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The race is on for a coronavirus vaccine, 70 candidates, 3 at human trial stage

Amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) global pandemic that is infecting millions of people across the globe, hope sparks as the World Health Organization (WHO) reports that seventy vaccination trials for the novel coronavirus are underway, with three already at the human trial stage.

14 Apr 2020

New study offers insight on how bacteria exchange drug resistance genes

Researchers have been able to identify and track the exchange of genes among bacteria that allow them to become resistant to drugs, according to a new study published today in eLife.

14 Apr 2020

Bill and Melinda Gates fund potential vaccine against COVID-19

In a race against time, teams of scientists across the world are working towards developing an effective and safe vaccine to prevent infection from the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19 disease.

7 Apr 2020

Cobra Biologics and Karolinska Institutet join forces to develop DNA vaccine against COVID-19

Cobra Biologics, an international CDMO for biologics and pharmaceuticals, and the Karolinska Institutet, one of the world’s leading medical universities, today announced they have been awarded €3 million emergency funding by Horizon 2020 for research and development, and phase I clinical trial testing of a DNA vaccine against COVID-19, as part of the OPENCORONA consortium to support global efforts tackling the pandemic.

31 Mar 2020

New nano strategy for 'trapping and zapping' antibiotic resistant genes

It's not enough to take antibiotic-resistant bacteria out of wastewater to eliminate the risks they pose to society. The bits they leave behind have to be destroyed as well.

12 Mar 2020

New technique helps study peptide-receptor interactions on the cell surface

In the past, biologically-active peptides - small proteins like neurotoxins and hormones that act on cell receptors to alter physiology - were purified from native sources like venoms and then panels of variants were produced in bacteria, or synthesized, to study the structural basis for receptor interaction.

5 Mar 2020

New method to deliver an immune system 'uncloaking' device directly to cancer cells

Scientists at Johns Hopkins report they have designed and successfully tested an experimental, super small package able to deliver molecular signals that tag implanted human cancer cells in mice and make them visible for destruction by the animals' immune systems.

26 Feb 2020

Study tests hypothesis that empty SV40 capsids would improve sepsis outcomes

Numerous previous attempts to develop therapeutic treatments, directed at discreet targets of the sepsis cascade, could not cope with the complex pathophysiology of sepsis and failed.

13 Feb 2020

Study: 25% of pathogenic bacteria can spread antibiotic resistance directly to peers

Biomedical engineers at Duke University have demonstrated that at least 25 percent of antibiotic-resistant pathogenic bacteria found in clinical settings are capable of spreading their resistance directly to other bacteria.

29 Jan 2020

Probiotic drink could offer novel way to fight antibiotic-resistant bacteria

A probiotic drink could become a promising new weapon in the battle against antibiotic-resistant bacteria, after a team of Birmingham scientists engineered and patented a key genetic element that can tackle the genetic basis of resistance.

14 Jan 2020

Experimental Zika vaccine improves fetal outcomes in rhesus macaque model

An experimental Zika vaccine lowered levels of virus in pregnant monkeys and improved fetal outcomes in a rhesus macaque model of congenital Zika virus infection, according to a new study in Science Translational Medicine.

19 Dec 2019

Tackling antibiotic resistance head-on with CRISPR

With modern advances in genetic engineering occurring almost every day, the latest discovery concerns antibiotic resistance. Using the powerful gene editor CRISPR, scientists reported the development of a gene-drive system that is 100 times as efficient as other current systems at inactivating a specific bacterial gene responsible for making the bacterium antibiotic-resistant and which is present as multiple copies within the same bacterial cell.

16 Dec 2019

Porvair Sciences offers high performing 48-, 96- and 384-well filtration microplates

Porvair Sciences has expanded its range of high-performance microplates to now offer an optimized product to suit a wide range of filtration applications.

From Porvair Sciences Limited 11 Dec 2019

New tool can rapidly reveal unintended changes made by CRISPR-directed gene editing

Amidst rising hopes for using CRISPR gene editing tools to repair deadly mutations linked to conditions like cystic fibrosis and sickle cell disease, a new study in the Nature journal Communications Biology describes a new innovation that could accelerate this work by rapidly revealing unintended and potentially harmful changes introduced by a gene editing process.

6 Dec 2019

Researchers discover conjugative plasmid that augments virulence in superbug

A recent research led by a scientist at City University of Hong Kong has discovered an easily transmitted DNA piece that can make a new type of hyper-resistant and deadly superbug become hyper-virulent quickly, posing an unprecedented threat to human health.

23 Oct 2019

Genetic oscillator captures changes in gut microbiome growth patterns

For all the attention the human microbiome has been getting over the last few years, one aspect of such research rarely makes headlines: the difficulty of observing how it changes over time in response to various stimuli.

11 Oct 2019

Chewing gum to track fertility: Ovulaid

Infertility is a very potent cause of frustration and psychological problems such as anxiety and depression, as well as of high stress. Infertility or subfertility is defined by the World Health Organization as unsuccessful attempts to conceive for five or more years.

10 Oct 2019

New study shows response to HIV vaccine in 6 weeks

A US study on DNA-based and protein HIV vaccines has shown that an antibody and cellular immune response occurs within six weeks.

2 Oct 2019

New study shows response to HIV vaccine in 6 weeks

A new study using DNA-based and protein HIV vaccines in various combinations shows that antibody and cellular immune response occurs within 6 weeks from the date of vaccination, and the combination must be administered together for the most rapid protection. This will enable more large-scale testing of the vaccine for effectiveness. About 40 million people today have HIV infections, and 1.2 million deaths a year are related to this infection.

1 Oct 2019

African bacterium resists almost all drugs

It looks like it’s time to pay the piper. The first extensively drug-resistant (XDR) strain of Salmonella typhimurium, called ST313 sublineage II.1, has cropped up in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). This fails to respond to any of the antibiotics that are commonly used in the DRC, except for ciprofloxacin. And to make things worse, one sample has been isolated that shows incomplete response even to this last drug.

22 Sep 2019