SARSCoV2

Although first detected in December 2019, COVID-19 was inferred to be present in Hubei province, China, for about a month before (1). Where did this new human disease come from? To understand the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is…

Targeting the main protease of SARS-CoV-2Inside host cells, the RNA genome of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is translated into two polyproteins that are cleaved to yield the individual viral proteins. The main…

Fueling outbreaksThe B.1.1.7 lineage of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has caused fast-spreading outbreaks globally. Intrinsically, this variant has greater transmissibility than its predecessors, but this…

Defenses against SARS-CoV-2 variantsOur key defense against the COVID-19 pandemic is neutralizing antibodies against the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus elicited by natural infection or vaccination. Recent…

Defenses against SARS-CoV-2 variantsOur key defense against the COVID-19 pandemic is neutralizing antibodies against the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus elicited by natural infection or vaccination. Recent…

SARS-CoV-2 from alpha to epsilonAs battles to contain the COVID-19 pandemic continue, attention is focused on emerging variants of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus that have been deemed variants of…

SARS-CoV-2 from alpha to epsilonAs battles to contain the COVID-19 pandemic continue, attention is focused on emerging variants of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus that have been deemed variants of…

SARS-CoV-2 from alpha to epsilonAs battles to contain the COVID-19 pandemic continue, attention is focused on emerging variants of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus that have been deemed variants of…

Screening for drugs that don't workIn the battle against COVID-19, drugs discovered in repurposing screens are of particular interest because these could be rapidly implemented as treatments. However, Tummino et al. deliver a cautionary…

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, there was massive investment into the discovery of new treatments. Given the urgent need, repurposing of approved or clinically pretested drugs appeared especially attractive because that strategy promised…

AbstractOngoing SARS-CoV-2 vaccine development is focused on identifying stable, cost-effective, and accessible candidates for global use, specifically in low and middle-income countries. Here, we report the efficacy of a rapidly scalable,…

Correlates of infectiousnessThe role that individuals with asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 have in transmission of the virus is not well understood. Jones et al. investigated viral load in…

Mind your metalsIron–sulfur clusters are important cofactors for proteins involved in metabolism and electron transfer but are also sometimes found in enzymes involved in transcription and replication of DNA. In vitro expression of such…

The basic reproduction number, R0 (the number of infections caused by a case in a homogeneously susceptible population), for a particular infection is dependent on the epidemiological triad of the biological characteristics of the pathogen,…

AbstractOrgan transplant patients have poor immune responses to COVID-19 vaccines; thus designing vaccine strategies to protect this vulnerable population from SARS-CoV-2 infection is crucial.Effective vaccines against viruses, including…

Boosterism could save livesPostinfection immune protection against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 reinfection is not fully understood. It will be devastating if waves of new variants emerge that undermine natural immune…

Masking out air sharingThe effectiveness of masks in preventing the transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 has been debated since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. One important question is whether masks are…

A boost from infectionDuring clinical trials of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 vaccines, no one who had survived infection with the virus was tested. A year after the pandemic was declared, vaccination of previously…

Shifting frames to make more proteinsSevere acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 critically depends on the ribosomal frameshifting that occurs between two large open reading frames in its genomic RNA for expression of viral replicase.…

Probing CD4 T cell immunity to SARS-CoV-2A better understanding of CD4+ T cell responses to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is crucial to the design of effective next-generation vaccines. Low et al. defined and…

AbstractPatients with kidney failure are at increased risk for SARS-CoV-2 infection making effective vaccinations a critical need. It is not known how well mRNA vaccines induce B and plasma cell responses in dialysis patients (DP) or kidney…

AbstractThe inclusion of infants in the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine roll-out is important to prevent severe complications of pediatric SARS-CoV-2 infections and to limit transmission and could possibly be implemented via the global pediatric vaccine…