Publications by authors named "M Lett"
Article Synopsis
- * Researchers created "single-cycle infection SARS-CoV-2 viruses" (SCVs) that are safer and have modified immune properties, successfully tested in Syrian hamsters.
- * The new vaccine showed complete protection against SARS-CoV-2 in vaccinated animals, preventing virus transmission and causing no tissue damage, indicating its potential for a stronger immune response than natural infections.
Background: Current COVID-19 vaccines primarily target the Spike protein of defined virus variants, offering limited protection against emerging variants in immunocompetent individuals. Similarly, protective immunity following natural SARS-CoV-2 infection is variable and of short duration, raising concerns about immunocompromised individuals' vaccination strategies.
Methods: This prospective multicenter study examined 66 sera from 59 immunocompromised and 451 sera from 215 immunocompetent individuals from different pandemic periods.
Article Synopsis
- The main tick species in Europe, Ixodes ricinus, goes through three life stages and can transmit diseases like Lyme borreliosis after feeding on various vertebrates.
- A study in Northeastern France found that limestone soils support more ticks than sandstone, with higher tick populations in forests, especially coniferous and mixed types, and in younger habitats.
- The research highlighted how certain animal families are associated with tick abundance, and machine learning indicated that soil characteristics are key predictors of both ticks and their pathogens.
Reverse genetic systems enable the engineering of RNA virus genomes and are instrumental in studying RNA virus biology. With the recent outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, already established methods were challenged by the large genome of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Herein we present an elaborated strategy for the rapid and straightforward rescue of recombinant plus-stranded RNA viruses with high sequence fidelity using the example of SARS-CoV-2.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNumerous mammalian viruses are routinely analyzed in clinical diagnostic laboratories around the globe or serve as indispensable model systems in viral research. Potentially infectious viral entities are handled as blood, biopsies, or cell and tissue culture samples. Countless protocols describe methods for virus fixation and inactivation, yet for many, a formal proof of safety and completeness of inactivation remains to be shown.
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