Engineered SARS-CoV-2 protein offers better stability and yields for vaccine researchers

A team of scientists has engineered the spike protein of the SARS-CoV-2 virus – a critical component of potential COVID-19 vaccines – to be more environmentally stable and generate larger yields in the lab. By solving problems with protein instability that have held back vaccine research, the new spike protein design could accelerate the development…

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Scientists chart SARS-CoV-2 origin and transmission in Brazil, harboring one of fastest growing COVID-19 epidemics in the world

A team of Brazilian and European scientists has determined the transmission rates and out-of-country origins of predominant SARS-CoV-2 strains currently circulating in Brazil, which harbors one of the fastest growing COVID-19 epidemics in the world. Although the researchers show that non-pharmaceutical interventions initially reduced viral transmission, the continued increases in both cases and deaths in…

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New CRISPR C-to-G DNA base editor expands the landscape of precision genome editing

BOSTON – New genome-editing technologies developed by researchers in J. Keith Joung’s laboratory at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) have the potential to help understand disease-associated genetic mutations that are based on C-to-G (cytosine to guanine) single base changes. The new base editors are also designed to minimize unintended (“off-target”) mutations that could potentially cause…

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