As a novel and dangerous coronavirus continues to sicken thousands in China and a few dozen others in countries around the world, including the United States, U.S. academic researchers and government experts are working around the clock to understand, treat, and help prevent further spread of this emerging viral threat. “We are already functioning as if there is a worldwide pandemic,” says James Crowe, Jr., MD, an immunologist at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and director of the Vanderbilt Vaccine Center.

Asian lineage avian influenza virus (H7N9) is a subtype of influenza virus that can infect humans following exposure to live, infected poultry. There have been several outbreaks since the first reported case in China in 2013, and the mortality rate is as high as 39 percent. Although person-to-person transmission of the virus is unlikely, influenza viruses are constantly evolving into new strains. Therefore, there is a constant threat of emergence of more pathogenic and resistant viruses with the ability to trigger a worldwide pandemic outbreak.

Recover from dengue once, and you’re not necessarily free and clear. The mosquito-borne disease marked by fever, rash, and debilitating pain results from any of four genetically distinct versions of the dengue virus. Previously infected people who get hit with a second of these “serotypes” can face more severe, even life-threatening symptoms. Now, by endowing a line of mosquitoes with an antibody against the virus, researchers have for the first time made insects that—at least in lab tests—appear unable to spread any form of the disease.

Everybody gets sick now and then.  But if it weren’t for antibodies – the weapons that help our immune systems fight viruses, bacteria or even cancer cells – some illnesses would be much more frequent and potentially lethal.

According to a Web of Science analysis, Dr. Ivelin Georgiev is one of 2019's most cited researchers in the world!  This distinction recognizes researchers with multiple top 1% cited papers in their field.   Read more at bit.ly/33cN1zJ.    

Flu shots can be hard to sell to the public. Even a run-of-the-mill influenza infection can be debilitating to otherwise healthy people, and lethal to those who are elderly or frail, so vaccinations are important. The problem is that flu vaccines deliver inconsistent performance. “In a good season, we’re up to 60% effectiveness, but in bad, mismatched years it can be as low as 10% or 20%,” says Barney Graham, deputy director of the Vaccine Research Center at the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) in Bethesda, Maryland.

Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center are partnering with the Dutch biopharmaceutical firm Batavia Biosciences and Nashville-based IDBiologics to bring to the clinic a highly potent Zika virus neutralizing antibody they isolated three years ago. The mosquito-borne Zika virus is believed to cause microcephaly, unusually small heads, and other congenital malformations in children born to infected women. Currently there is no way to prevent Zika virus infection or its aftermath.

Laura Powell has been awarded a Keystone Symposia Future of Science Fund scholarship to attend the upcoming meeting on Positive-Strand RNA Viruses, Jun 9 - Jun 13, 2019, in INEC, Killarney Convention Centre in Killarney, Co. Kerry.  Congrats Laura!