COVID-19 tagged posts

SARS-CoV-2 can Infect Dopamine Neurons causing Senescence

SARS-CoV-2 can infect dopamine neurons causing senescence
Stained tissue from the midbrain of a COVID-19 patient shows DNA in the cells’ nuceli (blue), dopamine neurons (green) and phosphor-alpha-synuclein (red). Credit: Liuliu Yang

A new study reported that SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID, can infect dopamine neurons in the brain and trigger senescence—when a cell loses the ability to grow and divide. The researchers from Weill Cornell Medicine, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons suggest that further research on this finding may shed light on the neurological symptoms associated with long COVID, such as brain fog, lethargy, and depression.

The findings, published in Cell Stem Cell on Jan...

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‘Lab on a Chip’ Genetic Test device can Identify Viruses within Three Minutes with Top-Level Accuracy

Dr Despina Moschou with LoCKAmp replaceable lab on chip printed circuit board 16x9

Compact genetic testing device created for Covid-19 could be used to detect a range of pathogens, or conditions including cancer.

A virus diagnosis device that gives lab-quality results within just three minutes has been invented by engineers at the University of Bath, who describe it as the ‘world’s fastest Covid test’.

The prototype LoCKAmp device uses innovative ‘lab on a chip’ technology and has been proven to provide rapid and low-cost detection of Covid-19 from nasal swabs. The research team, based at the University of Bath, say the technology could easily be adapted to detect other pathogens such as bacteria — or even conditions like cancer.

The device works by rapidly releasing and amplifying genetic material from a nasal swab sample by carrying out a chemical reactio...

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Surprise COVID Discovery Helps Explain How Coronaviruses Jump Species

DNA-tethering and fusion of SARS-CoV-2 pseudoviruses and virus-like particles (VLP). The experiment design is schematized in panel (a), where DNA-functionalized viral particles are added to a microfluidic flow cell and allowed to bind to protein-free liposomes functionalized with complementary DNA. After unbound particles are washed away, fusion is initiated by addition of a soluble protease and monitored via lipid mixing, detected as fluorescence dequenching of Texas Red dye in the VLP or pseudoviral envelope. Representative images of a 10.1 × 9.6 μm sub-micrograph before and after lipid mixing are shown in panel (b) with a fusing particle outlined in magenta. The corresponding fluorescence intensity trace is plotted in panel (c).

Unexpected new insights into how COVID-19 infects ce...

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Researchers find COVID-19 causes Mitochondrial Dysfunction in Heart and other Organs

Researchers find COVID-19 causes mitochondrial dysfunction in heart and other organs
A summary of prominent mRNA expression changes observed in COVID-19-derived nasopharyngeal samples collected early in infection when viral titers were high, SARS-CoV-2-positive rodent lungs when viral titers were in decline, and autopsy COVID-19 samples in which the virus had been cleared. Credit: Joseph W. Guarnieri, Gabrielle Widjaja, and Douglas C. Wallace.

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, researchers have been trying to determine why this virus creates such negative long-term effects compared with most coronaviruses.

Now, a multi-institutional consortium of researchers led by a team at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and the COVID-19 International Research Team (COV-IRT) has found that the genes of the mitochondria can be ne...

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