SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) Mutations

As viruses create more of themselves within a host, they are prone to copying errors. These mutations or recombinations are single point changes in the virus’ genetic code. This blog will be about the different mutations of SARS-CoV-2 we have been seeing recently.

The Effect of SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine Lasts At Least 4 Months

N Engl J Med reported the durability of immunity response of SARS-CoV-2 vaccine, mRNA-1273 (Moderna). The data was from 34 healthy adults with two vaccine injections. They have performed RBD binding assay and antibody neutralization assay, which revealed that there was no significant change in both RBD binding ability and neutralized inhibitory effect of antibodies over time. The results suggest that the effect of vaccination can last at least 4 months. (Widge et al., 2021)

Cell Paper: Genome-wide CRISPR Screens Reveal Host Factors Critical for SARS-CoV-2 Infection

COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) is a major public heatlh threat with more than 1,200,000 deaths worldwide. The first stage in the coronavirus life cycle is viral entry where the viral spike protein will bind to a specific cell surface receptor. The spike proteins of SARS-CoV-2, as well as SARS-CoV-1 and NL63 use angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) as a receptor for binding. An antibody for this ACE2 protein has been produced by ProSci Inc. (Catalog No. 3217) that has been shown to function in immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescence experiments in human samples, and western blot experiments in human, mouse, and rat samples.

Learn about novel coronavirus SARS-COV-2, the emergence of COVID-19, and biotech industrys' reaction to this global health issue.