A genetically engineered, stem-cell-derived cellular vaccine.

Despite rapid clinical translation of COVID-19 vaccines in response to the global pandemic, an opportunity remains for vaccine technology innovation to address current limitations and meet challenges of inevitable future pandemics. We describe a universal vaccine cell (UVC) genetically engineered to mimic natural physiological immunity induced upon viral infection of host cells. Cells engineered to express the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) spike as a representative viral antigen induce robust neutralizing antibodies in immunized non-human primates.

Regulation of PP2A activity by Mid1 controls cranial neural crest speed and gangliogenesis.

X-linked Opitz syndrome (XLOS), caused by mutation in the MID1 gene, is a midline malformation syndrome with obvious craniofacial abnormalities. Because cranial neural crest cells (CNC) play a pivotal role in cranial morphogenesis, we examined the spatio-temporal expression of cMid1 in chick embryos and investigated if alterations in Mid1 protein function, specifically the ability of Mid1 to negatively regulate levels of protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A), affected CNC survival or migration. During the main phase of CNC migration (stage 9 to 11) cMid1 is strongly expressed within r2 and a subset of CNC in cranial mesenchyme at the level of r1/2 to the isthmus, but is not expressed in more caudal CNC streams.