In the United States, the standard approach to distributing a routine vaccine is based on the assumption that there will be plenty of doses available. Ideally, everyone will then follow their doctors’ recommendations when it comes to being immunized against the germ in question. As a practical matter, though, rarely are both of those conditions…
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Four years ago, Jamie Beck was a photographer living on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. She was on a plane and had an anxiety attack and was convinced she would die. “The first thing I thought was, ‘I will never know what it’s like to live in France,’” she said. “I swore if the…
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New research by BAT has found that smokers who switched completely from smoking cigarettes to using BAT’s flagship tobacco heating product (THP), glo, substantially reduced their exposure to certain cigarette smoke toxicants over three months. For many of the toxicants measured, the levels found in participants were similar to those in people that stopped using…
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Scientists at the University of Cambridge, in collaboration with Justus-Liebig University, Germany, have uncovered how the genome of SARS-CoV-2 — the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 — uses genome origami to infect and replicate successfully inside host cells. This could inform the development of effective drugs that target specific parts of the virus genome, in the…
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Neoleukin Therapeutics, Inc., «Neoleukin» (NASDAQ:NLTX), a biopharmaceutical company utilizing sophisticated computational methods to design de novo protein therapeutics, today announced the publication in Science of research describing novel molecules designed to treat or prevent infection by the virus that causes COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2. This report details the creation of de novo protein decoys that were specifically…
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PITTSBURGH, Nov. 5, 2020 — Today in Science, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine describe a new method to extract tiny but extremely powerful SARS-CoV-2 antibody fragments from llamas, which could be fashioned into inhalable therapeutics with the potential to prevent and treat COVID-19. These special llama antibodies, called «nanobodies,» are much…
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Two separate studies have identified nanobodies — which could be produced less expensively than monoclonal antibodies — that bind tightly to the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein and efficiently neutralize SARS-CoV-2 in cells. «The combined stability, potency, and diverse epitope engagement of our … nanobodies … provide a unique potential prophylactic and therapeutic strategy to limit the…
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Researchers have designed a protein «decoy» that mimics the interface where the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein binds a human cell, one version of which could neutralize virus infection in cells and protect hamsters from viral challenge. The SARS-CoV-2 virus enters human cells when the spike protein binds to the human ACE2 receptor. While neutralizing antibodies to…
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Fossil fuel burning accounts for the majority of global greenhouse gas emissions, and to the world’s credit, several countries are working to reduce their use and the heat-trapping emissions that ensue. The goal is to keep global temperatures under a 1.5° to 2°C increase above preindustrial levels — the upper limits of the Paris Climate…
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NEW YORK, NY (Nov. 5, 2020)—Children and adults produce different types and amounts of antibodies in response to infection with the new coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, a new study from researchers at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons has found. The differences in antibodies suggest the course of the infection and immune response is distinct…
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