The results of a study led by Northern Arizona University and the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), an affiliate of City of Hope, suggest the immune systems of people infected with COVID-19 may rely on antibodies created during infections from earlier coronaviruses to help fight the disease.
Image/Dr. Fred Murphy & Sylvia Whitfield/CDC
COVID-19 isn’t humanity’s first encounter with a coronavirus, so named because of the corona, or crown-like, protein spikes on their surface. Before SARS-CoV-2 the virus that causes COVID-19 humans have navigated at least 6 other types of coronaviruses.
The study sought to understand how coronaviruses (CoVs) ignite the human immune system and conduct a deeper dive on the inner workings of the antibody response. The published findings, “Epitope-resolved profiling of the SARS-CoV-2 antibody response identifies cross-reactivity with endemic human coronaviruses,” appear in the journal
partnering on small activating RNA (saRNA) therapies to treat neurological diseases. saRNA is an entirely new class of drugs. They are small oligonucleotides, similar to siRNAs. This technology is MiNA’s focus, based on inventions from the company’s founder Pål Saetrom, which were assigned to MiNA by the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. The company has also in-licensed fundamental patents from UT Southwestern Medical Center that covers RNA activation therapeutics.
MiNA will leverage its saRNA platform to identify possible treatments to restore normal cell function in neurological diseases. Servier will handle preclinical and clinical development of potential candidates. Servier also will have the option for commercialization of any products coming out of the partnership.
Friday, January 22, 2021
TRONDHEIM, NORWAY According to a statement released by the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, a survey conducted in northern Norway’s Bodø municipality with ground-penetrating radar detected the presence of 15 burial mounds, one of which may contain a boat grave. Archaeologist Arne Anderson Stamnes said the size and shape of the mounds suggests that they date to between A.D. 650 and 950, or the Viking Age. The largest mound measures about 100 feet across, he explained. The survey also revealed 32 unusual, oval ditches oriented with their narrow ends toward the sea. Stamnes and his colleagues think the ditches may represent the foundations of buildings, although the survey did not reveal any firepits within the ditches. Instead, Stamnes suggests the structures may have been used as market stalls or temporary dwellings similar to those seen at archaeological sites in Iceland. More than 1,200 pits were also detected, Stamnes said, indicating tha
Can we use abandoned crop fields to produce more biofuel?
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Researchers have identified a vast area of land perfect for biofuel cultivation which may help resolve ethical debates over biofuel vs. food production.
Growing perennial grasses on abandoned cropland has the potential to counteract some of the negative impacts of climate change by switching to more biofuels, according to a research group from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in a study published in
Nature Sustainability.
Researchers consider increased use of biofuels to be an important part of the solution to reduce CO
2 emissions. But the production of plants for biofuels can have some unfortunate trade-offs.
More biofuels are needed to counteract climate change. But producing them shouldn t diminish food production or wilderness areas. The solution may be to grow more grass on recently abandoned cropland.