Covid-19: Novel Coronavirus Outbreak

From immunology to manufacturing to social science: COVID-19 has been a boon for research and development in many research areas.

Interview with EMBO Members Özlem Türeci and Uğur Şahin, BioNTech, conducted by science journalist Kai Kupferschmidt.

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need for rapid tools and technologies to combat highly infectious viruses. The excellent electrical, mechanical, and other functional properties of graphene and graphene-like 2D materials (2DM) can be utilized to develop novel and innovative devices to tackle COVID-19 and future pandemics. Here, the authors outline how graphene and other 2DM-based technologies can be used for the detection, protection, and continuous monitoring of infectious diseases including COVID-19.

New SARS-COV-2 variants improve their ability to recognize available sites to either hydrogen bond or to form salt bridges with residues in the ACE2 receptor of the host cells.

Background: A total of 62/66 residents in a senior citizen home in Bremen, Germany, received the first dose of the Biontech/Pfizer vaccine BNT162b2 on December 27th 2020. After routine SARS-CoV-2 antigen tests showed positive results on January 5th, all residents and staff were tested by RT-PCR.

Results: Nine staff members and 23 residents had a positive result. PCR positive staff members reported mild to severe COVID-19 symptoms, one was hospitalized. None of them had been vaccinated. In contrast, the vaccinated residents reported no or only mild symptoms. Sequencing of the SARS-CoV-2 genomes of infected individuals revealed a monophyletic origin of the outbreak within the PANGO lineage B.1.177.86.

Conclusions: In summary, our data show that partial vaccination prevented severe COVID-19 among the residents during this local SARS-CoV-2 outbreak, suggesting a high effectiveness of even a single vaccine dose, but also emphasize that asymptomatic individuals might still be carriers/spreaders.

In the global COVID-19 pandemic, multiomics-based strategies have been applied into the surveillance of newly emerged SARS-CoV-2 variants and the study of diagnostic methods, risk factors, and pathological features of COVID-19, which will contribute to the prevention and control of this pandemic.

Two recent reports denoted the potential of SARS-CoV-2 to directly infect β-cells and the possible fate of β-cells under COVID-19. The fight against SARS-CoV-2 will continue to develop more effective therapeutic strategies for diabetes.

To perform primary PCI for patients with concomitant acute coronary syndrome and COVID-19 as soon as possible, an appropriate infection prevention protocol in place should be prepared.

The graphical abstract demonstrates the collection locations of the samples across the treatment train, followed by the step by step pretreatment and virus concentration methods required based on sample type.

Brain magnetic resonance imaging evolution image of COVID-19 meningo-encephalitis.