antibodies, microbiology

Tiny but powerful nanobodies may be the innovation that snuffs out the pandemic.

By avoiding the production of antibodies, something vaccines ordinarily induce, the immunization sidesteps the problem of antibody-dependent enhancement, which can amplify infection by a similar virus and is known to occur with dengue and Zika.

In the armpit lymph nodes of people who had received the mRNA vaccine against SARS-CoV-2, researchers found germinal centers needed to generate long-lived antibody-making cells.

Mix-and-match shots could simplify vaccine rollout and stimulate more-robust immune responses. Ongoing clinical trials will soon give answers.

The decision adds to evidence that the benefits of plasma infusions from COVID-19 survivors may be limited, but advocates say the case isn’t closed.

Sam Wilson discusses a user-friendly set of resources that he and his collaborators developed to aid labs pivoting to study COVID-19.

A treatment of two monoclonal antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 is ninefold less effective in the lab against the B.1.351 variant than against the dominant version of the virus.

A B-cell receptor critical for the production of a subset of intestinal antibodies has been pinpointed, but the function of those antibodies remains unclear.

After initial setbacks, the country’s recent antibody screen estimates that 5 percent of the population has been exposed to SARS-CoV-2.

Preprints from the first round of seroprevalence studies indicate that many more people have been infected with the virus than previously reported. Some of these studies also have serious design flaws.

Under emergency protocols, doctors can request to use survivors’ plasma to treat some critically ill COVID-19 patients.  

Antigens originating from the microbiome may trigger an autoimmune response.

The 2018 award goes to Frances Arnold, Gregory Winter, and George Smith.