MERS CoV News and Research

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In recent history, we have witnessed the emergence of several different life-threatening viruses. In addition to causing serious public health concerns around the globe, they have been responsible for significant human morbidity and mortality. Modern life that entails uncurtailed travel of humans and goods means that initially localized outbreaks may pose a risk of transmission anywhere in the world.

NIH-Moderna investigational vaccine protects mice from infection with SARS-CoV-2

The investigational vaccine known as mRNA-1273 protected mice from infection with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, according to research published today in Nature.

5 Aug 2020

Yale researchers develop new mouse model to study SARS-CoV-2 infection

Researchers at Yale University School of Medicine have developed a new mouse model to study SARS-CoV-2 infection and disease and to accelerate testing of novel treatments and vaccines against the novel coronavirus.

4 Aug 2020

Study identifies possible therapeutic treatment for COVID-19

Yunjeong Kim and Kyeong-Ok "KC" Chang, virologists in the College of Veterinary Medicine at Kansas State University, have published a study showing a possible therapeutic treatment for COVID-19.

3 Aug 2020

People with SARS-CoV-2 most infectious in days 0-5, no evidence of transmission after day 9

A study conducted by researchers in the UK and Italy suggests that individuals with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) are probably at their most infectious during the first week of illness.

29 Jul 2020

Study provides new insights into the host cellular response to SARS-CoV-2 infection

The COVID-19 pandemic caused by the new coronavirus has created an unprecedented public health challenge globally. Little was known about how the infecting cells respond to the virus and how the virus hijacks the host cellular machinery.

27 Jul 2020

Researchers design new version of protein to develop COVID-19 vaccine

Responding to a need to quickly develop billions of doses of lifesaving COVID-19 vaccines, a scientific team at The University of Texas at Austin has successfully redesigned a key protein from the coronavirus, and the modification could enable much faster and more stable production of vaccines worldwide.

24 Jul 2020

Analysis of the SARS-CoV-2 proteome via visual tools

Now, a new study published on the preprint server bioRxiv* in July 2020 shows how this can be advanced at a greater speed by combining experimental results with homology models obtained by high-throughput pipelines. This will help produce new hypotheses that will show novel druggable targets for effective drug development.

21 Jul 2020

UC Davis Health evaluates new antibody cocktail as a possible treatment for COVID-19

Timothy Albertson, chair of internal medicine and specialist in pulmonary and critical care, is leading efforts at UC Davis Health to test a new antibody cocktail (REGN-COV2) as a prevention and treatment for COVID-19.

20 Jul 2020

Study shows fused lung cells are pervasive in severe COVID-19

In a recent bioRxiv paper, scientists from Institut Pasteur and other research centers in France demonstrated how pathological effects of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) are modulated by cellular proteins that can either inhibit or facilitate cell fusion and subsequent syncytia formation.

16 Jul 2020

Children with MIS-C have different antibody responses than adults with COVID-19

A new study published on the preprint medRxiv in July 2020 reveals that children with the condition Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C) have a distinctly different pattern of antibody generation compared to adults with COVID-19 disease.

16 Jul 2020

A new measles-based COVID-19 vaccine

Now, a new study by researchers from Germany's Paul Ehrlich Institute and published on the preprint server bioRxiv in July 2020 describes a potential vaccine based on the measles vaccine, which elicits both an antibody response and cellular immunity against the virus. This also protects against the measles virus. This could be a significant weapon in the fight against these two threats.

14 Jul 2020

Researchers stabilize the closed SARS-CoV-2 spike trimer

Now, a new study by researchers at Janssen Vaccines & Prevention BV and Leiden University and published on the preprint server bioRxiv uses cryoEM to reveal the structure of this trimer, in order to support both vaccine development and diagnostic testing based on antibody production.

14 Jul 2020

COVID-19 – researchers sum up the “Tsunami” of information

The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS CoV-2) infection leading to COVID-19 is a raging pandemic across the world at present. It has infected 13 million and killed 571,000 individuals around the world as of today. The infection was first reported in Wuhan, Hubei Province of China in late December 2019.

13 Jul 2020

Study identifies three novel broad-spectrum SARS-CoV-2 cell entry inhibitors

Researchers from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Cornell University in the U.S. just described several new inhibitors of human coronavirus spike proteins by screening a library of approved drugs with SARS-S and MERS-S pseudotyped particle entry assays. Their exciting findings are currently available on the bioRxiv preprint server.

13 Jul 2020

As winter comes other viruses will compete with SARS-CoV-2 for susceptible hosts

A new study published on the preprint server medRxiv in July 2020 traces how COVID-19 became the predominant cause of respiratory infection in the period from early January until the present.

10 Jul 2020

ACTIV group assesses controlled human infection models for developing SARS-CoV-2 vaccine

In a Perspective for the New England Journal of Medicine, members of the National Institutes of Health's Accelerating COVID-19 Therapeutic Interventions and Vaccines (ACTIV) Vaccines Working Group assess practical considerations and prerequisites for using controlled human infection models (CHIMs), which can be used for human challenge studies, to support SARS-CoV-2 vaccine development.

2 Jul 2020

SARS-CoV-2 infection modeling in iPSC-derived type 2 cells

The most fatal form of COVID-19 disease is acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), caused by direct viral injury as well as indirect noxious effects caused by cytotoxic chemicals and inflammatory processes. A new study published on the preprint server bioRxiv* in June 2020 shows that this is partly due to the rapid onset of inflammation caused by the infection of type 2 alveolar cells with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).

2 Jul 2020

Genomics used to trace origin of SARS-CoV-2 in Canada

A new study published in June 2020 on the preprint server bioRxiv discusses the use of phylogenetic analysis to trace the origin of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), and its spread into and then within Canada. The study findings may help optimize public health policies in the case of future outbreaks.

28 Jun 2020

Antibodies against prevalent endemic human coronaviruses may provide cross-protection to SARS-CoV-2

Researchers from Qatar have demonstrated that antibody repertoires against endemic human coronaviruses are qualitatively different in children when compared to the general adult population, as well as healthy adult blood bank donors – and they may also provide cross-protection against epidemic/pandemic strains.

23 Jun 2020

Scientists create 'all-atom' model of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein

The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) causes the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), an illness that has spread across the globe, infecting more than 9 million people. The novel coronavirus invades cells through "spike proteins," which sticks and binds itself to a host cell.

23 Jun 2020