COVID-19 tagged posts

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

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

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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Vermont team invents Emergency Ventilator

A commercial ventilator can have 1500 parts supplied from more than a dozen countries. UVM engineer Carl Silver built the first prototype of an emergency ventilator in one day with parts he found in his house and UVM’s IMF Lab. He’s part of a Vermont team seeking emergency review from the FDA to make the ventilator available for hospitals overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients. They’ll be sharing the innovative design—and looking for support and manufacturing partners. Credit: Ian Thomas Jansen-Lonnquist

Over the last three weeks, a team of scientists, engineers and doctors at the University of Vermont have developed a new design—and built a working model—for a simple, inexpensive ventilator.

“We think these could be rolled out very quickly and be effective on an emergency b...

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FDA officially authorizes its first Serological Antibody Blood Test for COVID-19

blood sample
Cellex’s test is distinctly different from the nearly two dozen diagnostic tests the FDA has officially authorized so far, which focus on finding active infections by sequencing the genetic material of the virus. (Rawpixel)

The FDA granted its first emergency authorization for a rapid antibody blood test for COVID-19, developed by Cellex, allowing people to gauge a person’s immune response to the novel coronavirus.

The serological test—which uses a fingerprick of blood and a small strip, similar to a combination of a blood glucose test and a home pregnancy exam—detects two different types of antibodies produced by the body to fight off the infection. Available by prescription, this can be used to determine whether a person has been previously infected and possibly recovered.

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