Publications by authors named "Luke Myers"

Gene therapies are being developed for several central nervous system (CNS) disorders. These therapies are primarily administered to the CNS via the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), as the blood-brain barrier prevents the transport of large molecules to the brain. Currently, intrathecal injection is the most commonly used route of administration over cisterna magna injections in the clinic for gaining access to the CSF.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The N-terminal domain (NTD) of the spike protein in coronaviruses like SARS-CoV-2 is not well understood, but some rare antibodies targeting it can neutralize the virus, indicating its potential role in immune protection.
  • A specific monoclonal antibody, COV1-65, has been identified that effectively recognizes the NTD of the SARS-CoV spike protein and demonstrated disease prevention in mice when administered before viral exposure.
  • The interaction between COV1-65 and the SARS-CoV spike protein reveals key structural details that could inform the development of effective vaccines against various sarbecoviruses.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Here, we present the draft genome sequence of sp. ABKF26, a potential petroleum, plastic, and rubber degrading bacterium isolated from Lake Champlain. The assembled genome comprises a 6.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Here, we present the complete genome sequence of RI06-95 isolated during a bloom in Lake Champlain. The assembled genome comprises a 3.8 Mbp chromosome with a GC content of 42%, and two plasmids, pPZZ84 6.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Influenza B viruses (IBVs) comprise a substantial portion of the circulating seasonal human influenza viruses. Here, we describe the isolation of human monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) that recognized the IBV neuraminidase (NA) glycoprotein from an individual following seasonal vaccination. Competition-binding experiments suggested the antibodies recognized two major antigenic sites.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Hospital-at-home has become a more recognized way to care for patients requiring inpatient hospitalization. At times, these patients may require escalation of care (transfer from home back to the brick-and-mortar (BAM) hospital for ongoing hospitalization care needs), a process that has not been extensively studied.

Objective: To evaluate what patient factors contribute to escalations of care in the hospital-at-home delivery model.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

T cells are implicated in the pathophysiology of preterm labor and birth, the leading cause of neonatal morbidity and mortality worldwide. Specifically, maternal decidual T cells infiltrate the chorioamniotic membranes in chronic chorioamnionitis (CCA), a placental lesion considered to reflect maternal anti-fetal rejection, leading to preterm labor and birth. However, the phenotype and TCR repertoire of decidual T cells in women with preterm labor and CCA have not been investigated.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Understanding how our body fights off new viruses, like Ebola, helps us prepare for outbreaks.
  • Scientists studied special immune cells called B cells to see how they make antibodies against the Ebola virus.
  • They found 73 types of antibodies that can fight off the virus, which can help create better vaccines and treatments in the future.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Angelman syndrome is a devastating neurogenetic disorder for which there is currently no effective treatment. It is caused by mutations or epimutations affecting the expression or function of the maternally inherited allele of the ubiquitin-protein ligase E3A () gene. The paternal allele is imprinted in neurons of the central nervous system (CNS) by the antisense () transcript, which represents the distal end of the small nucleolar host gene 14 () transcription unit.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Despite recent success in hepatitis C virus (HCV) treatment using antivirals, an HCV vaccine is still needed to prevent reinfections in treated patients, to avert the emergence of drug-resistant strains, and to provide protection for people with no access to the antiviral therapeutics. The early production of broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs) associates with HCV clearance. Several potent bNAbs bind a conserved HCV glycoprotein E2 epitope using an unusual heavy chain complementarity determining region 3 (HCDR3) containing an intra-loop disulfide bond.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The protective human antibody response to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) focuses on the spike (S) protein, which decorates the virion surface and mediates cell binding and entry. Most SARS-CoV-2 protective antibodies target the receptor-binding domain or a single dominant epitope ("supersite") on the N-terminal domain (NTD). Using the single B cell technology called linking B cell receptor to antigen specificity through sequencing (LIBRA-Seq), we isolated a large panel of NTD-reactive and SARS-CoV-2-neutralizing antibodies from an individual who had recovered from COVID-19.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Unrelated individuals can produce genetically similar clones of antibodies, known as public clonotypes, which have been seen in responses to different infectious diseases, as well as healthy individuals. Here we identify 37 public clonotypes in memory B cells from convalescent survivors of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection or in plasmablasts from an individual after vaccination with mRNA-encoded spike protein. We identify 29 public clonotypes, including clones recognizing the receptor-binding domain (RBD) in the spike protein S1 subunit (including a neutralizing, angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 [ACE2]-blocking clone that protects in vivo) and others recognizing non-RBD epitopes that bind the S2 domain.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Unrelated individuals can produce genetically similar clones of antibodies, known as public clonotypes, which have been seen in responses to different infectious diseases as well as healthy individuals. Here we identify 37 public clonotypes in memory B cells from convalescent survivors of SARS-CoV-2 infection or in plasmablasts from an individual after vaccination with mRNA-encoded spike protein. We identified 29 public clonotypes, including clones recognizing the receptor-binding domain (RBD) in the spike protein S1 subunit (including a neutralizing, ACE2-blocking clone that protects ), and others recognizing non-RBD epitopes that bound the heptad repeat 1 region of the S2 domain.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Summary: B-cell receptor (BCR) and T-cell receptor (TCR) repertoires are generated through somatic DNA rearrangements and are responsible for the molecular basis of antigen recognition in the immune system. Next-generation sequencing (NGS) of DNA and the falling cost of sequencing due to continued development of these technologies have made sequencing assays an affordable way to characterize the repertoire of adaptive immune receptors (sometimes termed the 'immunome'). Many new workflows have been developed to take advantage of NGS and have placed the resulting immunome datasets in the public domain.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The ongoing pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), is a major threat to global health and the medical countermeasures available so far are limited. Moreover, we currently lack a thorough understanding of the mechanisms of humoral immunity to SARS-CoV-2. Here we analyse a large panel of human monoclonal antibodies that target the spike (S) glycoprotein, and identify several that exhibit potent neutralizing activity and fully block the receptor-binding domain of the S protein (S) from interacting with human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Antibodies are a principal determinant of immunity for most RNA viruses and have promise to reduce infection or disease during major epidemics. The novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 has caused a global pandemic with millions of infections and hundreds of thousands of deaths to date. In response, we used a rapid antibody discovery platform to isolate hundreds of human monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) against the SARS-CoV-2 spike (S) protein.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Immunoglobulin light chain amyloidosis is the most common form of systemic amyloidosis. AL amyloidosis is caused by a misfolded light chain produced by a clonal population of plasma cells. Disease status currently is defined by measuring the absolute quantity of serum free light chain protein, but this measurement often fails to identify the subclinical presence of clonal cells that may merit additional therapy.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Antibodies are a principal determinant of immunity for most RNA viruses and have promise to reduce infection or disease during major epidemics. The novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 has caused a global pandemic with millions of infections and hundreds of thousands of deaths to date . In response, we used a rapid antibody discovery platform to isolate hundreds of human monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) against the SARS-CoV-2 spike (S) protein.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The COVID-19 pandemic is a major threat to global health for which there are only limited medical countermeasures, and we lack a thorough understanding of mechanisms of humoral immunity . From a panel of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) targeting the spike (S) glycoprotein isolated from the B cells of infected subjects, we identified several mAbs that exhibited potent neutralizing activity with IC values as low as 0.9 or 15 ng/mL in pseudovirus or wild-type ( ) SARS-CoV-2 neutralization tests, respectively.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Assessing the potential threat of fecal contamination in surface water often depends on model forecasts which assume that fecal indicator bacteria (FIB, a proxy for the concentration of pathogens found in fecal contamination from warm-blooded animals) are lost or removed from the water column at a certain rate (often referred to as an "inactivation" rate). In efforts to reduce human health risks in these water bodies, regulators enforce limits on easily-measured FIB concentrations, commonly reported as most probable number (MPN) and colony forming unit (CFU) values. Accurate assessment of the potential threat of fecal contamination, therefore, depends on propagating uncertainty surrounding "true" FIB concentrations into MPN and CFU values, inactivation rates, model forecasts, and management decisions.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF