Publications by authors named "Emily E F Fekete"

This study aims to evaluate the impact of experimental workflow on fecal metaproteomic observations, including the recovery of small and antimicrobial proteins often overlooked in metaproteomic studies. The overarching goal is to provide guidance for optimized metaproteomic experimental design, considering the emerging significance of the gut microbiome in human health, disease, and therapeutic interventions. Mouse feces were utilized as the experimental model.

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The effectiveness of mRNA vaccines largely depends on their lipid nanoparticle (LNP) component. Herein, we investigate the effectiveness of DLin-KC2-DMA (KC2) and SM-102-based LNPs for the intramuscular delivery of a plasmid encoding B.1.

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Introduction: Adipocytes in the tumour microenvironment are highly dynamic cells that have an established role in tumour progression, but their impact on anti-cancer therapy resistance is becoming increasingly difficult to overlook.

Methods: We investigated the role of adipose tissue and adipocytes in response to oncolytic virus (OV) therapy in adipose-rich tumours such as breast and ovarian neoplasms.

Results: We show that secreted products in adipocyte-conditioned medium significantly impairs productive virus infection and OV-driven cell death.

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Poxvirus vectors represent versatile modalities for engineering novel vaccines and cancer immunotherapies. In addition to their oncolytic capacity and immunogenic influence, they can be readily engineered to express multiple large transgenes. However, the integration of multiple payloads into poxvirus genomes by traditional recombination-based approaches can be highly inefficient, time-consuming and cumbersome.

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We established a split nanoluciferase complementation assay to rapidly screen for inhibitors that interfere with binding of the receptor binding domain (RBD) of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) spike glycoprotein with its target receptor, angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2). After a screen of 1,200 US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved compounds, we identified bifonazole, an imidazole-based antifungal agent, as a competitive inhibitor of RBD-ACE2 binding. Mechanistically, bifonazole binds ACE2 around residue K353, which prevents association with the RBD, affecting entry and replication of spike-pseudotyped viruses as well as native SARS-CoV-2 and its variants of concern (VOCs).

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Article Synopsis
  • The COVID-19 pandemic highlights the need for effective vaccines, especially in isolated and developing regions.
  • A new temperature-stable vaccine candidate (TOH-Vac1) uses a modified vaccinia virus to deliver a spike protein antigen, demonstrating strong immune responses in animal models.
  • The vaccine shows high neutralizing antibody levels and protective immunity after one dose, supporting its further development as a viable alternative to existing vaccines.
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As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, there is an imminent need for rapid diagnostic tools and effective antivirals targeting SARS-CoV-2. We have developed a novel bioluminescence-based biosensor to probe a key host-virus interaction during viral entry: the binding of SARS-CoV-2 viral spike (S) protein to its receptor, angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2). Derived from Nanoluciferase binary technology (NanoBiT), the biosensor is composed of Nanoluciferase split into two complementary subunits, Large BiT and Small BiT, fused to the Spike S1 domain of the SARS-CoV-2 S protein and ACE2 ectodomain, respectively.

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The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the immediate need for the development of antiviral therapeutics targeting different stages of the SARS-CoV-2 life cycle. We developed a bioluminescence-based bioreporter to interrogate the interaction between the SARS-CoV-2 viral spike (S) protein and its host entry receptor, angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2). The bioreporter assay is based on a nanoluciferase complementation reporter, composed of two subunits, large BiT and small BiT, fused to the S receptor-binding domain (RBD) of the SARS-CoV-2 S protein and ACE2 ectodomain, respectively.

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