Ceragenins are a family of synthetic amphipathic molecules designed to mimic the properties of naturally occurring cationic antimicrobial peptides (CAMPs). Although ceragenins have potent antimicrobial activity, whether their mode of action is similar to that of CAMPs has remained elusive. Here, we reported the results of a comparative study of the...
While SARS-CoV-2 vaccines prevent severe disease effectively, post-vaccination 'breakthrough' COVID-19 infections and transmission among vaccinated individuals remain ongoing concerns. We present an in-depth characterization of transmission and immunity among vaccinated individuals in a household, revealing complex dynamics and unappreciated comorb...
BackgroundSevere acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a highly infectious respiratory virus which is responsible for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. It is increasingly clear that recovered individuals, even those who had mild COVID-19, can suffer from persistent symptoms for many months after infection, a condi...
BackgroundAngiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) is the cell-entry receptor for SARS-CoV-2. It plays critical roles in both the transmission and the pathogenesis of COVID-19. Comprehensive profiling of ACE2 expression patterns could reveal risk factors of severe COVID-19 illness. While the expression of ACE2 in healthy human tissues has been well c...
Defense against intracellular infection has been extensively studied in vertebrate hosts, but less is known about invertebrate hosts; specifically, the transcription factors that induce defense against intracellular intestinal infection in the model nematode Caenorhabditis elegans remain understudied. Two different types of intracellular pathogens ...
BackgroundThe SARS-CoV-2 virus has mutated and evolved since the inception of the COVID-19 pandemic bringing into question the future effectiveness of current vaccines and antibody therapeutics. With evolution of the virus updated methods for the evaluation of the immune response in infected and vaccinated individuals are required to determine the ...
Botulinum neurotoxins (BoNTs) are among the deadliest of bacterial toxins. BoNT serotype A and B in particular pose the most serious threat to humans because of their high potency and persistence. To date, there is no effective treatment for late post-exposure therapy of botulism patients. Here, we aim to develop single-domain variable heavy-chain ...
BackgroundVaccination efforts to eradicate polio currently focus on children under 5 years of age, among whom most cases of poliomyelitis still occur. However, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), an outbreak of wild poliovirus type 1 occurred in 2010-2011 in which 16% of cases occurred among adults; in a related outbreak in the neighbori...
BackgroundHundreds of thousands of biodigesters have been constructed in Nepal. These household-level systems use human and animal waste to produce clean-burning biogas used for cooking, which can reduce household air pollution from woodburning cookstoves and prevent respiratory illnesses. The biodigesters, typically operated by female caregivers, ...
Innovations in infectious disease testing have improved our abilities to detect and understand the microbial world. The 2019 novel coronavirus infectious disease (COVID-19) pandemic introduced new innovations including non-prescription "over the counter" infectious disease tests, mass spectrometry-based detection of COVID-19 host response, and the ...
