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.”
Category Archives: Virology
501Y.V2
Today we’re talking about variant 501Y.V2, also known as B.1.351, also known as the variant that was originally identified in South Africa! Another variant that has concerned the world as it makes it way from country to country. Why? Because it has key mutations in the spike protein receptor binding domain that could have aContinue reading “501Y.V2”
Neutralizing Antibody Test – N501Y e.g.
Neutralizing Antibody Tests! What are they? These kind of assays evaluate how well a virus (or protein) is neutralized by a particular pool of antibodies! This is of particular interest this weekend because early, pre-print, data was just released, looking at the important SARS-CoV-2 mutation, N501Y. The big question has been if this mutation willContinue reading “Neutralizing Antibody Test – N501Y e.g.”
What’s a virus?
What is a virus?? We talk so much about them these days but what are they really? Ultimately a virus is a system of protein, nucleic acid, and sometimes lipid that is made to enter a cell and make more of itself. Here’s a post with some basics!