No one single person invented mRNA vaccines. It takes a village! 🏡🏡🏡 Many thanks to @sciencewhizliz for leading the gigantic task of querying the many publications related to mRNA technology and counting authors. @niniandthebrain then came in clutch with her fantastic data presentation skills to visually illustrate just how spread out author contribution is. This post was initially inspiredContinue reading “It Takes a Village”
Category Archives: COVID-19
Survival of the Fittest
It’s 💪🏼 SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST 💪🏼among the variants and Delta is in the lead! The frequency of Delta cases is growing very quickly all over the globe. While the Alpha variant is currently still the highest proportion of cases in the United States, it is slowly declining and being replaced with the more transmissibleContinue reading “Survival of the Fittest”
Spike Protein won’t cause disease.
A deeper dive into the spike protein and its many conformations. We try to explain in more detail how dynamic the spike protein is, how it interacts with your cells, and how the vaccine-induced spike is different than the spike on the surface of the virus. There are 2 major points that drive my thoughtContinue reading “Spike Protein won’t cause disease.”
No Gene Editing in Vaccines
Can the vaccines edit your DNA? The answer is no! Ultimately, 2 minimum conditions must be met in order for genome editing to occur. 1. The necessary “equipment” must be introduced into your cell. These are enzymes (proteins) that have the special ability to unwind, cut, build, and glue the DNA of your genome.2. TheContinue reading “No Gene Editing in Vaccines”
NovaVax COVID-19 Vaccine
Let’s talk NovaVax! Teamed up with @jesseosheamd to put together a summary of the technology, efficacy, and safety of this vaccine. NovaVax is a protein nanoparticle-based vaccine that also contains a saponin adjuvant (plant-based). The phase 3 US/Mexico data was released this morning and it looks fantastic! Posted on Instagram on June 14, 2021.
29 Proteins vs. 1 Protein
29 proteins vs. 1 protein. When you are infected with SARS-CoV-2 you are introducing innumerable copies of 29 different proteins into your body. 1 of those 29 proteins is the spike protein, which is the ONLY protein that your body is introduced to after vaccination. The entire RNA genome of SARS-CoV-2 encodes for 4 structuralContinue reading “29 Proteins vs. 1 Protein”
India COVID Crisis
Today I wanted to dedicate a post to the public health crisis in India. It’s particularly disturbing (and all too familiar) when I hear people deny the experience of our global neighbors and claim it is media sensationalism. It is not. You can do your part by getting yourself vaccinated, donating (link to a listContinue reading “India COVID Crisis”
VITT
So much talk about blood clots this week! I teamed up with @deplatformdisease to try and give a detailed look at what we know about the clinical presentation seen in a very small population of adenovirus-based vaccine recipients and what we know about the molecular biology. It is important to recognize that because this is so incrediblyContinue reading “VITT”
Your Neck of the Woods!
Collaborative post with the wonderful @niniandthebrain !‬ ‪Been confused about the different variants? Where they are, what mutations they have, what we know about them, and how vaccines still work on them? We’ve laid out the latest efficacy and effectiveness data here for you. ‬ ‪We cover B.1.1.7, B.1.351, and P.1 in detail. We include recent UK,Continue reading “Your Neck of the Woods!”
Coronavirus
I’d say meet coronavirus but I think we’re all a bit too familiar at this point! ‬ ‪Coronaviruses are spherical, enveloped particles that vary between 80 and 120nm in diameter and carry an RNA genome (26.4 to 31.7kb). ‬ ‪The name “coronavirus” is derived from Latin – corona – meaning “crown”.‬ ‪The viral envelope isContinue reading “Coronavirus”