Tuberculosis (TB) is the second leading infectious disease killer. According to the World Health Organization, every year, more than 10 million people fall ill with TB, and 1.5 million people die from the disease. The thing is, though, that it could be worse. Not nearly everyone who is infected has TB disease. “Tuberculosis is a disease that targets a small number of infected people,” Igor Kramnik, of Boston University, told BioWorld.
Researchers who follow their instincts and achieve slow results while trying to break barriers have little support. They replace it with persistence. This is the story of Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman. What was once a dream in their minds was later a success.
Researchers from Longhorn Vaccines & Diagnostics LLC recently presented preclinical data for the novel unconjugated peptide vaccine LHNVD-201, which is being developed as a universal vaccine candidate for protection against different strains of influenza and COVID-19.
Researchers who follow their instincts and achieve slow results while trying to break barriers have little support. They replace it with persistence. This is the story of Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman. What was once a dream in their minds was later a success. Their work together for decades was essential to achieving mRNA vaccines, and their perseverance was rewarded today with the 2023 Nobel Prize in Medicine.
Benzamide compounds acting as UDP-2,3-diacylglucosamine hydrolase (LpxH) (bacterial) inhibitors have been reported in an F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd. patent to be useful for the treatment of gram-negative bacterial infections, particularly Klebsiella pneumoniae and Escherichia coli infections.
Research at Baruch S Blumberg Institute has led to the discovery of new diazepine derivatives targeting yellow fever virus nonstructural protein 4B (NS4B) for the treatment of yellow fever virus infections.
Modex Therapeutics Inc. has been awarded a contract from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) to advance a platform and specific candidates designed to address a range of public health threats in viral infectious diseases.
Lyme disease, caused by the bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi and transmitted by Ixodes ticks, is expanding in many countries, posing a significant global health concern. The outer surface protein A (OspA) of B. burgdorferi is currently the most promising target for vaccine development, primarily because of its broad conservation among different bacterial strains that cause the disease. In a recent publication, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania and collaborators proposed using a lipid nanoparticle-encapsulated nucleoside-modified mRNA (mRNA-LNP) platform, similar to that of clinical vaccines against SARS-CoV-2, to develop a vaccine against Lyme disease.
Viruses of the Betacoronavirus genus that bind to angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) are the coronaviruses posing the most significant pandemic risk. Sarbecoviruses of this genus caused the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic and the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Therefore, new vaccines with broader protection from ACE2-binding sarbecoviruses and emerging variants of concern are urgently needed.
The fungus Candida auris has become an urgent clinical problem at a shocking speed. It was not even mentioned in the U.S. CDC’s 2013 reports on antimicrobial threats, but was one of five pathogens on the agency’s 2019 top-tier Urgent Threat List.