Virus News and Research

Latest Virus News and Research

California’s top hospital lobbyist cements influence in covid crisis

As intensive care units filled and coronavirus cases surged over the holidays, Carmela Coyle invoked a World War II-era quote attributed to British Prime Minister Winston Churchill to rally her own troops: "If you're going through hell, keep going."

26 Jan 2021

New approach to mapping viral mutations that escape antibodies used to treat COVID-19

A new approach to mapping viral mutations that "escape" leading clinical antibodies has revealed mutations in the SARS-CoV-2 virus that allow it to evade treatments, including a single amino-acid mutation that fully escapes Regeneron's antibody cocktail.

26 Jan 2021

Big business boosts vaccine effort, but it’s ‘complex choreography’ to get shots in arms

As states await the promise of a renewed federal pandemic response and expand the number of Americans who qualify for a shot, some governors are trying to scale up their covid vaccine operations — and smooth out the kinks — with the help of the private sector.

26 Jan 2021

‘We’re not controlling it in our schools’: Covid safety lapses abound across US

Computer science teacher Suzy Lebo saw covid-19 dangers frequently in her Indiana high school: classes with about 30 students sitting less than 18 inches apart. Students crowding teachers in hallways. Students and staff members taking off their masks around others.

26 Jan 2021

Codon frequency optimization shows SARS-CoV-2 antiviral potential

A study conducted by researchers in the US has revealed that optimization of codon for bacterial expression causes the production of an inactive enzyme non-structural protein 12 (Nsp12), a catalytic subunit of RNA-dependent RNA polymerase of SARS-CoV-2.

26 Jan 2021

Researchers engineer antibody that broadly neutralizes a range of clade 1 sarbecoviruses

Researchers have engineered an antibody that neutralizes SARS-CoV-2 with a potency that "rivals" current lead SARS-CoV-2 clinical neutralizing antibodies, and that also broadly neutralizes a range of clade 1 sarbecoviruses.

26 Jan 2021

SARS-CoV-2 rapidly adapts to Vero E6 cell culture propagation

Researchers at the Erasmus Medical Centre in the Netherlands and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in the US found that SARS-CoV-2 rapidly adapts to Vero E6 cell culture propagation and that this can be prevented by using cell lines with an active serine protease-mediated entry pathway.

26 Jan 2021

Study shows several peridomestic mammal species are potential spreaders of SARS-CoV-2

Researchers from the US and Australia show that several common peridomestic species (including deer mice, striped skunks and bushy-tailed woodrats) are amenable to infection with SARS-CoV-2.

26 Jan 2021

New UK SARS-CoV-2 variant circulating in US since November, says study

A new study by researchers at the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, showed that the new variant has circulated in the US since November.

26 Jan 2021

New SARS-CoV-2 variant must be curbed to protect UK health services, warn experts

A new research project called REACT-1 – launched by researchers at the Imperial College London, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, and Ipsos MORI – has aimed to better understand the dynamics of SARS-CoV-2’s viral spread across the UK.

26 Jan 2021

Accelerating vaccine rollout may provide greatest reduction in COVID-19 mortality

A thought-provoking preprint research paper posted to the medRxiv server suggests that among several factors that could potentially contribute to the design of an optimal vaccine strategy aimed at the most significant possible reduction in COVID-19 mortality, timing is likely to be the most important factor.

26 Jan 2021

Recombinant SARS-CoV-2 protein vaccine less immunogenic but more antigenic than expected

Now, a new preprint research paper posted to the medRxiv server presents preliminary results of a stabilized SARS-CoV-2 pre-fusion spike protein vaccine expressed in a baculovirus system (CoV2 preS dTM), with two different adjuvant formulations.

26 Jan 2021

B.1.1.7 variant and healthcare workers’ travel worry

Recently a team of researchers from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States assessed travel-related anxiety in healthcare workers (HCWs) considering the emergence of new variants caused by SARS-CoV-2 mutations.

25 Jan 2021

Probiotics as adjuvant therapy for COVID-19 patients

In a recent review published in the Journal of Diabetes & Metabolic Syndrome: Clinical Research & Reviews, Luigi Santacroce and Francesco Inchingolo et al. address the many factors such as dysbiosis (imbalance in the microbiota) that could influence the SARS-CoV-2 infection course.

25 Jan 2021

New SARS-CoV-2 variants resistant to convalescent sera and and monoclonal antibodies

Researchers studying the effect of convalescent sera and monoclonal antibodies from recovered patients found the UK and South African SARS-CoV-2 variants are more resistant to neutralization compared to the wild-type virus.

25 Jan 2021

New drug screening platform identifies inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2

Researchers in the UK and the United States have developed a stem-cell-based screening platform for identifying compounds that inhibit infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) – the causative agent for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

25 Jan 2021

New, highly accurate 20-minute COVID-19 test is trialed across the University of Surrey

A new, highly accurate COVID-19 test, Virus Hunter 6 (VH6), which delivers results in under 20 minutes is being trialed across the University of Surrey, this week.

25 Jan 2021

Scientists develop a model to track viral load in COVID-19 patients

Scientists from the University of Alberta, Canada, have developed a model to determine patient-specific viral load curves for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The data obtained from this model can be used in other higher-level models to evaluate the physiological and pathological impacts of virus infection and determine patient risks.

25 Jan 2021

Bispecific antibody shows efficacy against new SARS-CoV-2 variants

A team of international scientists has recently developed a bispecific antibody that can bind two non-overlapping regions of the spike receptor-binding domain of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and completely prevent the viral-host interaction.

25 Jan 2021

Herd immunity to SARS-CoV-2 may not be achievable with current vaccines

A recent preprint research paper posted on the medRxiv server asks the question: “Is “herd immunity” to COVID-19 a realistic outcome of any immunization program with the two main vaccines currently licensed in the UK?”

25 Jan 2021

Virus News and Research

Latest Virus News and Research

California’s top hospital lobbyist cements influence in covid crisis

New approach to mapping viral mutations that escape antibodies used to treat COVID-19

Big business boosts vaccine effort, but it’s ‘complex choreography’ to get shots in arms

‘We’re not controlling it in our schools’: Covid safety lapses abound across US

Codon frequency optimization shows SARS-CoV-2 antiviral potential

Researchers engineer antibody that broadly neutralizes a range of clade 1 sarbecoviruses

SARS-CoV-2 rapidly adapts to Vero E6 cell culture propagation

Study shows several peridomestic mammal species are potential spreaders of SARS-CoV-2

New UK SARS-CoV-2 variant circulating in US since November, says study

New SARS-CoV-2 variant must be curbed to protect UK health services, warn experts

Accelerating vaccine rollout may provide greatest reduction in COVID-19 mortality

Recombinant SARS-CoV-2 protein vaccine less immunogenic but more antigenic than expected

B.1.1.7 variant and healthcare workers’ travel worry

Probiotics as adjuvant therapy for COVID-19 patients

New SARS-CoV-2 variants resistant to convalescent sera and and monoclonal antibodies

New drug screening platform identifies inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2

New, highly accurate 20-minute COVID-19 test is trialed across the University of Surrey

Scientists develop a model to track viral load in COVID-19 patients

Bispecific antibody shows efficacy against new SARS-CoV-2 variants

Herd immunity to SARS-CoV-2 may not be achievable with current vaccines

A new way of characterising biomolecules eBook

How can super-resolution technology help study neurotransmission?

The Proteoform Puzzle: Unlocking the Next Frontier

Synthetic Biology and the Pursuit of Living Diagnostics

Virus News and Research

Latest Virus News and Research

A new way of characterising biomolecules eBook

How can super-resolution technology help study neurotransmission?

The Proteoform Puzzle: Unlocking the Next Frontier

Synthetic Biology and the Pursuit of Living Diagnostics

Newsletters you may be interested in