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Researchers present fragment-based computational design of antibodies that target structured epitopes

Antibodies are central to infection control and prolonged immunity. Key tools in biomedical research, antibodies are also used to diagnose human diseases and detect adaptive immunity to past infections with particular pathogens. While existing methods to discover and generate antibodies are successful, they also have important limitations, such as hard targets (short-lived, homologous, or unstable) […]

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Researchers explore how N501Y mutation in SARS-CoV-2 increases viral transmissibility

Researchers at Erasmus University Medical Center in The Netherlands have explored how and why new variants of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the causative agent of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), have exhibited heightened infectivity. Study: Experimental evidence for enhanced receptor binding by rapidly spreading SARS-CoV-2 variants. Image Credit: Design_Cells / Shutterstock They suggest […]

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The origin of SARS-CoV-2 furin cleavage site remains a mystery

The ongoing pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has largely defied attempts to contain its spread by non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs). With the massive loss of life and economic damage, the only way out, in the absence of specific antiviral therapeutics, has been the development of […]

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Rethinking classical epidemiological modeling in light of COVID-19 pandemic

Epidemiological models have been indispensable in aiding our understanding of the unfolding coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. A team of international scientists has recently developed an epidemiological model to explore the impact of individual variation in susceptibility and infectivity on transmission dynamics of an infectious disease across inhomogeneous populations. The study is currently available on […]

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Study offers new protocols for high-quality SARS-CoV-2 genomic sequencing

In late-December 2019, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was first detected in Wuhan City, China, causing an easily transmissible respiratory illness. By March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared its outbreak a global pandemic. Caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), COVID-19 has infected over 107.48 million people globally. To date, […]

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Probiotics as adjuvant therapy for COVID-19 patients

Back in 1892, Doderlein first established the beneficial association of microorganisms in the human body. Therefore, under the COVID-19 pandemic, it can be beneficial to assess microorganisms' role in the human body and the use of probiotics as therapy for COVID-19 patients. While the term "microbiome" (coined by the Nobel laureate Joshua Lederberg, 2001) includes […]