by Stacey Hawkins | May 19, 2020 | Infectious Disease
News of positive data from Moderna’s (Cambridge, MA) Phase I trial of a COVID-19 vaccine has dominated this week’s headlines. Their vaccine is an mRNA-based vaccine—an entirely new approach to not only vaccines but also to therapeutics. mRNA-based drugs... 
by Stacey Hawkins | May 12, 2020 | Infectious Disease
Last week, the FDA granted emergency-use approval for Sherlock Bioscience’s (Cambridge, MA) new coronavirus diagnostic. The test uses CRISPR genome editing to detect the presence of Sars-Cov-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. With the ability to return results... 
by Stacey Hawkins | Apr 14, 2020 | Infectious Disease
Last week, we began our two-part series on COVID-19 antiviral drugs by reviewing the stages of the Sars-Cov-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) lifecycle that might be prone to attack by these drugs, and explained how hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) works and discussed the... 
by Stacey Hawkins | Apr 8, 2020 | Infectious Disease
For the past several weeks, we’ve been focusing on explaining the science behind vaccines, explaining the different types of vaccines that are in development to prevent Covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus Sars-Cov-2. This week, guest author Kevin... 
by Stacey Hawkins | Mar 31, 2020 | Infectious Disease
Last week, we overviewed vaccine development and manufacture, focusing on those that use whole pathogens to protect us from a disease. This week, we examine subunit, polysaccharide, and DNA/RNA-based vaccines, which use different strategies to fight infection. We also... 
by Stacey Hawkins | Mar 24, 2020 | Infectious Disease
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread, governments, citizens, and healthcare workers everywhere turn their hopes to a new vaccine that will stop transmission. This WEEKLY takes a look at different types of vaccines and their manufacture, as well as what kind of...
