Three epidemic or pandemic coronaviruses—SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, & SARS-CoV-2—have spilled over from animals to cause deadly illness in humans in the past 20 years. Virus researchers are determined to discover a means to ...
Aug 6, 2021
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A microbiologist and an immunologist from the University of Alabama at Birmingham have published a Perspective piece in the journal Science outlining the possible benefits of developing COVID-19 vaccines delivered in an intranasal ...
When a new mutation within the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein receptor binding domain (RBD) emerges that a particular antibody can no longer neutralyze, it is often called an escape variant. With the rapid identification of these ...
Before the pandemic, the lab of Stanford University biochemist Peter S. Kim focused on developing vaccines for HIV, Ebola and pandemic influenza. But, within days of closing their campus lab space as part of COVID-19 precautions, ...
Jan 6, 2021
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A lot has been written recently about the merits of different potential vaccines for SARS-CoV-2. "Merit" is generally assumed to mean that the vaccine will make us immune. But what, exactly, is immunity, and how would we ...
It has been a pandemic since at least biblical times, and unless effective strategies harness the global tuberculosis scourge, the disease will remain problematic and pervasive—an unending plague throughout many regions ...
Every year, a lack of vaccination leads to about 1.5 million preventable deaths, primarily in developing nations. One factor that makes vaccination campaigns in those nations more difficult is that there is little infrastructure ...
Dec 18, 2019
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Germinal centers are high-speed evolution machines. Tiny clusters in the lymph nodes, germinal centers refine antibodies through mutation and expansion until they produce high-affinity B cells adapted to keep different pathogens ...
21 hours ago
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A vaccine's ability to generate long-lasting, high-affinity antibodies hinges on a delicate balance. Upon exposure to a vaccine or pathogen, B cells scramble to refine their defenses, rapidly mutating in hopes of generating ...
21 hours ago
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Gut microbiota may be the key factor explaining why certain individuals do not respond well to the pneumococcal vaccine, a bacterium that can cause various diseases, such as pneumonia. This conclusion is drawn from a recent ...
Mar 13, 2025
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