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    COVID-19 tagged posts

    Super-potent Human Antibodies protect against COVID-19 in Animal Tests

    June 16, 2020, Categories  Biology/Biotechnology, Health/Medical

    A human antibody (blue) attaches to the receptor binding domain (red) on the SARS-CoV-2 virus. (Model courtesy of the Burton lab.)

    Scientists isolate powerful coronavirus-neutralizing antibodies from COVID-19 patients and successfully test in animals. A team led by Scripps Research has discovered antibodies in the blood of recovered COVID-19 patients that provide powerful protection against SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes the disease, when tested in animals and human cell cultures.

    The research, published today in Science, offers a paradigm of swift reaction to an emergent and deadly viral pandemic, and sets the stage for clinical trials and additional tests of the antibodies, which are now being produced as potential treatments and preventives for COVID-19.

    “The discover...

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    Imaging reveals Bowel Abnormalities in Patients with COVID-19

    May 12, 2020, Categories  Biology/Biotechnology, Health/Medical

    Coronal CT of the abdomen and pelvis with IV contrast in a 47-year-old man with abdominal tenderness demonstrates typical findings of mesenteric ischemia and infarction, including pneumatosis intestinalis (arrow) and non-enhancing bowel (*). Frank discontinuity of a thickened loop of small bowel in the pelvis (thin arrow) is in keeping with perforation.

    Patients with COVID-19 can have bowel abnormalities, including ischemia, according to a new study published recently in the journal Radiology.

    Several studies have evaluated the chest imaging findings in COVID-19, which helped improve understanding of how the disease affects the lungs. More recently, reports have documented that gastrointestinal symptoms, liver injury, and vascular findings are common in these patients...

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    Antibodies from llamas could help in fight against COVID-19, study suggests

    May 5, 2020, Categories  Biology/Biotechnology, Health/Medical

    A Llama Named Winter (and Friends)
    Scientists were inspired by antibodies produced by this llama, named Winter, to develop their antibody against SARS-CoV-2. Winter is four years old and still living on a farm in the Belgian countryside operated by Ghent University’s Vlaams Institute for Biotechnology. Photo credit: Tim Coppens.

    Researchers linked two copies of a special kind of produced by llamas to create a new antibody that binds tightly to the spike protein on the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. This spike protein allows the virus to break into host cells. Initial tests indicate that the antibody blocks viruses that display this spike protein from infecting cells in culture.

    The hunt for an effective treatment for COVID-19 has led one team of researchers to find an improbable ally for their work: a llama name...

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    Researchers Identify Cells likely Targeted by COVID-19 virus

    April 23, 2020, Categories  Biology/Biotechnology, Health/Medical

    This scanning electron microscope image shows SARS-CoV-2 (orange)—also known as 2019-nCoV, the virus that causes COVID-19—isolated from a patient in the U.S., emerging from the surface of cells (green) cultured in the lab.
    Credit: NIAID-RML

    Study finds specific cells in the lungs, nasal passages, and intestines that are more susceptible to infection. Researchers at MIT; the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT, and Harvard; and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard; along with colleagues from around the world have identified specific types of cells that appear to be targets of the coronavirus that is causing the Covid-19 pandemic.

    Using existing data on the RNA found in different types of cells, the researchers were able to search for cells that express the two proteins that help the SARS-Co...

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