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Bio-weapon warning: Next pandemic could be genetically engineered, experts warn – Daily Express

September 15th, 2020 10:59 am

Terrorists could genetically modify diseases to attack their enemies, and the consequences would be far more devastating than an outbreak of natural origin, scientists believe. If terrorists were able to obtain the biotechnology which allowed them to genetically modify a pathogen or virus, the consequences could be deadly for humanity and it could be the root of the next major pandemic.

The world has struggled to cope with a virus outbreak of natural origins in the coronavirus pandemic, with almost one million dead.

However, if a new virus were to be engineered, it would be completely foreign to scientists who would ultimately struggle to be able to contain and find a cure.

Vivek Wadhwa from Harvard Law Schoool, said advancements in gene-editing technology such as CRISPR are making it easier to create bioweapons.

Much in the same way as vaccines are created by identifying the antigen which triggers the immune response which are then isolated and then injected it into humans a similar process could happen by identifying the lethal traits in viruses to make them even more harmful.

Mr Wadwha wrote in an essay for Foreign Policy: "With COVID-19 bringing Western economies to their knees, all the worlds dictators now know that pathogens can be as destructive as nuclear missiles.

"Whats even more worrying is that it no longer takes a sprawling government lab to engineer a virus.

"Thanks to a technological revolution in genetic engineering, all the tools needed to create a virus have become so cheap, simple, and readily available that any rogue scientist or college-age biohacker can use them, creating an even greater threat.

It is now too late to stop the global spread of these technologies the genie is out of the bottle.

READ MORE:Coronavirus conspiracy theory: Claims of bioweapons and the apocalypse

"We must treat the coronavirus pandemic as a full dress rehearsal of what is to come unfortunately, that includes not only viruses that erupt from nature, but also those that will be deliberately engineered by humans.

Mr Wadhwa is not the only expert concerned about the potential rise of bioterrorism.

Bryan Walsh, author of the book End Times which details the existential threats humanity faces, told Express.co.uk: When I look into the near future, the thing that worries me the most is the threat of a bioengineered pandemic created out the lab using some of these new tools for genetic editing.

"That is particularly dangerous because diseases and pandemics are a threat already but what could be created in a lab on purpose say by terrorists would be much worse than anything created by nature."

DON'T MISSBill Gates: Terrorists could kill TENS OF MILLIONS with BIOWEAPONSNext biological weapon FOUND? Insect ARMY being harnessed in the USWas this coronavirus PATIENT ZERO? Vicious bat attack at Chinese lab

Other scientists, however, are more optimistic about the benefits of CRISPR and other gene-editing tools.

Helen ONeill, a molecular geneticist at University College London, believes disease could one day be irradiated through genetic modification.

She said: There are endless capacities when it comes to gene editing.

We can take your blood cells, we fix them and reinsert them back in to you.

"Soon every baby will have every letter of its genome read on the day it is born so we can tailor medication for them.

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Bio-weapon warning: Next pandemic could be genetically engineered, experts warn - Daily Express

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Novavax Announces COVID-19 Vaccine Manufacturing Agreement with Serum Institute of India, Increasing Novavax’ Global Production Capacity to Over 2…

September 15th, 2020 10:59 am

GAITHERSBURG, Md., Sept. 15, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Novavax, Inc. (Nasdaq: NVAX), a late-stage biotechnology company developing next-generation vaccines for serious infectious diseases, today announced an amendment to its existing agreement with Serum Institute of India Private Limited (SIIPL) under which SIIPL will also manufacture the antigen component of NVXCoV2373, Novavax COVID19 vaccine candidate. With this agreement, Novavax increases its manufacturing capacity of NVX-CoV2373 to over two billion doses annually, when all planned capacity has been brought online by mid-2021. NVXCoV2373 is a stable, prefusion protein made using Novavax recombinant protein nanoparticle technology and includes Novavax proprietary MatrixM adjuvant.

Todays agreement with Serum Institute enhances Novavax commitment to equitable global delivery of our COVID-19 vaccine. With this arrangement, we have now put in place a global supply chain that includes the recently acquired Praha Vaccines and partnerships with leading biologics manufacturers, enabling production on three continents, said Stanley C. Erck, President and Chief Executive Officer of Novavax. We continue to work with extraordinary urgency to develop our vaccine, now in Phase 2 clinical trials, and for which we anticipate starting Phase 3 efficacy trials around the world in the coming weeks.

The agreement with SIIPL augments a global supply chain that will deliver over two billion doses of NVX-CoV2373 annually as of 2021.

The antigen component of NVX-CoV2373 is being manufactured at Novavax CZ in Bohumil, Czech Republic (formerly Praha Vaccines), as well as at the following partnered manufacturing sites:

Novavax Matrix-M adjuvant is now being manufactured at Novavax AB in Uppsala, Sweden and the following partnered manufacturing sites:

Signing of the manufacturing agreement with Novavax for NVX-CoV2373 is another great milestone for both companies, which will further strengthen our existing relationship. SIIPL expertise to scale-up and manufacture NVX-CoV2373 will help ensure the supply of this most-needed vaccine, said Adar Poonawalla, Chief Executive Officer of Serum Institute of India.

About NVX-CoV2373

NVXCoV2373 is a vaccine candidate engineered from the genetic sequence of SARSCoV2, the virus that causes COVID-19 disease. NVXCoV2373 was created using Novavax recombinant nanoparticle technology to generate antigen derived from the coronavirus spike (S) protein and contains Novavax patented saponin-based Matrix-M adjuvant to enhance the immune response and stimulate high levels of neutralizing antibodies. In preclinical trials, NVXCoV2373 demonstrated indication of antibodies that block binding of spike protein to receptors targeted by the virus, a critical aspect for effective vaccine protection. In its Phase 1 portion of the Phase 1/2 clinical trial, NVXCoV2373 was generally well-tolerated and elicited robust antibody responses numerically superior to that seen in human convalescent sera. Phase 2 clinical trials began in August 2020. Novavax has secured $2 billion in funding for its global coronavirus vaccine program, including up to $388 million in funding from the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI).

About Matrix-M

Novavax patented saponin-based Matrix-M adjuvant has demonstrated a potent and well-tolerated effect by stimulating the entry of antigen-presenting cells into the injection site and enhancing antigen presentation in local lymph nodes, boosting immune response.

About Novavax

Novavax, Inc. (Nasdaq:NVAX) is a late-stage biotechnology company that promotes improved health globally through the discovery, development, and commercialization of innovative vaccines to prevent serious infectious diseases. Novavax is undergoing clinical trials for NVX-CoV2373, its vaccine candidate against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. NanoFlu, its quadrivalent influenza nanoparticle vaccine, met all primary objectives in its pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial in older adults. Both vaccine candidates incorporate Novavax proprietary saponin-based Matrix-M adjuvant in order to enhance the immune response and stimulate high levels of neutralizing antibodies. Novavax is a leading innovator of recombinant vaccines; its proprietary recombinant technology platform combines the power and speed of genetic engineering to efficiently produce highly immunogenic nanoparticles in order to address urgent global health needs.

For more information, visit http://www.novavax.com and connect with us on Twitter and LinkedIn.

About Serum Institute of India

Serum Institute of India Pvt. Ltd. was founded in 1966 by Dr. Cyrus Poonawalla with a mission of manufacturing life-saving immuno-biologics. Serum is the world's largest vaccine manufacturer by number of doses produced and sold globally (more than 1.3 billion doses). It is estimated that about 65% of the children in the world receive at least one vaccine manufactured by Serum Institute. Vaccines manufactured by Serum are accredited by the World Health Organization, Geneva and are being used in approximately 170 countries across the globe.

Serum is ranked as India's No. 1 biotechnology company, manufacturing highly specialized lifesaving biologics like vaccines using cutting edge genetic and cell-based technologies, antisera and other medical specialties.

The philanthropic philosophy of Serum continues with its work on newer vaccines and biologicals.

Learn more about Serum Institute of India at https://www.seruminstitute.com/.

About CEPI

CEPI is an innovative partnership between public, private, philanthropic, and civil society organizations, launched at Davos in 2017, to develop vaccines to stop future epidemics. CEPI has moved with great urgency and in coordination with WHO in response to the emergence of COVID-19. CEPI has initiated 9 partnerships to develop vaccines against the novel coronavirus. The programs will leverage rapid response platforms already supported by CEPI as well as new partnerships. The aim is to advance COVID-19 vaccine candidates into clinical testing as quickly as possible.

Before the emergence of COVID-19 CEPI's priority diseases included Ebola virus, Lassa virus, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus, Nipah virus, Rift Valley Fever and Chikungunya virus. CEPI also invested in platform technologies that can be used for rapid vaccine and immunoprophylactic development against unknown pathogens (Disease X).

Novavax Forward-Looking Statements

Statements herein relating to the future of Novavax and the ongoing development of its vaccine and adjuvant products are forward-looking statements. Novavax cautions that these forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements. These risks and uncertainties include those identified under the heading Risk Factors in the Novavax Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019, and Quarterly Report on Form 8-K for the period ended June 30, 2020, as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). We caution investors not to place considerable reliance on forward-looking statements contained in this press release. You are encouraged to read our filings with the SEC, available at sec.gov, for a discussion of these and other risks and uncertainties. The forward-looking statements in this press release speak only as of the date of this document, and we undertake no obligation to update or revise any of the statements. Our business is subject to substantial risks and uncertainties, including those referenced above. Investors, potential investors, and others should give careful consideration to these risks and uncertainties.

Contacts:

Novavax

InvestorsSilvia Taylor and Erika Trahanir@novavax.com240-268-2022

MediaBrandzone/KOGS CommunicationEdna Kaplankaplan@kogspr.com617-974-8659

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Novavax Announces COVID-19 Vaccine Manufacturing Agreement with Serum Institute of India, Increasing Novavax' Global Production Capacity to Over 2...

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Death by COVID: 5 immune response markers that predict whether an infected person is likely to survive – Genetic Literacy Project

September 15th, 2020 10:59 am

[Researchers] have identified five immune response markers that, collectively, were able to distinguish between those COVID-19 patients who convalesced from the infection, and those who didnt survive the disease. The researchers used a systems serology technique to generate a detailed profile of SARS-Co-2-specific humoralantibody generatingresponses in hospitalized patients, which they validated in a second patient cohort. The findings indicated that individuals who survived COVID-19 infection and those who died exhibited antibody responses that were primarily directed against different SARS-CoV-2 proteins.

By looking at the overall profile of the immune response, we can begin to truly understand how the immune system responds to COVID-19 and then use that knowledge to prevent the worst outcomes of this disease, [said researcher Galit Alter.]

Its still not clear why some individuals infected with SARS-CoV-2 recover from infection and others die, the authors noted. While the rapid spread of SARS-CoV-2, even during the asymptomatic phase of this infection, is alarming, more harrowing is our inability to predict disease trajectories among symptomatic individuals. And without any therapeutics or vaccines as countermeasures, there is an urgent need to start mapping how immunity to the virus starts to develop. This knowledge will not only help to guide patient care, but could help to direct the development of future immune-based strategies against the disorder.

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Death by COVID: 5 immune response markers that predict whether an infected person is likely to survive - Genetic Literacy Project

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Was COVID-19 Manmade? Meet the Scientist Behind the Theory – Boston magazine

September 15th, 2020 10:59 am

Research

The worlds preeminent scientists say a theory from the Broad Institutes Alina Chan is too wild to be believed. But when the theory is about the possibility of COVID being man-made, is this science or censorship?

Illustration by Benjamen Purvis

In January, as she watched the news about a novel virus spreading out of control in China, Alina Chan braced for a shutdown. The molecular biologist at the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT started stockpiling medicine and supplies. By the time March rolled around and a quarantine seemed imminent, shed bought hundreds of dollars worth of fillets from her favorite fishmonger in Cambridge and packed them into her freezer. Then she began to ramp down her projects in the lab, isolating her experimental cells from their cultures and freezing them in small tubes.

As prepared as she was for the shutdown, though, she found herself unprepared for the frustration of being frozen out of work. She paced the walls of her tiny apartment feeling bored and useless. Chan has been a puzzle demon since childhood, which was precisely what she loved about her workthe chance to solve fiendishly difficult problems about how viruses operate and how, through gene therapy, they could be repurposed to help cure devastating genetic diseases. Staring out her window at the eerily quiet streets of her Inman Square neighborhood, she groaned at the thought that it could be months before she was at it again. Her mind wandered back to 2003, when she was a teenager growing up in Singapore and the first SARS virus, a close relative of this coronavirus, appeared in Asia. It hadnt been anything like this. That one had been relatively easy to corral. How had this virus come out of nowhere and shut down the planet? Why was it so different? she asked herself.

Then it hit her: The worlds greatest puzzle was staring her in the face. Stuck at home, all she had to work with was her brain and her laptop. Maybe they were enough. Chan fired up the kettle for the first of what would become hundreds of cups of tea, stacked four boxes on her kitchen counter to raise her laptop to the proper height, pulled back her long dark hair, and began reading all of the scientific literature she could find on the coronavirus.

It wasnt long before she came across an article about the remarkable stability of the virus, whose genome had barely changed from the earliest human cases, despite trillions of replications. This perplexed Chan. Like many emerging infectious diseases, COVID-19 was thought to be zoonoticit originated in animals, then somehow found its way into people. At the time, the Chinese government and most scientists insisted the jump had happened at Wuhans seafood market, but that didnt make sense to Chan. If the virus had leapt from animals to humans in the market, it should have immediately started evolving to life inside its new human hosts. But it hadnt.

On a hunch, she decided to look at the literature on the 2003 SARS virus, which had jumped from civets to people. Bingo. A few papers mentioned its rapid evolution in its first months of existence. Chan felt the familiar surge of puzzle endorphins. The new virus really wasnt behaving like it should. Chan knew that delving further into this puzzle would require some deep genetic analysis, and she knew just the person for the task. She opened Google Chat and fired off a message to Shing Hei Zhan. He was an old friend from her days at the University of British Columbia and, more important, he was a computational god.

Do you want to partner on a very unusual paper? she wrote.

Sure, he replied.

One thing Chan noticed about the original SARS was that the virus in the first human cases was subtly differenta few dozen letters of genetic codefrom the one in the civets. That meant it had immediately morphed. She asked Zhan to pull up the genomes for the coronaviruses that had been found on surfaces in the Wuhan seafood market. Were they at all different from the earliest documented cases in humans?

Zhan ran the analysis. Nope, they were 100 percent the same. Definitely from humans, not animals. The seafood-market theory, which Chinese health officials and the World Health Organization espoused in the early days of the pandemic, was wrong. Chans puzzle detectors pulsed again. Shing, she messaged Zhan, this paper is going to be insane.

In the coming weeks, as the spring sun chased shadows across her kitchen floor, Chan stood at her counter and pounded out her paper, barely pausing to eat or sleep. It was clear that the first SARS evolved rapidly during its first three months of existence, constantly fine-tuning its ability to infect humans, and settling down only during the later stages of the epidemic. In contrast, the new virus looked a lot more like late-stage SARS. Its almost as if were missing the early phase, Chan marveled to Zhan. Or, as she put it in their paper, as if it was already well adapted for human transmission.

That was a profoundly provocative line. Chan was implying that the virus was already familiar with human physiology when it had its coming-out party in Wuhan in late 2019. If so, there were three possible explanations.

Perhaps it was just staggeringly bad luck: The mutations had all occurred in an earlier host species, and just happened to be the perfect genetic arrangement for an invasion of humanity. But that made no sense. Those mutations would have been disadvantageous in the old host.

Maybe the virus had been circulating undetected in humans for months, working out the kinks, and nobody had noticed. Also unlikely. Chinas health officials would not have missed it, and even if they had, theyd be able to go back now through stored samples to find the trail of earlier versions. And they werent coming up with anything.

That left a third possibility: The missing phase had happened in a lab, where the virus had been trained on human cells. Chan knew this was the third rail of potential explanations. At the time, conspiracy theorists were spinning bioweapon fantasies, and Chan was loath to give them any ammunition. But she also didnt want to play politics by withholding her findings. Chan is in her early thirties, still at the start of her career, and an absolute idealist about the purity of the scientific process. Facts were facts.

Or at least they used to be. Since the start of the pandemic, the Trump administration has been criticized for playing fast and loose with factsdenying, exaggerating, or spinning them to suit the presidents political needs. As a result, many scientists have learned to censor themselves for fear that their words will be misrepresented. Still, Chan thought, if she were to sit on scientific research just to avoid providing ammunition to conspiracy theorists or Trump, would she be any better than them?

Chan knew she had to move forward and make her findings public. In the final draft of her paper, she torpedoed the seafood-market theory, then laid out a case that the virus seemed curiously well adapted to humans. She mentioned all three possible explanations, carefully wording the third to emphasize that if the novel coronavirus did come from a lab, it would have been the result of an accident in the course of legitimate research.

On May 2, Chan uploaded the paper to a site where as-yet-unpublished biology papers known as preprints are shared for open peer review. She tweeted out the news and waited. On May 16, the Daily Mail, a British tabloid, picked up her research. The very next day, Newsweek ran a story with the headline Scientists Shouldnt Rule Out Lab as Source of Coronavirus, New Study Says.

And that, Chan says, is when shit exploded everywhere.

Alina Chan, a molecular biologist at the Broad Institute, says we cant rule out the possibility that the novel coronavirus originated in a labeven though she knows its a politically radioactive thing to say. / Photo by Mona Miri

Chan had come to my attention a week before the Newsweek story was published through her smart and straightforward tweets, which I found refreshing at a time when most scientists were avoiding any serious discussion about the possibility that COVID-19 had escaped from a biolab. Id written a lot about genetic engineering and so-called gain-of-function researchthe fascinating, if scary, line of science in which scientists alter viruses to make them more transmissible or lethal as a way of assessing how close those viruses are to causing pandemics. I also knew that deadly pathogens escape from biolabs with surprising frequency. Most of these accidents end up being harmless, but many researchers have been infected, and people have died as a result.

For years, concerned scientists have warned that this type of pathogen research was going to trigger a pandemic. Foremost among them was Harvard epidemiologist Marc Lipsitch, who founded the Cambridge Working Group in 2014 to lobby against these experiments. In a series of policy papers, op-eds, and scientific forums, he pointed out that accidents involving deadly pathogens occurred more than twice a week in U.S. labs, and estimated that just 10 labs performing gain-of-function research over a 10-year period would run a nearly 20 percent risk of an accidental release. In 2018, he argued that such a release could lead to global spread of a virulent virus, a biosafety incident on a scale never before seen.

Thanks in part to the Cambridge Working Group, the federal government briefly instituted a moratorium on such research. By 2017, however, the ban was lifted and U.S. labs were at it again. Today, in the United States and across the globe, there are dozens of labs conducting experiments on a daily basis with the deadliest known pathogens. One of them is the Wuhan Institute of Virology. For more than a decade, its scientists have been discovering coronaviruses in bats in southern China and bringing them back to their lab in Wuhan. There, they mix genes from different strains of these novel viruses to test their infectivity in human cells and lab animals.

When word spread in January that a novel coronavirus had caused an outbreak in Wuhanwhich is a thousand miles from where the bats that carry this lineage of viruses are naturally foundmany experts were quietly alarmed. There was no proof that the lab was the source of the virus, but the pieces fit.

Despite the evidence, the scientific community quickly dismissed the idea. Peter Daszak, president of EcoHealth Alliance, which has funded the work of the Wuhan Institute of Virology and other labs searching for new viruses, called the notion preposterous, and many other experts echoed that sentiment.

That wasnt necessarily what every scientist thought in private, though. They cant speak directly, one scientist told me confidentially, referring to the virology communitys fear of having their comments sensationalized in todays politically charged environment. Many virologists dont want to be hated by everyone in the field.

There are other potential reasons for the pushback. Theres long been a sense that if the public and politicians really knew about the dangerous pathogen research being conducted in many laboratories, theyd be outraged. Denying the possibility of a catastrophic incident like this, then, could be seen as a form of career preservation. For the substantial subset of virologists who perform gain-of-function research, Richard Ebright, a Rutgers microbiologist and another founding member of the Cambridge Working Group, told me, avoiding restrictions on research funding, avoiding implementation of appropriate biosafety standards, and avoiding implementation of appropriate research oversight are powerful motivators. Antonio Regalado, biomedicine editor of MIT Technology Review, put it more bluntly. If it turned out COVID-19 came from a lab, he tweeted, it would shatter the scientific edifice top to bottom.

Thats a pretty good incentive to simply dismiss the whole hypothesis, but it quickly amounted to a global gaslighting of the mediaand, by proxy, the public. An unhealthy absolutism set in: Either you insisted that any questions about lab involvement were absurd, or you were a tool of the Trump administration and its desperation to blame China for the virus. I was used to social media pundits ignoring inconvenient or politically toxic facts, but Id never expected to see that from some of our best scientists.

Which is why Chan stood out on Twitter, daring to speak truth to power. It is very difficult to do research when one hypothesis has been negatively cast as a conspiracy theory, she wrote. Then she offered some earnest advice to researchers, suggesting that most viral research should be done with neutered viruses that have had their replicating machinery removed in advance, so that even if they escaped confinement, they would be incapable of making copies of themselves. When these precautions are not followed, risk of lab escape is exponentially higher, she explained, adding, I hope the pandemic motivates local ethics and biosafety committees to think carefully about how they can reduce risk. She elaborated on this in another tweet several days later: Id alsopersonallyprefer if high biosafety level labs were not located in the most populous cities on earth.

How Safe Are Bostons Biolabs?

As one of the world centers of biotech, the Hub is peppered with academic and corporate labs doing research on pathogens. Foremost among them is Boston Universitys National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories (NEIDL), the only lab in the city designated as BSL-4 (the highest level of biosafety and the same level as the Wuhan Institute of Virology). It is one of just a dozen or so in the United States equipped to work with live versions of the worlds most dangerous viruses, including Ebola and Marburg. Researchers there began doing so in 2018 after a decade of controversy: Many locals objected to the risks of siting such a facility in the center of a major metropolitan area.

The good news? Before opening, NEIDL undertook one of the most thorough risk assessments in history, learning from the mistakes of other facilities. Even Lynn Klotz, a senior science fellow at the Washington, DCbased Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, who advised local groups that opposed NEIDL, told the medical website Contagion that the lab likely has the best possible security protocols and measures in place.

But the reality, Klotz added, is that most lab accidents are caused by human error, and there is only so much that can be done through good design and protocols to proactively prevent such mistakes. (Or to guard against an intentional release by a disgruntled researcher, as allegedly happened in the anthrax attacks of 2001.) Rutgers molecular biologist Richard Ebright, a longtime critic of potentially dangerous pathogen research, says the risks introduced by NEIDL are not low enough and definitely not worth the negligible benefits.

Still, risk is relative. Klotz has estimated the chance of a pathogen escape from a BSL-4 lab at 0.3 percent per year, and NEIDL is probably significantly safer than the typical BSL-4 lab. And if catching a deadly pathogen is your fear, well, currently you run a good risk of finding one in your own neighborhood. Until that gets cleared up, the citys biolabs are probably among the safer spaces in town.

Chan had started using her Twitter account this intensely only a few days earlier, as a form of outreach for her paper. The social platform has become the way many scientists find out about one anothers work, and studies have shown that attention on Twitter translates to increased citations for a paper in scientific literature. But its a famously raw forum. Many scientists are not prepared for the digital storms that roil the Twitterverse, and they dont handle it well. Chan dreaded it at first, but quickly took to Twitter like a digital native. Having Twitter elevates your work, she says. And I think its really fun to talk to nonscientists about that work.

After reading her tweets, I reviewed her preprint, which I found mind-blowing, and wrote her to say so. She thanked me and joked that she worried it might be career suicide.

It wasnt long before it began to look like she might be right.

Speaking her mind, it turns outeven in the face of censurewas nothing new for Chan, who is Canadian but was raised in Singapore, one of the more repressive regimes on earth. Her parents, both computer science professionals, encouraged free thinking and earnest inquiry in their daughter, but the local school system did not. Instead, it was a pressure-cooker of a system that rewarded students for falling in line, and moved quickly to silence rebels.

That was a bad fit for Chan. You have to bow to teachers, she says. Sometimes teachers from other classes would show up and ask me to bow to them. And I would say, No, youre not my teacher. Back then they believed in corporal punishment. A teacher could just take a big stick and beat you in front of the class. I got whacked so many times.

Still, Chan rebelled in small ways, skipping school and hanging out at the arcade. She also lost interest in her studies. I just really didnt like school. And I didnt like all the extracurriculars they pack you with in Singapore, she says. That changed when a teacher recruited her for math Olympiads, in which teams of students compete to solve devilishly hard arithmetic puzzles. I really loved it, she says. You just sit in a room and think about problems.

Chan might well have pursued a career in math, but then she came up against teams from China in Olympiad competitions. They would just wipe everyone else off the board, she says. They were machines. Theyd been trained in math since they could walk. Theyd hit the buzzer before you could even comprehend the question. I thought, Im not going to survive in this field.

Chan decided to pursue biology instead, studying at the University of British Columbia. I liked viruses from the time I was a teen, she says. I remember the first time I learned about HIV. I thought it was a puzzle and a challenge. That instinct took her to Harvard Medical School as a postdoc, where the puzzle became how to build virus-like biomolecules to accomplish tasks inside cells, and then to Ben Devermans lab at the Broad Institute. When I see an interesting question, I want to spend 100 percent of my time working on it, she says. I get really fixated on answering scientific questions.

Deverman, for his part, says he wasnt actively looking to expand his team when Chan came along, but when opportunities to hire extraordinary people fall in my lap, he takes them. Alina brings a ton of value to the lab, he explains, adding that she has an ability to pivot between different topics and cut to the chase. Nowhere was that more on display than with her coronavirus work, which Deverman was able to closely observe. In fact, Chan ran so many ideas past him that he eventually became a coauthor. She is insightful, determined, and has the rare ability to explain complex scientific findings to other scientists and to the public, he says.

Those skills would prove highly useful when word got out about her coronavirus paper.

If Chan had spent a lifetime learning how to pursue scientific questions, she spent most of the shutdown learning what happens when the answers you come up with are politically radioactive. After the Newsweek story ran, conservative-leaning publications seized on her paper as conclusive evidence that the virus had come from a lab. Everyone focused on the one line, Chan laments. The tabloids just zoomed in on it. Meanwhile, conspiracists took it as hard evidence of their wild theories that there had been an intentional leak.

Chan spent several exhausting days putting out online fires with the many people who had misconstrued her findings. I was so naive, she tells me with a quick, self-deprecating laugh. I just thought, Shouldnt the world be thinking about this fairly? I really have to kick myself now.

Even more troubling, though, were the reactions from other scientists. As soon as her paper got picked up by the media, luminaries in the field sought to censure her. Jonathan Eisen, a well-known professor at UC Davis, criticized the study in Newsweek and on his influential Twitter account, writing, Personally, I do not find the analysis in this new paper remotely convincing. In a long thread, he argued that comparing the new virus to SARS was not enough to show that it was preadapted to humans. He wanted to see comparisons to the initial leap of other viruses from animals to humans.

Moments later, Daszak piled on. The NIH had recently cut its grant to his organization, EcoHealth Alliance, after the Trump administration learned that some of it had gone to fund the Wuhan Institute of Virologys work. Daszak was working hard to get it restored and trying to stamp out any suggestion of a lab connection. He didnt hold back on Chan. This is sloppy research, he tweeted, calling it a poorly designed phylogenetic study with too many inferences and not enough data, riding on a wave of conspiracy to drive a higher impact. Peppering his tweets with exclamation points, he attacked the wording of the paper, arguing that one experiment it cited was impossible, and told Chan she didnt understand her own data. Afterward, a Daszak supporter followed up his thread with a GIF of a mike drop.

It was an old and familiar dynamic: threatened silverback male attempts to bully a junior female member of the tribe. As a postdoc, Chan was in a vulnerable position. The world of science is still a bit medieval in its power structure, with a handful of institutions and individuals deciding who gets published, who gets positions, who gets grants. Theres little room for rebels.

What happened next was neither old nor familiar: Chan didnt back down. Sorry to disrupt mike drop, she tweeted, providing a link to a paper in the prestigious journal Nature that does that exact experiment you thought was impossible. Politely but firmly, she justified each point Daszak had attacked, showing him his mistakes. In the end, Daszak was reduced to arguing that she had used the word isolate incorrectly. In a coup de grce, Chan pointed out that actually the word had come from online data provided by GenBank, the NIHs genetic sequence database. She offered to change it to whatever made sense. At that point, Daszak stopped replying. He insists, however, that Chan is overinterpreting her findings.

With Eisen, Chan readily agreed to test her hypothesis by finding other examples of viruses infecting new hosts. Within days, a perfect opportunity came along when news broke that the coronavirus had jumped from humans to minks at European fur farms. Sure enough, the mink version began to rapidly mutate. You actually see the rapid evolution happening, Chan said. Just in the first few weeks, the changes are quite drastic.

Chan also pointed out to Eisen that the whole goal of a website such as bioRxiv (pronounced bioarchive)where she posted the paperis to elicit feedback that will make papers better before publication. Good point, he replied. Eventually he conceded that there was a lot of interesting analysis in the paper and agreed to work with Chan on the next draft.

The Twitter duels with her powerful colleagues didnt rattle Chan. I thought Jonathan was very reasonable, she says. I really appreciated his expertise, even if he disagreed with me. I like that kind of feedback. It helped to make our paper better.

With Daszak, Chan is more circumspect. Some people have trouble keeping their emotions in check, she says. Whenever I saw his comments, Id just think, Is there something I can learn here? Is there something hes right about that I should be fixing? Ultimately, she decided, there was not.

By late May, both journalists and armchair detectives interested in the mystery of the coronavirus were discovering Chan as a kind of Holmes to our Watson. She crunched information at twice our speed, zeroing in on small details wed overlooked, and became a go-to for anyone looking for spin-free explications of the latest science on COVID-19. It was thrilling to see her reasoning in real time, a reminder of why Ive always loved science, with its pursuit of patterns that sometimes leads to exciting revelations. The website CNET featured her in a story about a league of scientists-turned-detectives who were using genetic sequencing technologies to uncover COVID-19s origins. After it came out, Chan added scientist-turned-detective to her Twitter bio.

Shes lived up to her new nom de tweet. As the search for the source of the virus continued, several scientific teams published papers identifying a closely related coronavirus in pangolinsanteater-like animals that are heavily trafficked in Asia for their meat and scales. The number of different studies made it seem as though this virus was ubiquitous in pangolins. Many scientists eagerly embraced the notion that the animals might have been the intermediate hosts that had passed the novel coronavirus to humans. It fit their preexisting theories about wet markets, and it would have meant no lab had been involved.

As Chan read the pangolin papers, she grew suspicious. The first one was by a team that had analyzed a group of the animals intercepted by anti-smuggling authorities in southern China. They found the closely related virus in a few of them, and published the genomes for that virus. Some of the other papers, though, were strangely ambiguous about where their data was coming from, or how their genomes had been constructed. Had they really taken samples from actual pangolins?

Once again, Chan messaged Shing Hei Zhan. Shing, somethings weird here, she wrote. Zhan pulled up the raw data from the papers and compared the genomes they had published. Individual copies of a virus coming from different animals should have small differences, just as individuals of a species have genetic differences. Yet the genomes in all of the pangolin papers were perfect matchesthe authors were all simply using the first groups data set. Far from being ubiquitous, the virus had been found only in a few pangolins who were held together, and it was unclear where they had caught it. The animals might have even caught it from their own smuggler.

Remarkably, one group of authors in Nature even appeared to use the same genetic sequences from the other paper as if it were confirmation of their own discovery. These sequences appear to be from the same virus (Pangolin-CoV) that we identified in the present study.

Chan called them out on Twitter: Of course its the same Pangolin-CoV, you used the same dataset! For context, she later added, Imagine if clinical trials were playing fast and loose with their patient data; renaming patients, throwing them into different datasets without clarification, possibly even describing the same patient multiple times across different studies unintentionally.

She and Zhan posted a new preprint on bioRxiv dismantling the pangolin papers. Confirmation came in June when the results of a study of hundreds of pangolins in the wildlife trade were announced: Not a single pangolin had any sign of a coronavirus. Chan took a victory lap on Twitter: Supports our hypothesis all this time. The pangolin theory collapsed.

Chan then turned her Holmesian powers on bigger game: Daszak and the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Daszak had been pleading his case everywhere from 60 Minutes to the New York Times and has been successful in rallying sympathy to his cause, even getting 77 Nobel laureates to sign a letter calling for the NIH to restore EcoHealth Alliances funding.

In several long and detailed tweetorials, Chan began to cast a cloud of suspicion on the WIVs work. She pointed out that scientists there had discovered a virus that is more than 96 percent identical to the COVID-19 coronavirus in 2013 in a mineshaft soon after three miners working there had died from a COVID-like illness. The WIV didnt share these findings until 2020, even though the goal of such work, Chan pointed out, was supposedly to identify viruses with the potential to cause human illnesses and warn the world about them.

Even though that virus had killed three miners, Daszak said it wasnt considered a priority to study at the time. We were looking for SARS-related virus, and this one was 20 percent different. We thought it was interesting, but not high risk. So we didnt do anything about it and put it in the freezer, he told a reporter from Wired. It was only in 2020, he maintained, that they started looking into it once they realized its similarity to COVID-19. But Chan pointed to an online database showing that the WIV had been genetically sequencing the mine virus in 2017 and 2018, analyzing it in a way they had done in the past with other viruses in preparation for running experiments with them. Diplomatic yet deadpan, she wrote, I think Daszak was misinformed.

For good measure, almost in passing, Chan pointed out a detail no one else had noticed: COVID-19 contains an uncommon genetic sequence that has been used by genetic engineers in the past to insert genes into coronaviruses without leaving a trace, and it falls at the exact point that would allow experimenters to swap out different genetic parts to change the infectivity. That same sequence can occur naturally in a coronavirus, so this was not irrefutable proof of an unnatural origin, Chan explained, only an observation. Still, it was enough for one Twitter user to muse, If capital punishment were as painful as what Alina Chan is doing to Daszak/WIV regarding their story, it would be illegal.

Daszak says that indeed he had been misinformed and was unaware that that virus found in the mine shaft had been sequenced before 2020. He also says that a great lab, with great scientists, is now being picked apart to search for suspicious behavior to support a preconceived theory. If you believe, deep down, something fishy went on, then what you do is you go through all the evidence and you try to look for things that support that belief, he says, adding, That is not how you find the truth.

Many of the points in Chans tweetorials had also been made by others, but she was the first reputable scientist to put it all together. That same week, Londons Sunday Times and the BBC ran stories following the same trail of breadcrumbs that Chan had laid out to suggest that there had been a coverup at the WIV. The story soon circulated around the world. In the meantime, the WIV has steadfastly denied any viral leak. Lab director Yanyi Wang went on Chinese television and described such charges as pure fabrication, and went on to explain that the bat coronavirus from 2013 was so different than COVID that it could not have evolved into it this quickly and that the lab only sequenced it and didnt obtain a live virus from it.

To this day, there is no definitive evidence as to whether the virus occurred naturally or had its origins in a lab, but the hypothesis that the Wuhan facility was the source is increasingly mainstream and the science behind it can no longer be ignored. And Chan is largely to thank for that.

In late spring, Chan walked through the tall glass doors of the Broad Institute for the first time in months. As she made her way across the gleaming marble foyer, her sneaker squeaks echoed in the silence. It was like the zombie apocalypse version of the Broad; all the bright lights but none of the people. It felt all the weirder that she was wearing her gym clothes to work.

A few days earlier, the Broad had begun letting researchers back into their labs to restart their projects. All computer work still needed to be done remotely, but bench scientists such as Chan could pop in just long enough to move along their cell cultures, provided they got tested for the virus every four days.

In her lab, Chan donned her white lab coat and took inventory, throwing out months of expired reagents and ordering new materials. Then she rescued a few samples from the freezer, took her seat at one of the tissue-culture hoodsstainless steel, air-controlled cabinets in which cell engineers do their workand began reviving some of her old experiments.

She had mixed emotions about being back. It felt good to free her gene-therapy projects from their stasis, and she was even more excited about the new project she and Deverman were working on: an online tool that allows vaccine developers to track changes in the viruss genome by time, location, and other characteristics. It came out of my personal frustration at not being able to get answers fast, she says.

On the other hand, she missed being all-consumed by her detective work. I wanted to stop after the pangolin preprint, she says, but this mystery keeps drawing me back in. So while she waits for her cell cultures to grow, shes been sleuthing on the sideonly this time she has more company: Increasingly, scientists have been quietly contacting her to share their own theories and papers about COVID-19s origins, forming something of a growing underground resistance. Theres a lot of curiosity, she says. People are starting to think more deeply about it. And they have to, she says, if we are going to prevent future outbreaks: Its really important to find out where this came from so it doesnt happen again.

That is what keeps Chan up at nightthe possibility of new outbreaks in humans from the same source. If the virus emerged naturally from a bat cave, there could well be other strains in existence ready to spill over. If they are closely related, whatever vaccines we develop might work on them, too. But that might not be the case with manipulated viruses from a laboratory. Someone could have been sampling viruses from different caves for a decade and just playing mix-and-match in the lab, and those viruses could be so different from one another that none of our vaccines will work on them, she says. Either way, We need to find where this came from, and close it down.

Whatever important information she finds, we can be sure Chan will share it with the world. Far from being shaken by the controversy her paper stirred, she is more committed than ever to holding a line that could all too easily be overrun. Scientists shouldnt be censoring themselves, she says. Were obliged to put all the data out there. We shouldnt be deciding that its better if the public doesnt know about this or that. If we start doing that, we lose credibility, and eventually we lose the publics trust. And thats not good for science. In fact, it would cause an epidemic of doubt, and that wouldnt be good for any of us.

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New study by ICGEB-Emory Vaccine Center offers hope to improve Indias plasma therapy regimen – Express Healthcare

September 15th, 2020 10:58 am

Study highlights role of IgG antibodies that bind to the receptor binding domain (RBD) of the SARS-CoV-2, and not the IgG antibodies that bind to the whole viral protein mix, as an excellent surrogate measurement to estimate neutralising antibodies

While intensive efforts continue to focus on development of an effective vaccine, anti-viral or other therapeutic entity, plasma therapy is currently being widely explored as an interim strategy to treat COVID-19.

A recent study by ICMR while raising the lack of benefits from plasma therapy, has highlighted the urgent need for prior measurement of neutralising antibody titres in donors and participants, which may better aid in delineating the role of plasma therapy in management of COVID-19.

Neutralising antibodies, typically of IgG subclass that can potentially block viral infection, are key components for the success of plasma therapy and titers of >320 are generally considered most suitable for successful plasma therapy. Currently, however, mere presence of IgG antibody, regardless of its neutralising ability, is used as a selection criterion for donor convalescent plasma because assessment of neutralising antibodies in routine clinical samples remains a challenge.

Thus, it is important to note that we have insufficient knowledge to understand whether all donors had sufficient titers of neutralising antibodies to donate plasma, and whether these titers reflected in all recipients that received the transfusion.

In this direction, a new ICMR funded study led by Drs Anmol Chandele and Kaja Murali Krishna of ICGEB-Emory Vaccine Center at the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, in collaboration with ICMR-National Institute of Malaria Research, Department of Biotechnology and the Emory Vaccine Center, Atlanta gives new hope to improve plasma therapy regimen in India1.

This study finds that nearly half of the COVID-19 recovered individuals examined did not have appreciable levels of neutralising antibodies despite having SARS-CoV-2 specific IgG. More importantly, this study finds that it was IgG antibodies that bind to the receptor binding domain (RBD) of the SARS-CoV-2, and not the IgG antibodies that bind to the whole viral protein mix, served as an excellent surrogate measurement to estimate neutralising antibodies. They report that RBD binding IgG titers of more than 1:3000 indicate neutralising antibody levels of more 1:320, a titer which is likely to increase chances of success with plasma therapy.

It is important to note that many Indian government agencies and institutions are already making efforts to bring these RBD-based IgG assays more widely available, and thus this study is very relevant and timely to scientifically validate these efforts. It is notable that the Translational Health Sciences and Technology Institute (THSTI), which is another institute within the Delhi NCR biocluster, has made available an in-house RBD IgG ELISA assay that was recently used for a sero-survey in Pune and very recently RBD IgG assay facility is has been inaugurated in Nagpur.

These basic research efforts currently pursued at the ICGEB-Emory Vaccine Center to understand human immunology of COVID-19 infections in India, gives renewed hope to tailor and improve plasma therapy in India.

References:

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CollPlant Biotechnologies Signs Distribution Agreement for its Vergenix Flowable Gel Product in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) -…

September 15th, 2020 10:58 am

REHOVOT, Israel, Sept. 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ --

CollPlant (NASDAQ: CLGN) a regenerative and aesthetic medicine company, today announced that it has signed an agreement for distribution of its VergenixFlowable Gel (FG) product in six Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries: Belarus, Kazakhstan, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Uzbekistan.

The Company also reported that it has received the first order in an amount ofhundreds of thousands of U.S. dollars. Based on deal terms, CollPlant will deliver a portion of the order immediately and the remainder over the next six months. The distributor is a Swiss-headquartered pharmaceutical group of companies and the agreement is for a five-year period.

"This distribution agreement will enable new patient populations in the CIS to benefit from Vergenix FG use, which has also already elicited positive feedback in Europe for rapid recovery of chronic wounds," said Yehiel Tal, CEO of CollPlant. "We are proud of the transformative potential of our recombinant human collagen platform technology that facilitates optimal treatment options for patients and remain open to additional collaborations that will bolster commercial infrastructure for Vergenix FG as well as support for our pipeline development efforts. At the same time, we continue to strategically focus on innovative applications of our rhCollagen in medical aesthetics and 3D Bioprinting of organs and tissues. "

Vergenix FG is based on the Company's rhCollagen technology and is a wound-care product designed to treat acute and chronic hard-to-heal wounds, such as diabetic ulcers, pressure sores, surgical cuts and trauma wounds. A single applicationof the product provides an optimized treatment for the healing process until full wound closure.

Recently, a study was publishedin The Diabetic Foot Journal, Vol 23 No 2 2020, byIacopi E et al from the University Hospital in Pisa,Italy. The study demonstrated thatVergenixFG had excellent clinical outcomes inpatientswith post-surgicaldiabetic footwounds. VergenixFG has received CE marking and other regulatory approvals that allow sales and treatments in Europe, Israel and other countries.

About CollPlant

CollPlant is a regenerative and aesthetic medicine company focused on 3D bioprinting of tissues and organs, and medical aesthetics. Our products are based on our rhCollagen (recombinant human collagen) that is produced with CollPlant's proprietary plant based genetic engineering technology.

Our products address indications for the diverse fields of tissue repair, aesthetics and organ manufacturing, and, we believe, are ushering in a new era in regenerative and aesthetic medicine.

Our flagship rhCollagen BioInk product line is ideal for 3D bioprinting of tissues and organs. In October 2018, we entered into a licensing agreement with United Therapeutics, whereby United Therapeutics is using CollPlant's BioInks in the manufacture of 3D bioprinted lungs for transplant in humans.

In January 2020, we also entered into a Joint Development Agreement with 3D Systems Corporation, or 3D Systems, pursuant to which we and 3D Systems jointly develop tissue and scaffold bioprinting processes for third party collaborators. Our industry collaboration also includes the Advanced Regenerative Manufacturing Institute, or ARMI.

For more information about CollPlant, visithttp://www.collplant.com

Safe Harbor Statements

This press release may include forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements may include, but are not limited to, statements relating to CollPlant's objectives plans and strategies, as well as statements, other than historical facts, that address activities, events or developments that CollPlant intends, expects, projects, believes or anticipates will or may occur in the future. These statements are often characterized by terminology such as "believes," "hopes," "may," "anticipates," "should," "intends," "plans," "will," "expects," "estimates," "projects," "positioned," "strategy" and similar expressions and are based on assumptions and assessments made in light of management's experience and perception of historical trends, current conditions, expected future developments and other factors believed to be appropriate. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements.Many factors could cause CollPlant's actual activities or results to differ materially from the activities and results anticipated in forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, the following: the Company's history of significant losses, its ability to continue as a going concern, and its need to raise additional capital and its inability to obtain additional capital on acceptable terms, or at all; the outbreak of coronavirus; the Company's expectations regarding the timing and cost of commencing clinical trials with respect to tissues and organs which are based on its rhCollagen based BioInk and products for medical aesthetics; the Company's ability to obtain favorable pre-clinical and clinical trial results; regulatory action with respect to rhCollagen based BioInk and medical aesthetics products including but not limited to acceptance of an application for marketing authorization review and approval of such application, and, if approved, the scope of the approved indication and labeling; commercial success and market acceptance of the Company's rhCollagen based products in 3D Bioprinting and medical aesthetics; the Company's ability to establish sales and marketing capabilities or enter into agreements with third parties and its reliance on third party distributors and resellers; the Company's ability to establish and maintain strategic partnerships and other corporate collaborations; the Company's reliance on third parties to conduct some or all aspects of its product manufacturing; the scope of protection the Company is able to establish and maintain for intellectual property rights and the Company's ability to operate its business without infringing the intellectual property rights of others; the overall global economic environment; the impact of competition and new technologies; general market, political, and economic conditions in the countries in which the Company operates; projected capital expenditures and liquidity; changes in the Company's strategy; and litigation and regulatory proceedings. More detailed information about the risks and uncertainties affecting CollPlant is contained under the heading "Risk Factors" included in CollPlant's most recent annual report on Form 20-F filed with the SEC, and in other filings that CollPlant has made and may make with the SEC in the future. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date of this press release and reflect CollPlant's current views with respect to future events, and CollPlant does not undertake and specifically disclaims any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Contact atCollPlant:

Eran RotemDeputy CEO & CFOTel: + 972-73-2325600Email: [emailprotected]

Sophia Ononye-Onyia, PhD MPH MBAFounder & CEO, The Sophia Consulting FirmTel: +1-347-851-8674E-mail: [emailprotected]|

SOURCE CollPlant

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Promoting CRISPR crops at the expense of GMOs is short-sighted when we need both – Genetic Literacy Project

September 15th, 2020 10:58 am

With an ever-growing CRISPR genome-editing toolbox, scientists are creating crops that can resist diseases and pests, withstand global warming, and offer better nutrition. The emergence of this technology offers a crucial opportunity for renewed public engagement around crop engineering. In order to actualize the potential of CRISPR-edited food, we must work together to create and share strategies for productive dialogue. This article identifies one area of necessary improvement in communication and public engagement.

Describing how CRISPR-edited crops are arguably more natural than GMOs, or how these crops could potentially use fewer chemicals than their GMO predecessors reinforces pervasive societal suspicions of GMOs. If we think that engineered crops will play a key role in addressing environmental and public health issues, then promoting CRISPR-edited crops at the expense of GMOs is short-sighted. Instead, we must use CRISPR as a new avenue for renewing productive discourse with the public. CRISPR offers a way to bring everyone back to the table, reintroducing voices into vital conversations that will impact us all.

The question, Is this safe? captures this tension between distancing CRISPR from GMOs in order to separate a new technology from its polarized relative, while not discarding GMOs and avoiding difficult conversations. Science communicators can use the question Is this safe? as a case study to further identify problematic practices and offer strategies for communication alternatives. Before answering this question, we must better understand the consumers decision-making process.

The processes behind engineering a CRISPR-edited crop and a GMO share many commonalities and, in some instances, lead to nearly identical outcomes .

In the wake of an incoming wave of CRISPR-edited crops, communicators have an opportunity to renew conversations surrounding what is natural, and in doing so, address concerns about naturalness and safety. For science communicators, do we suggest that CRISPR-edited crops are more natural? Do we explain how brands with a natural label dont always align with what consumers think they are buying? Or do we do we zoom out and try to separate natural from safe, so we dont tacitly buy into notions that GMOs are all unsafe?

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The timeless tale of monarch butterfly migration – centraljersey.com

September 15th, 2020 10:58 am

By Michele S. Byers

Do you ever read through old newspapers and notice that sometimes the topic and perspective are still pretty current and fresh? So much has changed in the world in recent decades, but our fascination with nature is timeless. Please enjoy the following column written 34 years ago by Dave Moore, the former executive director of the New Jersey Conservation Foundation, with a few edits to reflect more recent research and understanding:

Ever notice those bright orange and black butterflies that fly purposefully through our yards and sometimes cluster overnight in trees? They are monarch butterflies, and their flight is purposeful: They are migrating south for the winter.

The monarch butterfly migrates all the way to the mountains of central Mexico, often from as far as New Jersey, New England or nearby Canada. This is one of the most amazing migration stories in nature; one in which the route has been partially realized by naturalists for a long time, but fully understood only a decade ago with the discovery of the long-sought wintering place of the monarchs.

Researchers are still adding to the story. For example, it was at first thought that the same butterflies returned to New Jersey a year after their southward migration. Its now realized that its the grandchildren or even the great-great-great-great grandchildren who come back to the northeast.

Science is still a long way from learning how the butterflies have managed to arrive at the same small area of Mexico over millions of years. But they have, and during their migrations they even congregate on certain trees at specific locations, year after year. These way-points in themselves are popular tourist attractions, as is the Mexican destination.

One butterfly tree of which I am aware stands in Island Beach State Park near Barnegat Lighthouse, and is decorated by thousands of monarchs each autumn. When science finally solves the riddle of the monarchs migration, I suppose a little more magic will have gone out of our lives.

But the danger of lost magic is greater for another reason, and not just in terms of monarch migrations. Can you imagine a world without our common songbirds, or minus many of the larger birds that annually make long round trips south and north?

While we protect them up here, their habitats are being bulldozed and burned away in South America as many countries destroy forests to make way for new development.

The monarchs are lucky; Mexico has set aside their wintering place for tourist and scientific reasons. Not so with the birds.

There are so many plants and animals we know nothing about that are becoming extinct before we can really study them. Fewer than a tenth of the plants, insects and animals on earth have been identified. The rate of extinction is speeding up due to peoples blind exploitation of the environment.

We must do much more to protect reserves where plants and animals can survive in the hope of someday revealing exciting secrets for medicines and foods to help us survive. We must also do a better job of regulating our own chemicals so they dont do us and other life forms in.

Bugs and weeds dont attract as much attention as whales and pandas, but they are equally important in the scheme of things.

Monarch butterflies feed only on milkweed, for example. If we lose the milkweed, we lose the butterfly. And by the way, monarchs have the ability to turn milkweed juice into a toxic substance that has taught predators to avoid them. Other butterflies have learned to mimic monarchs to get the same protection.

With all this loss of life-forms, and with our growing interest in genetic engineering, genetic diversity becomes more important, even as its being threatened. That means we must protect natural areas worldwide, protect native plants and animals, and learn more about the effects of our pesticides and other chemicals before its too late.

You have read about possible links between the herbicide Agent Orange and cancer. Agent Orange contains 2,4-D, a common herbicide. Recent studies point toward a connection between 2,4-D and three cancers in humans, including Hodgkins disease.

Given that everything is connected to everything else, we need to proceed carefully. Not only do we not know who lives in the world with us, but we dont even know what the majority of chemical substances we manufacture are doing to them or us.

Back to Michele: Since Daves nature column was written in September 1986, more research has been done on monarch butterfly migration, as well as on the harmful impacts of many chemical herbicides and pesticides, not just Agent Orange.

The annual journey of monarch butterflies still amazes. In Cape May, the New Jersey Audubon Society now monitors monarch butterflies each fall as they congregate on the peninsula in preparation for their flight across the Delaware Bay. If you get a chance this fall, be sure to visit to see migrating birds and butterflies.

Michele S. Byers is the executive director of the New Jersey Conservation Foundation, Far Hills. She may be reached at info@njconservation.org

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Novavax to Participate in Upcoming Investor Conferences – GlobeNewswire

September 15th, 2020 10:58 am

GAITHERSBURG, Md., Sept. 10, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Novavax, Inc. (Nasdaq: NVAX), a late stage biotechnology company developing next-generation vaccines for serious infectious diseases, today announced it will participate in five upcoming investor conferences. A topic of discussion will be Novavax COVID-19 vaccine candidate, NVX-CoV2373.

Conference details are as follows:

Citi 15th Annual BioPharma Virtual Conference

H.C. Wainwright 22nd Annual Global Investment Conference

Cantor Virtual Global Healthcare Conference

Morgan Stanley Virtual 18th Annual Global Healthcare Conference

Leerink CyberRx Series: Vaccine Forum

A replay of the presentations will also be accessible under the Investors/Events sectionwww.novavax.com.

About Novavax

Novavax, Inc. (Nasdaq:NVAX) is a late-stage biotechnology company that promotes improved health globally through the discovery, development, and commercialization of innovative vaccines to prevent serious infectious diseases. Novavax is undergoing clinical trials for NVX-CoV2373, its vaccine candidate against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. NanoFlu, its quadrivalent influenza nanoparticle vaccine, met all primary objectives in its pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial in older adults. Both vaccine candidates incorporate Novavax proprietary saponin-based Matrix-M adjuvant in order to enhance the immune response and stimulate high levels of neutralizing antibodies. Novavax is a leading innovator of recombinant vaccines; its proprietary recombinant technology platform combines the power and speed of genetic engineering to efficiently produce highly immunogenic nanoparticles in order to address urgent global health needs.

For more information, visit http://www.novavax.com and connect with us on Twitter and LinkedIn.

InvestorsSilvia Taylor and Erika Trahanir@novavax.com240-268-2022

MediaBrandzone/KOGS CommunicationEdna Kaplankaplan@kogspr.com617-974-8659

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Investor Interest in Meat Alternative Biotechs… – Labiotech.eu

September 15th, 2020 10:58 am

In recent times, an unexpectedly large number of investments have closed in biotech startups offering sustainable meat alternatives. Why are investors flocking to this field amid a raging pandemic?

Traditional agriculture is a major polluter, especially in the case of meat production. The highest estimations place its share of global greenhouse gas emissions at up to 20%. In an effort to meet the growing demand for sustainability, many biotech companies are developing less energy-intensive sources of protein via fermentation and plant products.

In spite of the financial chaos resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic this year, big money has gone to biotech startups producing meat alternatives. In the US, the prime example is Impossible Foods, which genetically engineers yeast to give plant-based meat alternatives a realistic meat flavor. Last month, Impossible Foods raised a Series G round of 169M ($200M) to accelerate the commercialization of its technology globally.

In Europe, a similar pattern is emerging. The Finnish startup Solar Foods raised a total of 18.5M in a Series A last week. By late 2022, the company plans to launch a protein food ingredient grown from bacteria using electricity, carbon dioxide, water, and nitrogen.

Add to the mix an 8.5M Series A round raised by the German startup Mushlabs, which grows protein-rich mushroom roots via fermentation, and a 19.5M fundraise by Lever VC, a venture firm financing companies developing protein alternatives. Within just a few months, the field has started to blossom.

According to Albrecht Wolfmeyer, International & National Head of the food startup incubator ProVeg, these rounds are just the tip of the iceberg.

Think of precision fermentation and companies like Legendairy in Germany, Remilk in Israel, or Perfect Day in the US, which just raised 254.3M ($300M) in its Series C, Wolfmeyer said. In Europe, the investment rounds are still way smaller but they are growing along with the enthusiasm.

There are several reasons behind this funding surge, said Nick Cooney, founder and Managing Partner of Lever VC. For example, more startups in the field are emerging than ever. And as the first wave of products establish themselves in the market, investors get encouraged to join the party.

In my freezer, I have pints of ice cream from the grocery store that have real whey in them produced via fermentation, without the need for live animals the whey comes from US-based Perfect Day, noted Cooney.

Pasi Vainikka, co-founder and CEO of Solar Foods, likened the situation to the rise of the digital tech sector at the turn of the 21st century. The development of the first mobile devices was basically laying the foundations for a new industrial sector in the global economy, Vainikka explained. I can see the same with food now.

What is most remarkable is that all of this progress comes in spite of the fact that the pandemic threatens economic recessions around the world.

Covid-19 didnt turn out to be as destructive to the food innovation and investment ecosystem as we first thought, said Wolfmeyer. Investors were not as reluctant as expected but mostly rather bullish.

As food companies, they are all deemed essential businesses so never had to pause operations or stop going into the lab, added Cooney.

In fact, dramatic rises were seen in the sales of vegan and plant-based alternatives to meat and dairy products during the pandemic, and they remain high. This surge in demand even outweighed increasing sales of traditional meat and dairy products seen during the hamster shopping season in Spring, said Cooney.

While the field in general seemed robust in the face of pandemic uncertainty, Wolfmeyer and Cooney saw some food biotech startups falling through the gaps, especially those that depended on providing food services. The ProVeg Incubator, for example, advised early-stage startups on how to tighten their belts and apply for governmental support.

What has also become clear this year is that startups making meat alternatives could also strengthen protein supplies during the uncertain times of the pandemic.

Weve seen significant disruptions in the conventional meat supply chain, said Caroline Bushnell, Associate Director of Corporate Engagement at the Good Food Institute in a July article by Fast Company. Companies using fermentation- and cell-based production methods could better automate the meat production process and make it more resilient to Covid-19 shutdowns.

Politicians seem to be thinking along similar lines. Theyre opening up new ways to maintain a steady protein supply in the face of future disruption.

Weve also seen in the past six months governments working to move forward with further establishing the regulatory pathway for biotech-based alternative protein products, as a way to diversify the protein supply chain, said Cooney.

The EU has also recently allocated a 550B recovery fund with a focus on green initiatives such as making agriculture more sustainable. These funds could trickle down to biotechs working in the food and cellular agriculture space, though some worry about the lack of precise guidelines on how to spend this funding.

One of the limitations of this growing movement is the strict stance of the European Commission on products containing genetically modified (GM) ingredients. Impossible Foods is currently awaiting an EU decision on whether it will be able to commercialize its products on European soil. Some believe the company might substitute its meat flavoring for a non-GM alternative to speed up the approval.

For many food biotech startups in Europe, though, this anti-GM environment is no hindrance. For example, Solar Foods doesnt require the use of genetically modified organisms, since it uses a natural strain of bacteria found in soil. Similarly, Mushlabs grows mushroom roots in a fermentation system with no need for genetic engineering.

In general, the main obstacles standing in the way of getting lab-grown food into the mainstream are pricing, quality, and public image. Affordable pricing will take time while the startups scale up their technology. Food quality and public image could still have an uphill struggle given the historically mixed reception of fake meat.

Maybe its for companies like ourselves now to prove new products are good enough so that they dont taste like in the past, Vainikka said.

So it must taste good and be equal, or better than, what we have today. Then people will naturally go for it.

Images from Elena Resko and Solar Foods

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Neogene Therapeutics Raises $110 Million Series A Financing to Develop Next-Generation Fully Personalized Neo-Antigen T Cell Receptor (TCR) Therapies…

September 15th, 2020 10:58 am

Sept. 14, 2020 12:00 UTC

Series A Financing led by EcoR1 Capital, Jeito Capital and Syncona with continued support of strategic seed investors Vida Ventures, TPG and Two River

Neogenes proprietary technology platform identifies specific T cell receptor (TCR) genes from routine tumor samples using state-of-the-art synthetic biology tools

Co-founded by renowned T cell engineering expert Ton Schumacher, Ph.D. and Carsten Linnemann, Ph.D. with investment from cell therapy industry veteran Arie Belldegrun, M.D. FACS

NEW YORK & AMSTERDAM--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Neogene Therapeutics, Inc., a pre-clinical stage biotechnology company pioneering a new class of fully personalized neo-antigen T cell therapies to treat cancer, today announced that it has raised $110 million in a Series A financing. The financing was co-led by EcoR1 Capital, Jeito Capital and Syncona, with participation from Polaris Partners and Pontifax. Seed investors Vida Ventures, TPG and Two River also participated in the round.

Neogene, a Two River company, was founded in 2018 by a team of world-class cell therapy experts to advance the development of neo-antigen T cell therapies. Carsten Linnemann, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Neogene, and Ton Schumacher, Ph.D., Principal Investigator at the Netherlands Cancer Institute, Oncode Institute and 2020 recipient of the Dutch Research Councils Stevin Award co-founded the Company with individual investments by cell therapy industry veterans Arie Belldegrun, M.D. FACS, founder of Kite Pharma, Inc. and Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of Allogene Therapeutics, Inc. and David Chang, M.D., Ph.D., Co-Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of Allogene. Dr. Linnemann and Dr. Schumacher previously co-founded T-Cell Factory B.V., a company acquired by Kite Pharma in 2015.

Dr. Schumacher, an internationally leading immunologist in the areas of neo-antigen biology and T cell engineering, developed the seminal concepts of Neogenes proprietary technology. Neogenes platform allows for the isolation of neo-antigen specific TCR genes from tumor biopsies that are routinely obtained from cancer patients during treatment. The tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) obtained by these tumor biopsies frequently express TCRs specific for mutated proteins found in cancer cells (neo-antigens). The Companys proprietary technology uses state-of-the-art DNA sequencing, DNA synthesis and genetic screening tools to identify such neo-antigen specific T cell receptor genes within tumor biopsies with high sensitivity, specificity and at scale. The isolated TCR genes are subsequently engineered into T cells of cancer patients to provide large numbers of potent T cells for therapy.

Neogene is committed to forging a path for new fully personalized engineered T cell therapies in solid cancer that are redirected towards neo-antigens found on cancer cells, said Dr. Linnemann. While engineered T cell therapies have transformed the treatment paradigm for patients with hematologic malignancies, the industry has struggled to translate this success to the enormous unmet need in patients with advanced solid tumors. We believe that through a fully individualized approach using patient-specific TCRs to target neo-antigens, engineered T cell therapy can become broadly accessible to these patients. We are excited that our vision is shared by an outstanding syndicate of marquee investors, who have a deep understanding of and commitment towards the development of novel cell therapies in oncology.

Neo-antigens represent ideal targets for cancer therapy, as they inevitably arise from DNA mutations that enable tumor development in the first place. Further supporting this concept is clear, correlative evidence linking T cell reactivity against neo-antigens with tumor regression in several patients, said Dr. Schumacher. The Neogene platform makes it possible to exploit the neo-antigen reactive TCRs that are present in TIL without a requirement for viable tumor material. In addition, its syn-bio based approach offers major advantages with respect to standardization and scalability and will be critical to achieve our goal of bringing personalized engineered T cell therapies to patients.

In this Series A financing, Neogene expands its distinguished investor base with leading health-care investors from both the U.S. and Europe. For the seed-investors Vida Ventures, TPG and Two River, Neogene marks the second major collaboration in the cell therapy space after the launch of Allogene Therapeutics in 2018. Neogenes seed-financing in 2019 enabled the Company to achieve proof-of-concept for its neo-antigen technology platform and built on the respective expertise of Vida Ventures, Two River and TPG in the gene and cell therapy space.

We believe that Neogenes technology and therapeutic approach has the potential to become a game changer for the treatment of cancer, said Oleg Nodelman, Founder and Managing Director of EcoR1 Capital. We are impressed by the bold vision of the management team and are thrilled to support Neogene as it advances its mission of developing novel therapies for cancer patients in need.

Neogenes approach perfectly aligns with Jeitos mission. Jeito was launched recently to support new and established entrepreneurs aspiring to help patients in need by pioneering novel, ground-breaking medicines underlined by highest quality innovation, said Rafale Tordjman, Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Jeito Capital. We are delighted to welcome Neogene as the first investment into our new portfolio.

We are excited to partner with the outstanding Neogene team, said Martin Murphy, Chief Executive Officer of Syncona. Neogenes technology offers a radically innovative approach to utilize the therapeutic potential of TIL cells by employing state-of-the-art TCR engineering and synthetic biology technologies. Facilitated by the Series A, Neogene intends to further develop its technology with growing offices in Amsterdam and the U.S. with the goal to initiate Phase I clinical studies in 2022.

About Neogene Therapeutics

Neogene Therapeutics, Inc. is a pre-clinical stage biotechnology company pioneering development of next-generation, fully personalized engineered T cells therapies for a broad spectrum of cancers. The Companys engineered T cells target mutated proteins found in cancer cells due to cancer-associated DNA mutations, or neo-antigens, that render tumor cells vulnerable to detection by T cells. Neogenes proprietary technology platform aims to identify TCR genes with specificity for neo-antigens from tumor biopsies. Neogenes novel approach intends to deliver a tailored set of TCR genes for each individual patient, which will be engineered into patient-derived T cells directing them towards neo-antigens in tumor cells, with the goal of providing a fully personalized engineered T cell therapy for cancer.

For more information, please visit http://www.neogene.com, and follow Neogene Therapeutics on LinkedIn.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200914005309/en/

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Could Our Immune System Alter Behavior? – Technology Networks

September 15th, 2020 10:56 am

New research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis helps illuminate a surprising mind-body connection. In mice, the researchers found that immune cells surrounding the brain produce a molecule that is then absorbed by neurons in the brain, where it appears to be necessary for normal behavior.

The findings, published Sept. 14 inNature Immunology, indicate that elements of the immune system affect both mind and body, and that the immune molecule IL-17 may be a key link between the two.

"The brain and the body are not as separate as people think," said senior author Jonathan Kipnis, PhD, the Alan A. and Edith L. Wolff Distinguished Professor of Pathology and Immunology and a professor of neurosurgery, of neurology and of neuroscience. "What we've found here is that an immune molecule -- IL-17 -- is produced by immune cells residing in areas around the brain, and it could affect brain function through interactions with neurons to influence anxiety-like behaviors in mice. We are now looking into whether too much or too little of IL-17 could be linked to anxiety in people."

IL-17 is a cytokine, a signaling molecule that orchestrates the immune response to infection by activating and directing immune cells. IL-17 also has been linked to autism in animal studies and depression in people.

How an immune molecule like IL-17 might influence brain disorders, however, is something of a mystery since there isn't much of an immune system in the brain and the few immune cells that do reside there don't produce IL-17. But Kipnis, along with first author and postdoctoral researcher Kalil Alves de Lima, PhD, realized that the tissues that surround the brain are teeming with immune cells, among them, a small population known as gamma delta T cells that produce IL-17. They set out to determine whether gamma-delta T cells near the brain have an impact on behavior. Kipnis and Alves de Lima conducted the research while at the University of Virginia School of Medicine; both are now at Washington University.

Using mice, they discovered that the meninges are rich in gamma-delta T cells and that such cells, under normal conditions, continually produce IL-17, filling the tissues surrounding the brain with IL-17.

To determine whether gamma-delta T cells or IL-17 affect behavior, Alves de Lima put mice through established tests of memory, social behavior, foraging and anxiety. Mice that lacked gamma-delta T cells or IL-17 were indistinguishable from mice with normal immune systems on all measures but anxiety. In the wild, open fields leave mice exposed to predators such as owls and hawks, so they've evolved a fear of open spaces. The researchers conducted two separate tests that involved giving mice the option of entering exposed areas. While the mice with normal amounts of gamma-delta T cells and levels of IL-17 kept themselves mostly to the more protective edges and enclosed areas during the tests, mice without gamma-delta T cells or IL-17 ventured into the open areas, a lapse of vigilance that the researchers interpreted as decreased anxiety.

Moreover, the scientists discovered that neurons in the brain have receptors on their surfaces that respond to IL-17. When the scientists removed those receptors so that the neurons could not detect the presence of IL-17, the mice showed less vigilance. The researchers say the findings suggest that behavioral changes are not a byproduct but an integral part of neuro-immune communication.

Although the researchers did not expose mice to bacteria or viruses to study the effects of infection directly, they injected the animals with lipopolysaccharide, a bacterial product that elicits a strong immune response. Gamma-delta T cells in the tissues around the mice's brains produced more IL-17 in response to the injection. When the animals were treated with antibiotics, however, the amount of IL-17 was reduced, suggesting gamma-delta T cells could sense the presence of normal bacteria such as those that make up the gut microbiome, as well as invading bacterial species, and respond appropriately to regulate behavior.

The researchers speculate that the link between the immune system and the brain could have evolved as part of a multipronged survival strategy. Increased alertness and vigilance could help rodents survive an infection by discouraging behaviors that increase the risk of further infection or predation while in a weakened state, Alves de Lima said.

"The immune system and the brain have most likely co-evolved," Alves de Lima said. "Selecting special molecules to protect us immunologically and behaviorally at the same time is a smart way to protect against infection. This is a good example of how cytokines, which basically evolved to fight against pathogens, also are acting on the brain and modulating behavior."

The researchers now are studying how gamma-delta T cells in the meninges detect bacterial signals from other parts of the body. They also are investigating how IL-17 signaling in neurons translates into behavioral changes.

Reference:

This article has been republished from the following materials. Note: material may have been edited for length and content. For further information, please contact the cited source.

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One Brain Circuit Links Stress, Sleep And The Immune System, Mouse Study Reveals – ScienceAlert

September 15th, 2020 10:56 am

Most of us will be familiar with the sort of stress that leads to sleepless nights. In new research on mice, scientists have now identified the brain circuit involved in such experiences; moreover, this part of the brain also seems to be linked to a stress-induced weakening of the immune system.

Immunity, stress, and sleep could all be connected by this same circuit of neurons, researchers say, though so far the connection has only been discovered in mice. If this link is also present in humans, treatments could be developed to target it.

"This sort of stress-induced insomnia is well known among anybody that's tried to get to sleep with a looming deadline or something the next day," says neuroscientist Jeremy Borniger, from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) in New York.

"And in the clinical world, it's been known for a long time that chronically stressed patients typically do worse on a variety of different treatments and across a variety of different diseases."

The stress hormone cortisol is thought to be responsible for disrupting sleep and damaging the body's immune system. The first discovery in this research was a link between a group of cortisol-releasing neurons sensitive to stress, and a group of neurons associated with insomnia.

When the link was blocked by the researchers, mice were able sleep peacefully even after a stressful experience. On the flip side, stimulating the stress-sensitive neurons was enough to bring the animals out of their slumber.

"It seems like it's a pretty sensitive switch, in that even very weak stimulation of the circuit can drive insomnia," says Borniger.

Borniger and his colleagues were then able to establish that stimulating this part of the brain was also producing a biological reaction that looked a lot like the standard immune response to stress.

Messing with this circuit also disrupted the way cortisol is released from the brain, leading to changing levels of immune cells and a breakdown in signalling between them. It looks as though the same group of stress-related neurons drive the consequences for both sleep and immunity.

Systemic inflammation where the body's defences mistakenly go into overdrive when they don't need to is associated with a variety of diseases and health problems, from cancer to inflammatory bowel disease and psoriasis. This new discovery might one day give us another way to fight it.

"If we can understand and manipulate the immune system using the natural circuitry in the body rather than using a drug that hits certain targets in the system, I think that would be much more effective in the long run," says Borniger.

The research has been published in Science Advances.

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Review Associates Exercise With Improved Quality of Life, Immune Response in Parkinson Disease – AJMC.com Managed Markets Network

September 15th, 2020 10:56 am

Researchers sought to delineate what benefit moderate-intensity exercise could have among the PD population, particularly whether this intervention may assist in protecting against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, through strengthening the immune system. Moreover, they wanted to assess its impact on modifying the immune system and improving health outcomes in PwP.

In first examining how exercise may modify the immune system, researchers note that both cross-sectional and longitudinal data have associated moderate-intensity exercise with fewer upper respiratory tract infections.

A common theme across groups, though, is that an increased level of fitness due to exercise training is associated with lower circulating concentrations of pro-inflammatory cytokines and higher circulating concentration of anti-inflammatory cytokines, expanded the researchers.

They highlighted that through exercise, an optimal balance may be achieved between pro- and anti-inflammatory benefits, caused by an initial increase in immunosurveillance and an overall reduction in excessive local pro-inflammatory markers.

Next, researchers examined the role of exercise on health outcomes among PwP. In prior animal models, evidence has shown that exercises anti-inflammatory properties can potentially be harnessed in a neuroprotective role, which would then mitigate the neuroinflammation known to occur in the immune systems of those with PwP.

Importantly, mouse models provide mechanistic insight into how exercise promotes change at the molecular, cellular, and neural network levels, they wrote.

In human models, the majority of studies of PwP show that sustained moderate exercise can improve QOL among PwP and is likely to assist in down-regulating neuroinflammation. However, the researchers noted that understanding how exercise promotes neuroplasticity in humans has been difficult, with 2 studies currently underway examining this topic.

Lastly, researchers addressed whether exercise could provide protection against COVID-19. They suggested 4 responses to the immune system that exercise could provide, including balancing pro- and anti-inflammatory benefits in preventing acute inflammatory tissue damage, restoring damaged lung tissue, preventing and reducing reactive oxygen species, and providing a targeted decrease in the main health risk factors of COVID-19.

In managing risk and potential presence of comorbidities associated with adverse COVID-19 outcomes, such as hypertension, diabetes, and heart issues, each of these conditions can be lessened or improved through exercise, the researchers wrote.

Older adults, with or without PD, are more susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 viral infection, and moderate exercise may help to improve the immune response to COVID-19 infection, the authors concluded. Moderate-intensity exercise may also help boost the immune system response to the COVID-19 vaccination when it becomes available.

Reference

Hall MFE, Church FC. Exercise for older adults improves the quality of life in Parkinson disease and potentially enhances the immune response to COVID-19. Brain Sci. Published online September 6, 2020. doi:10.3390/brainsci10090612

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Will 2 flu shots this year boost immunity? When is the best time to get it? Here’s what health experts say – CNBC

September 15th, 2020 10:56 am

Covid-19 has been the biggest health concern of 2020, but another virus the flu isn't going anywhere.

Though you can get the flu during any time of year, flu season in the U.S. happens during the fall and winter months usually reaching its peak between December and March. Getting a flu shot this year may help cut down on the potential effects of a "twindemic," which could happen if a Covid-19 surge and a severe flu season overlap.

With that in mind, you might be wondering if the pandemic changes any of the usual flu vaccine guidelines and if getting a second dose will increase immunity. Below, health experts weigh in:

The short answer is no.

Flu shot recommendations remain the same, and unless you are under nine years old and have never gotten a flu shot before, a second dose is not recommended, saysDr. Kelly Moore, associate director for immunization education at the Immunization Action Coalition.

Children ages six months through eight years who have never been vaccinated against the flu benefit from two doses the first season they get the vaccine, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Preventionsays.

"If your immune system has never seen influenza before and you're getting the vaccine for the first time, your immune system doesn't quite know what to do with that," Dr. Moore tells CNBC Make It. "It learns, but it doesn't learn quite well enough, and it needs that second dose to really mount a protective response."

However, past the age of eight, just one yearly dose will do.

"When you're older and you've had flu vaccines before, or you've had influenza before, then your immune system responds quite quickly to one dose of vaccine," Dr. Moore explains. "We don't see a noticeable benefit from getting multiple doses of the vaccine.

Other vaccines such as measles, chickenpox and hepatitis require two doses, which can be confusing, Moore adds.

"People may think, 'If one is good, two must be better,' but in reality, that's not how our immune system works," she says. "And while that is the case for certain vaccines and certain viruses, it's not the case for the influenza vaccine."

The flu vaccine works by presenting the immune system with a portion of the virus, allowing the body to develop an immune response so that when it encounters the real thing, it's much better prepared to fight it off.

According to the CDC, it is recommended that everyone over the age of six months gets vaccinated against the flu every year, with very rare exception (such as those with a severe allergy to the flu vaccine or an ingredient in it).

While getting the vaccine does not guarantee that you won't suffer the misery that is the flu, it mayreduce the risk of infection by 40% to 60%, and help prevent severe illness.

Though the exact timing of flu season varies year to year, infections generally start to ramp up around October. The best time to get your flu shot is in the early fall, ideally before the end of October.

"But if you miss that deadline, then get it as soon as you can afterward," Dr. Moore says. "There's no point at which it's too late to get your influenza vaccine."

Until a Covid-19 vaccine is approved, flu vaccinations are among the most effective ways to ensure that hospitals can weather the pandemic, according toDr. Amesh Adalja, senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security.

The flu sends hundreds of thousands of Americans to the hospital and causes tens of thousands of deaths annually. Even during a normal season, hospitals often become inundated with patients, Dr. Adalja says.

"Both the flu and the coronavirus are going to be competing for the same emergency department beds, the same hospital beds, the same ICU beds, the same mechanical ventilators, the same personal protective equipment and even the same diagnostic test [materials]," Dr. Adalja tells CNBC Make It. "The more we can decrease the burden of influenza, the more room we'll have to take care of Covid-19 patients."

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has also insisted that people get the shot, "so that you could at least blunt the effect of oneof those two potential respiratory infections."

If we keep up all the habits we've learned to protect ourselves from Covid-19 like frequently washing our hands, social distancing and wearing masks on top of getting the flu shot, Dr. Moore adds, we can hopefully have a much milder flu season this year.

Serena McNiff is a journalist covering health and science. Her work has appeared on HealthDay, U.S. News and MedicineNet.Follow her on Twitter @SerenaMcNiff.

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Antibiotic Molecule Enables HIV Infected Cells To Be Killed by the Immune System – Technology Networks

September 15th, 2020 10:56 am

Ever since the first cases of a mysterious disease in the early 1980s exploded into the HIV/AIDS pandemic, researchers have been searching for ways to outsmart the deadly virus. Now thanks to anti-retroviral therapy, people living with HIV can live relatively normal lifespansas long as they take their medications every day.

If they ever stop, in short order the virus rebounds and resets at the high levels seen before starting and that seems to be the case even after decades of therapy, says Mark Painter, Ph.D., a graduate student in the University of Michigan Medical Schools department of microbiology and immunology.

The reason is that HIV can hide inside the human genome, lying dormant and ready to emerge at any time. Because of this, a true cure for HIV relies on waking the latent virus and eliminating it before it has a chance to again take hold of the bodys cells, an approach known as shock and kill.

Working with a team under the direction of Kathleen Collins, M.D., Ph.D., they set out to find a weapon to kill HIV by targeting a protein called Nef. In 1998, Collins, who is a professor of internal medicine and microbiology and immunology, discovered that HIV uses Nef to evade the bodys immune system by overriding the functioning of a protein on a cells surface that lets immune cells know that the cell is infected and in need of elimination. By disabling this protein, called MHC-I, infected cells are able to proliferate.

The research tried determine if there was an FDA-approved drug or molecule already on the market that could override Nef, restore the functioning of MHC-I and allow the bodys own immune system, specifically cells known as cytotoxic T lymphocytes, to recognize the HIV-infected cells and destroy them.

We started out screening a library of 200,000 small molecules and found none inhibited Nef, says Painter. Undeterred, they approached David Sherman, Ph.D. of the U-M Life Sciences Institute, whose lab studies the biosynthesis of natural products from microbes, such as cyanobacteria.

Often synthetic molecules have quite a low molecular weight, meaning they are fairly small. And if you need to disrupt a large protein surface or interface, such as with Nef, a small molecule wont work well or at all, explains Sherman. A natural products library like the one at the LSI, on the other hand, is going to have molecules with a large range of weights and sizes.

After screening approximately 30,000 molecules, they discovered that a class of antibiotic molecules called pleicomacrolides inhibited Nef.

Pleicomacrolides are widely used in lab experiments when you want to shut down the lysosome. Because of this, they are considered toxic and risky to use as drugs, says Painter. The lysosome is an essential cell organelle used to break down worn out cell parts, viruses and bacteria.

However, the team determined that a pleicomacrolide called concanamycin A inhibits Nef at much lower concentrations than those needed to inhibit the lysosome. As a lead compound for drug development, its fairly exciting because we can use a very low dose, and inhibit Nef without short-term toxicity to the cells, said Painter.

In a proof of concept experiment, they treated HIV-infected, Nef expressing cells with concanamycin A and found that cytotoxic T cells were able to clear the infected T cells.

Its been extremely gratifying for this project, which began in my lab over a decade ago to finally come to fruition. I had hoped we would find something that worked as well as this compound does but it was never a guarantee that we would actually be successful. This type of research is risky but extremely important because of the potential reward, says Collins. But, she adds, the molecule is not yet ready to be used as a drug for treatment of HIV infected people. More research will be needed to optimize the compound. We will need to further separate the potent Nef inhibitory activity from the more toxic effect on lysosomal function to make it a viable therapy.

Collins, Painter and their colleagues are continuing work on refining the chemistry of concanamycin A to make it even more viable as a potential therapy. When combined with ART and future treatments that shock latent HIV awake, Painter notes the therapy could be used to clear any remaining virus, essentially curing HIV.

ReferencePainter M et al. Concanamycin A counteracts HIV-1 Nef to enhance immune clearance of infected primary cells by cytotoxic T lymphocytes, PNAS. September 11, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2008615117

This article has been republished from the following materials. Note: material may have been edited for length and content. For further information, please contact the cited source.

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Immune Systems Are Complex, But Filled With Fun Facts – Longevity LIVE

September 15th, 2020 10:56 am

Immune systems are complicated systems that help protect our bodies and shield us from all things harmful. Ever since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic weve managed to get ourselves into quite a spin over our own immunity. Instead of panicking, lets chat about some fun facts about your powerful immune system. Theyre stronger and more resilient than you think.

Think of your immune system as your bodys version of the military. Its designed to defend you against anybody or anything who threatens your chance of survival. Itll never surrender or let you down. Unless you abandon it. This is all because immune systems have millions of strong warriors who can help make this possible.

When you nourish your immune system youll have protection against diseases, infections, viruses and injuries.

Its as simple as sneezing or coughing to spread bacteria and viruses. Even when youre talking to somebody who is sick, it increases your risk of getting their sickness. You can get sick just by touching bacteria-infected surfaces and then touching your face. So it is pertinent to keep up your hygiene discipline, which we should be doing in any case. When you keep yourself clean, you give your immune system a fighting chance. Simply washing your hands for 20-seconds is still one of the best ways to keep yourself healthy and stop the spread of bacteria and viruses.

In fact, the immune system isa complex fighting system powered by five liters of blood and lymph. According to Healthline, Lymph is a clear and colorless liquid that passes through the tissues of the body. Experts explain that these two fluids transport all the elements of the immune system so they can do their jobs.

Literally, were made up of millions of tiny white knights. These are our white blood cells.

Theyre just like brave knights heading out into battle every time something tries to plunder their kingdom. They need to protect their king or queen, you. Immune systems have two different types of white blood cells: phagocytes and lymphocytes.

Lets have a mini biology lesson.

Then, every pathogen carries a specific type of antigen. Moreover, each lymphocyte in your body carries antibodies meant to fight the antigens carried by pathogens. There are three main types of lymphocytes in the body: B cells, T cells, and natural killer cells.

Your B cells are your fighters. They are the antibodies which attack bacteria, viruses, and toxins that enter the body. All immune systems have T cells which kill cells in the body that have been overtaken by viruses or that have become cancerous. Just like T cells, natural killer cells kill infected or cancerous cells. However, instead of producing antibodies, they make a special enzyme, or chemical, that kills the cells.

Basically, immune systems create new antibodies whenever theyre infected with a new antigen. If the same antigen infects you a second time, immune systems can quickly make copies of the corresponding antibody to destroy it. However, these warriors only live up to a few weeks, so its a good thing theres a lot of them. In fact, a single drop of blood can contain up to 25,000 white blood cells. Amazing, right?

Dont be. Its a very healthy sign that youve got a fever or are experiencing some sort of inflammation.

Sure, it is very unpleasant and feels horrific. But its a sure sign that your immune system is doing its work hard. The reason you contract fever is due to the release of white blood cells. This then increases your metabolism and stops certain organisms from multiplying.

Inflammation happens when each damaged cell releases histamines. Histamines cause the cell walls to dilate. This creates redness, heat, pain, and swelling of inflammation. As a result, your body limits the effects of the irritant.

There are a variety of reasons why its integral to get in your beauty sleep. They call it that for a reason, so dont start skimping on it guys and girls. If youre running around like a mad horse, and now youre starting to feel off. Then you might get sick. And no, thats not as surprising as you might think.

This is when immune systems are taking action. Its your bodys defence mechanism, working hard and taking revenge against your relentless on-the-go mentality. Slow down. Sleep, my child.

Especially if you have been clocking all-nighters or getting less than five hours of sleep per night. Not only will your happiness deplete, but immune systems get depressed too. So, youre basically opening up the door to all kinds of colds, flus, and infections.

Theres tons of research proving that our immune systems thrive when theyre exposed to more sunlight and vitamin D. Interestingly, there are even new light therapies available because of the power of light. Getting regular sunlight is great because it shows how your body naturally produces vitamin D. This vitamin helps protect you from a variety of harmful illnesses like depression, heart disease, and certain cancers. Its even good for people with autoimmune disorders.

Dermatologists recommend that everyone should wear sunscreen with broad-spectrum UVA, UVB protection, and Sun Protection Factor (SPF) 30 or higher. Generally, its also best to avoid the sun between 10 am and 14,00 because thats when its the hottest. When the sun is very strong, you should also wear protective clothing, such as:

Immune systems dont function at their finest when youre completely stressed out. In fact, you will only damage yours. It can only handle so much, even though it can tackle most problems. Constant stress releases cortisol, adrenaline, and other stress hormones from the adrenal gland. Combined they help your body cope with stress. Normally, cortisol is helpful because it decreases the inflammation in the body that results from the immune responses caused by stress.

However, if youre chronically stressed, stress hormones can affect the way our immune systems function over time. This increases your risk of health problems, including:

Its important to find healthy ways to deal with your stress. This will decrease your risk of long-term stress and its related health problems. Some good ways to reduce stress include:

This might sound cliche but theres honestly so much truth in the remark. Every time you laugh, your brain releases dopamine and other feel-good chemicals which can all help decrease stress.

Experts say that just twenty minutes of laughter a day may not keep the doctor away, but it may help keep your immune system working properly.

It does seem counterintuitive. But you cant be overly hygienic because your gut needs lots of bacteria to be healthy. Some bacteria can help you digest your food. In fact, most people think that every kind of dirt, germ or bacteria outside your body is bad. This just isnt the truth. Our immune systems need those germs to stay healthy.

Immune systems can adapt, which is why human beings have been around for so long. Once your body comes in contact with a foreign substance, it attacks it and remembers it. If it comes back, your body knows what to do.

Dont be afraid of allergies. Seasonal allergies or hay fever are perfectly normal. Even if you feel like cursing every molecule of pollen or dust in the air. These microscopic particles cause the release of histamines, which create some of the nasty symptoms of allergies. This just proves how strong our immune systems are!

We dont all experience allergies, but theyre often caused when your body mistakes something harmless, as a threat. Usually, this happens with pollen or a type of food. Your body launches an immune response against it, causing you to experience allergic symptoms.

Unfortunately, this can happen. Certain people have immune systems that start to attack healthy tissue in the body, which causes disease. This is called autoimmunity.

Most people have immune systems that get used to their own tissue before they are born. They do this by turning off the cells that would attack them. Autoimmune disorders occur when the body mistakenly attacks healthy tissue. This is what occurs in people with autoimmune diseases such as:

These diseases are treated with drugs that suppress the immune system.

The bottom line: Work hard to protect your immune system and it will do the same for you.

Fruits and vegetables are easy to get our hands on nowadays. Even when its not the right time of year for certain ones to grow, there are still stores that will have what youre looking for. Here is why.

Fun Facts About the Immune System. Healthline. https://www.healthline.com/health/cold-flu/fun-facts#1

The Secrets to Never Getting Sick. Healthline. https://www.healthline.com/health/cold-flu/cold-flu-secrets#1

The Importance of Washing your Hands. Cleveland Clinic. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/17474-hand-washing

How to Prepare for the Coronavirus. New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/article/prepare-for-coronavirus.html

Healthy Habits to Help Prevent Flu. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/flu/prevent/actions-prevent-flu.htm

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The Neural Circuit That Fuses Stress, Insomnia, and the Immune System – Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News

September 15th, 2020 10:56 am

Too much stress can keep you up at night. A pressing deadline, watching the news, anxietysometimes you can find yourself tossing and turning, even though you are so tired from stress. Many research studies have linked stress to sleep issues, and insomnia. And now scientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) have pinpointed the neural circuit responsible for sleepless nights due to stress. Their findings also revealed that the same circuit induced changes in the immune system.

The mouse study, Hypothalamic circuitry underlying stress-induced insomnia and peripheral immunosuppression, is published in the journal Science Advances. The studys corresponding authors are Luis de Lecea, PhD, Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University, and Shi-Bin Li, PhD, a postdoctoral research fellow in de Leceas lab.

The neural substrates of insomnia/hyperarousal induced by stress remain unknown. Here, we show that restraint stress leads to hyperarousal associated with strong activation of corticotropin-releasing hormone neurons in the paraventricular nucleus of hypothalamus and hypocretin neurons in the lateral hypothalamus, noted the researchers.

This sort of stress-induced insomnia is well known among anybody thats tried to get to sleep with a looming deadline or something the next day, explained Jeremy Borniger, PhD, a co-author of the study who was a former postdoc in de Leceas lab and is now an assistant professor at CSHL. And in the clinical world, its been known for a long time that chronically stressed patients typically do worse on a variety of different treatments and across a variety of different diseases.

The scientists discovered a connection between neurons sensitive to stress in the brain that motivated cortisols release and nearby neurons that promote insomnia. The researchers found that signals from the hormone-releasing brain cells have a strong effect on the insomnia-inducing neurons.

The researchers interfered with the connection, which enabled mice to sleep peacefully even after being exposed to a stressful situation. It seems like its a pretty sensitive switch, in that even very weak stimulation of the circuit can drive insomnia, Borniger added.

To their surprise, they also discovered the immune system went under extensive changes to cell distribution by the connection. The amount of immune cells in the blood, as well as signaling pathways inside, were disrupted. The researchers were able to mimic the changes simply by stimulating the same neurons that link stress to insomnia.

Single-cell mass cytometry by time of flight (CyTOF) revealed extensive changes to immune cell distribution and functional responses in peripheral blood during hyperarousal upon optogenetic stimulation of CRHPVN neurons simulating stress-induced insomnia, observed the authors.

Looking towards the future, Borniger is interested in discovering how distinct circuits in the brain can be manipulated that are associated with systemic inflammation such as inflammatory bowel disease or cancer. if we can understand and manipulate the immune system using the natural circuitry in the body rather than using a drug that hits certain targets within the system, I think that would be much more effective in the long run, because it just co-opts the natural circuits in the body, Borniger concluded.

Their work highlights a new potential target for the treatment of insomnia and stress-induced changes in systemic physiology.

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Coronavirus prevention: Vitamin C, vitamin D and other key nutrients to keep your immune system healthy – Times Now

September 15th, 2020 10:56 am

Coronavirus prevention: Vitamin C, vitamin D and other key nutrients to keep your immune system healthy  |  Photo Credit: iStock Images

New Delhi: As the threat of the novel coronavirus infection continues to spread worldwide, having an optimally functioning immune system is more important than ever. In fact, some experts advise that taking supplements containing vitamin C and vitamin D may help boost immunity to fight COVID-19 and other respiratory infections. The good news is, following a healthful, balanced diet consisting of a variety of foods loaded with nutrients and antioxidants can help strengthen your immunity.

The food you eat can have an impact on your thoughts, action, behaviour, mood, temper and well-being. Similarly, it also impacts immensely on the immune system. The immune system acts as a first line of defense towards the invasion by micro-organisms and foreign bodies. Eating a well-balanced diet loaded with essential macro and micronutrients is very important to build strong immunity. But, did you know the role diet plays in keeping your immune system healthy?

The role of nutritional support for immune function can be traced back to 1800 BC when studies proved that malnourishment leads to poor immune outcome. For instance, proteins, as we know are considered to be the building blocks of life. They also make up hormones, enzymes, neurotransmitters, immune cells and antibodies. Similarly, the carbohydrates serve as a quick fuel and lipids acts as a reserved energy. Also, micronutrients like vitamins, minerals and water are equally important. Focusing on nutrition, regular physical activity, stress management and getting enough sleep or rest can contribute to a stronger immune system.

Additionally, dietary interventionhas promisingly proven that it can improve gut health, which influences the balance of your immune system. Studies using animal models with gut inflammation have shown significant improvement in terms of reducing the gut inflammation using probiotics or certain fermented foods. Good hut health can help improve your immunity. The community of microbes that lives in the GI tract is collectively called as gut microbiota. Any harm done to this community will have a direct impact on health posing a serious risk of developing chronic illness.

Some micronutrients and dietary components like vitamins C, D, amino acids and certain minerals such as zinc, selenium play a specific role in maintaining an effective immune system, said Divya R, senior executive nutritionist, Cloudnine Group of Hospitals, Jayanagar, Bangalore. Here are some key nutrients that can help boost your immunity and protect you from infections, including COVID-19:

Protein: Plays a vital role in bodys healing, repair and recovery mechanism. Also, antibodies and immune cells rely on proteins. Eating a variety of protein foods, including seafood, lean meat, poultry, eggs, beans and peas, soy products and unsalted nuts and seeds, milk and dairy products will help in maintaining optimal health.

Vitamins: A vitamin is a substance that makes you ill if you dont eat it. Among them vitamins A, B, C, D and E are considered to be playing a major role in boosting immunity. They act as effective antioxidants, antimicrobial agents, reduce pro-inflammatory cytokines and promote healthy gut microbiota. They also stimulate antibody formation and supports cellular function.

Sources of vitamins

Minerals: Zinc, selenium, iron, magnesium, copper etc, are very important for optimal immune system function. Sources include Whole grains, dal and pulses, seeds, millets, green leafy vegetables, poultry, eggs, fishes etc.

Probiotics: Probiotics are specific strains of live bacteria present in certain foods. They can help boost the immune system and inhibit the growth of harmful gut bacteria. Some probiotics have been shown to promote the production of natural antibodies in the body. Sources include fermented milk, yogurt, kefir and other fermented food products.

Prebiotics: Prebiotics stimulates the immune system by directly or indirectly increasing the population of probiotics in the gut. Sources are banana, barley, flax seeds, apple, garlic etc.

Water: Staying well hydrated is very important to ward off infections and also to eliminate toxins and harmful bacteria that may cause infections. Plain water is the best fluid. Other forms of fluids can be coconut water, lime water, buttermilk, soups, infused water, etc.

Always rely on these medicinal value of herbs and spices from your kitchen garden as a cure-all remedy. Herbs like tulsi, methi, ashwagandha, aloe vera, and spices like pepper, cloves, turmeric etc, are all antifungal, antibacterial agents loaded with antibiotic and antioxidant properties.

Supplementing regularly with these essential food constituents will help in lowering the risk of being infected as they help in boosting up the immunity against a wide range of disease-causing microbes.

Disclaimer: Tips and suggestions mentioned in the article are for general information purpose only and should not be construed as professional medical advice. Always consult your doctor or a dietician before starting any fitness programme or making any changes to your diet.

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Coronavirus prevention: Vitamin C, vitamin D and other key nutrients to keep your immune system healthy - Times Now

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The immune response to COVID-19 vaccines – Cosmos

September 15th, 2020 10:56 am

By Paul Gill and Menno van Zelm, Monash University

The Oxford vaccine trial at the centre of safety concerns this week highlights the idea that peoples immune systems respond to vaccines differently.

We dont yet know whether reports of immune complications in one or two trial participants have been linked to the COVID-19 vaccine itself, or if they were given the placebo vaccine.

But it does highlight the importance of phase 3 clinical trials in many thousands of people, across continents. These not only tell us whether a vaccine is safe, but also whether it works for people of different ages or with particular health issues.

So what are some of the immune factors that determine whether any of the 180 or so COVID-19 vaccine candidates being developed around the world actually work?

An effective vaccine should generate long-lasting protective immunity against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

This can be by generating antibodies to neutralise the virus and likely also by helping the immune system memorise and quickly respond to infection.

How vaccines work with your immune system to protect against disease.

We know, from developing vaccines against other viruses, that peoples immune response to a vaccine can vary. Theres every reason to believe this will also be the case for a COVID-19 vaccine.

Many COVID-19 vaccine candidates contain parts of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein to stimulate protective immunity. However, there are many different ways of delivering these proteins to the body, and some may be more effective than others at stimulating your immune system.

For example, the Oxford vaccine combines the spike protein with another virus to mimic the actions of SARS-CoV-2.

Meanwhile, the candidate developed by the University of Queensland contains the spike protein packaged with another compound (an adjuvant) to stimulate the immune system.

Some people will likely need a follow-up booster shot to ensure longer-lasting immunity.

We may also see some vaccines delivered as a nasal spray. This may elicit a more effective immune response to COVID-19 in the upper respiratory tract, including the nostrils, mouth and throat.

Previous infections may prime our immune system to respond differently to vaccination.

For instance, the SARS-CoV-2 virus belongs to a large family of human coronaviruses, four of which are responsible for common colds.

Being exposed to these cold-causing coronaviruses, and developing immune memory cells against them, may mean a stronger or quicker response to a COVID-19 vaccine.

Some people have poor protective immune responses to COVID-19 vaccine candidates. These people may have existing immunity to the adenovirus used in some vaccines to deliver the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein.

In other words, their body mounts an immune response to the wrong part of the vaccine (the delivery mechanism) and not so much to the characteristic part of the virus (the spike protein).

Our genes play a large part in regulating our immune system.

Researchers have already seen sex differences, which are partly governed by genes, in the immune response to the flu vaccine. They have also seen sex differences in the immune response to COVID-19.

So larger clinical trials should help us understand whether men and women respond differently to a COVID-19 vaccine.

People with inherited immune deficiencies may also be unable to generate protective immunity in response to vaccination.

The composition of our immune system changes throughout the course of our lives, and this affects our ability to mount a protective immune response.

Infants and childrens immune systems are still developing. So their immune response may be different to adults.

Some COVID-19 vaccines may be more effective for children, or recommended for them, as we see already with the flu vaccine.

As we get older, changes in our immune system mean we cannot efficiently maintain long-lasting protective immunity; we are less able to make new antibodies in response to infection.

We already know older people are less likely to mount a protective immune response with the flu vaccine.

So we need the data from large trials to verify whether COVID-19 vaccines work in children and elderly people.

Diet, exercise, stress and whether we smoke influence our immune response to vaccination. So we can look after our immune system with a healthy lifestyle where possible.

There is also an emerging hypothesis that our gut microbes may influence our immune response to vaccination. But more research is needed to confirm this could occur during COVID-19 vaccination.

Paul Gill, Post-doctoral Researcher (Gastroenterology and Immunology), Monash University and Menno van Zelm, Associate Professor, Immunology, Monash University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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