Depleting an aberrant cell population in the bone marrow could boost the immune system’s response to pathogens such as COVID and influenza. Continue reading Anti-Aging Antibodies Rejuvenate the Immune System to Help Fight Pathogens
by Ya’el Courtneyfigures by MacKenzie Maugeredited by Yuli Lily Hsieh January 2023 marked the third anniversary of the discovery of SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic that halted life as we knew it. It overwhelmed hospitals worldwide, and is still infecting around 250,000 people daily across the globe in February 2023. Over these three years, many countries have struggled to monitor the rapidly … Continue reading Something in the Sewage: What watching our wastewater can tell us about infectious diseases
by Christopher Rotafigures by Daniel Utter The COVID-19 pandemic has touched every corner of American society, including the lives of scientists. The past year has seen many researchers dramatically shift the focus of their work, as experts from across different disciplines came together to study this novel disease and develop potential therapies. The National Institutes of Health, the United States’ foremost public biomedical research agency, … Continue reading The “Covidization” of Science: Short-Term Necessity or Problematic Over-Reaction?
Researchers at the University of Edinburgh used caffeine to understand how fungi become resistant to antifungal drugs. Continue reading Waking Up to Antifungal Drug Resistance
Researchers have discovered how plants can physically prevent pathogens from entering by closing small openings on their leaves. Continue reading Plants Shut the Door on Infection–Literally
Current polio vaccines have been successful in nearly eradicating polio in the world. Unfortunately, there have been emerging cases of polio in recent years. To combat this, scientists have designed a new oral poliovirus vaccine that could result in a new and safer polio vaccine. Continue reading Redesigning the polio vaccine – Lessons from evolution
COVID-19 has now forced most of us into our homes for weeks. A recent study highlighted the importance of staying at home in these crucial times, even if you’re feeling well: people with mild, limited or even no symptoms at all were estimated to have caused the majority of severe COVID-19 infections and the wide geographic spread of COVID-19. Continue reading Computational models show why staying home really is the best idea
In order to combat the growing problem of antibiotic resistance, a group of scientists from MIT are using artificial intelligence to discover new and effective antibiotics. They were able to predict a powerful new antibiotic compound that is effective against many dangerous pathogens. Continue reading Artificial Intelligence – our new MVP against infections?
CIFAR Fellows’s paper questions whether diabetes, heart attacks and strokes are actually non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Microbiota (bacteria, viruses, fungi) that spread flu, HIV/AIDS, may also carry NCDs. People with NCDs have damaged microbiota, causing disease when transmitted into healthy animals. Spouses and cohabitants’ shared lifestyles and environments also lead to gut bacteria transfer.
Continue reading Is diabetes communicable?
Flu shots have an exciting new role in the world of cancer therapy! A recent study shows that flu vaccines could be used to boost the effects of cancer immunotherapy. Continue reading Take your flu shots! Fighting cancer with flu vaccines.