis

A new antibiotic combination developed by researchers at Aston University has formed part of a lifesaving treatment used in the USA.

26 May 2022

New Spex NanoSNAP™ provides high performance measurements of nucleic acids and proteins in a snap

New Spex NanoSNAP™ provides high performance measurements of nucleic acids and proteins in a snap.

26 May 2022

Novavax missed its global moonshot but is angling to win over mRNA defectors

Novavax hitched its wagon to the global coronavirus pandemic. Before most Americans truly grasped the scope of the danger, the small Maryland biotech startup had secured $1.6 billion in U.S. funding for its covid vaccine. Its moonshot goal: delivering 2 billion shots to the world by mid-2021.

26 May 2022

Researchers report novel interactions between the SARS-CoV-2 S protein and estrogen receptor alpha

Researchers profiled the binding sites of the entire SARS-CoV-2 spike protein sequence.

26 May 2022

Immunogenicity predictions reveal SARS-CoV-2 CD8+ T-cell epitopes

In a recent study posted to the bioRxiv* pre-print server, researchers identified several new severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) epitopes displayed on human leukocyte antigens class I (HLA-I) molecules.

26 May 2022

Mucosal COVID vaccine candidate powerfully protective in macaques

A recent research paper posted to the bioRxiv* preprint server illustrated the protective efficacy of the intranasal pediatric parainfluenza virus-vectored coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine prospect, B/HPIV3/S-6P, in macaques.

26 May 2022

After SARS-CoV-2 infection, anti-chemokine antibodies correlate with better outcomes

A recent study posted to the bioRxiv* preprint server illustrated that specific chemokine antibodies aid in recognizing severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) convalescent individuals with a desirable disease course.

26 May 2022

Researchers focus on how bacterial cells adapt and resist antibiotics

Treatment of severe infections caused by pathogenic bacteria relies on ‘last resort’ antibiotics, but rising resistance by ‘superbugs’ to most clinically approved drugs leaves patients exposed to possible fatalities.

26 May 2022

Specific neural circuit in mice can help detect the dimmest shadows possible

Mice use a specific neural pathway to detect shadows, and it can detect just about the dimmest shadows possible, according to new research from Aalto University and the University of Helsinki. The human eye has the same neural circuit, which researchers think could be used to probe visual diseases at unprecedented resolution.

26 May 2022