Tag Archives: Antibodies

For many parents, the long-awaited COVID-19 vaccine authorization for younger kids can’t come soon enough. Vladimir Vladimirov/E+ via Getty Images Debbie-Ann Shirley, University of Virginia Elementary school children in the United States will soon have one more layer of protection to keep them safe from COVID-19. On Oct. 29, 2021, the Food and Drug Administration authorized emergency use of the …

Understanding how much protection a vaccine offers is not as simple as it sounds. Andriy Onufriyenko/Moment via Getty Images Melissa Hawkins, American University The pandemic has brought many tricky terms and ideas from epidemiology into everyone’s lives. Two particularly complicated concepts are vaccine efficacy and effectiveness. These are not the same thing. And as time goes on and new variants …

The omicron variant possesses numerous mutations in the spike protein, the knob-like protrusions (in red) that allow the virus to invade other cells. Juan Gaertner/Science Photo Library via Getty Images Suresh V. Kuchipudi, Penn State A new variant named omicron (B.1.1.529) was reported by researchers in South Africa on Nov. 24, 2021, and designated a “variant of concern” by the …

Christoph Burgstedt/Shutterstock Albert J.R. Heck, Utrecht University Every person appears to have a unique immune system. My colleagues and I discovered this immune diversity after charting antibodies in the blood from healthy and sick people. The discovery could help explain why, for example, COVID vaccines appear to be less effective for some people. At the same time, it points to …

Can you really fake a covid test with soft drinks? K321/Shutterstock Mark Lorch, University of Hull Children are always going to find cunning ways to bunk off school, and the latest trick is to fake a positive COVID-19 lateral flow test (LFT) using soft drinks. So how are fruit juices, cola and devious kids fooling the tests and is there …

maybealice/Shutterstock Jessica Williams, Cardiff Metropolitan University As COVID-19 has swept across the globe, it seems that high transmission rates have partly been driven by a large number of people catching the virus, not experiencing symptoms and then unknowingly passing it on. Despite this, the screening of asymptomatic people for signs of infection hasn’t been widespread, due to costs and limits …

Vaccination produces a much stronger and more consistent immune response than infection. Andriy Onufriyenko/Moment via Getty Images Jennifer T. Grier, University of South Carolina A few weeks ago, a message popped up in the corner of my screen. “What do you think about people who have recently had COVID–19 getting the vaccine?” A friend of mine was eligible for a …

Antibodies (white) binding to a coronavirus (red and orange). Kateryna Kon/Shutterstock Sarah L Caddy, University of Cambridge and Meng Wang, University of Cambridge The emergence of “variants of concern” has raised questions about our long-term immunity to the coronavirus. Will the antibodies we make after being infected with or vaccinated against the dominant lineage, called D614G, protect us against future …

Our research could be important for developing more effective vaccines in the future. Arturs Budkevics/ Shutterstock Louisa James, Queen Mary University of London and Hamish King, Queen Mary University of London We understand much of how the immune system works but, as recent efforts to combat COVID-19 have shown, its sheer complexity means many mysteries still remain. For example, how …

dotshock/Shutterstock Steven Smith, Brunel University London In the global effort to overcome COVID-19, much scientific and medical attention has focused on the ability of our immune system to generate antibodies. Antibodies are one of our body’s main weapons against viruses, created to recognise specific proteins on a virus’s surface and initiate processes that ultimately neutralise and remove the virus. We …