Publications by authors named "R Amann"
Article Synopsis
- The Prime-2-CoV_Beta is a new COVID-19 vaccine designed to target the SARS-CoV-2 spike and nucleocapsid antigens, and was tested in a phase I clinical trial involving 60 healthy adults in Germany from June 2022 to June 2023.
- The trial showed that the vaccine had a good safety profile with only mild to moderate side effects, such as pain at the injection site, fatigue, and headache, and no serious adverse events were reported.
- Immunization resulted in strong immune responses, particularly at higher doses, leading to significant increases in antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 and its variants, indicating the vaccine's potential for broader protection
Recent genomic analyses have revealed that microbial communities are predominantly composed of persistent, sequence-discrete species and intraspecies units (genomovars), but the mechanisms that create and maintain these units remain unclear. By analyzing closely-related isolate genomes from the same or related samples and identifying recent recombination events using a novel bioinformatics methodology, we show that high ecological cohesiveness coupled to frequent-enough and unbiased (i.e.
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- The study investigated how extreme halophiles in salt-rich environments react to repeated dilution of salinity, showing that their dominance shifts based on the level of stress.
- Under moderate stress (20% salinity), dominant species like Haloquadratum walsbyi and Salinibacter ruber thrived, while under stronger stress (13% salinity), they were replaced by more adaptable species.
- These findings suggest that genus-level diversity is crucial for ecological resilience, with species replacements occurring alongside viral co-evolution, highlighting the dynamic adaptability of brine microbial communities.
Among the common strategies to design next-generation COVID-19 vaccines is broadening the antigenic repertoire thereby aiming to increase efficacy against emerging variants of concern (VoC). This study describes a new Orf virus-based vector (ORFV) platform to design a multiantigenic vaccine targeting SARS-CoV-2 spike and nucleocapsid antigens. Vaccine candidates were engineered, either expressing spike protein (ORFV-S) alone or co-expressing nucleocapsid protein (ORFV-S/N).
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- Next-generation COVID-19 vaccines aim to improve coverage against existing and future variants while extending protection duration; the Prime-2-CoV_Beta vaccine uses an ORF virus platform to present multiple antigens.
- A phase 1 trial (ORFEUS study) tested the safety and immune response of Prime-2-CoV_Beta in participants aged 18-55 and 65-85 who previously received mRNA vaccines, with doses administered on day 1 and day 29.
- Results showed that Prime-2-CoV_Beta is safe, well tolerated, and generates strong immune responses, especially in younger participants, suggesting the ORFV platform's potential for future vaccine development.