A study led by researchers from the LKS Faculty of Medicine at The University of Hong Kong (HKUMed) provides the first information on how the novel Variant of Concern (VOC) of SARS-CoV-2, the Omicron SARS-CoV-2 infect human respiratory tract. The researchers found that Omicron SARS-CoV-2 infects and multiplies 70 times faster than the Delta variant
A growing body of scientific evidence, considered together with ecological reality, strongly suggest that novel coronaviruses will continue to infect bats and other animal reservoirs and potentially emerge to pose a pandemic threat to humans. To counter future coronavirus outbreaks, the global scientific and medical research community should focus a major effort now on three
Blood Cancer Discovery, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, has published a research article demonstrating a novel approach that may reduce a serious adverse effect associated with chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy, a form of immunotherapy. This research was presented at the American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting in Atlanta, Georgia
An international collaboration between researchers from the Center for Cooperative Research in Biosciences (CIC bioGUNE, Bilbao), the Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine (LCSB) at the University of Luxembourgand and the Department of Immunology of St Jude Children’s Research Hospital (Kanneganti Lab, Memphis) highlights how fostering synergies between computational and experimental studies can lead to important
Scientists at Boston Children’s Hospital have successfully used gene therapy to reverse a form of genetic hearing loss in mice. The team corrected a gene mutation that affects sensory hair cells in the inner ear, and the new jigsaw-like method could help improve gene therapy for other disorders. The target of the new treatment was
Led by the University of Oxford, a team of UK-based researchers have today reported results of the largest ever study to compare the risks of cardiovascular events, such as myocarditis, pericarditis, and cardiac arrhythmia, between different vaccines and COVID-19 infection, and the first to investigate the association between cardiac events and the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. While
Model replicates features of complex disease and provides platform for screening existing drugs Using a stem-cell-derived model, researchers have identified two drug candidates that may slow dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a leading cause of blindness for which no treatment exists. The scientists, from the National Eye Institute (NEI), part of the National Institutes of
There’s been great concern about the new Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. A major reason is Omicron has accumulated over 50 mutations, including about 30 in the spike protein, the part of the coronavirus that mRNA vaccines teach our immune systems to attack. All of these genetic changes raise the possibility that
On 26 November 2021, WHO designated the variant B.1.1.529 a variant of concern (VOC), on the basis of advice from WHO’s Technical Advisory Group on Virus Evolution. The variant has been given the name Omicron. Omicron variant is a highly divergent variant with a high number of mutations, including 26-32 in the spike protein, some of which
Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued an emergency use authorization (EUA) for AstraZeneca’s Evusheld (tixagevimab co-packaged with cilgavimab and administered together) for the pre-exposure prophylaxis (prevention) of COVID-19 in certain adults and pediatric individuals (12 years of age and older weighing at least 40 kilograms [about 88 pounds]). The product is only authorized
