COVID-19

Microbial diversity in the infant gut shrank suddenly during the first lockdown, but the lasting health effects are less clear.

Natalie Knox and the Public Health Agency of Canada’s National Microbiology Laboratory are helping establish a national qPCR-driven wastewater surveillance network for SARS-CoV-2 and other diseases.

Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman received this year’s Physiology or Medicine award for their work on RNA biology and mRNA-based vaccines.

A nucleic acid detection platform that marries CRISPR diagnostic tools with bioluminescence could accelerate treatment decisions in the clinic.

Ana Teresa Freitas discussed how individual variation in vitamin D synthesis and metabolism influences susceptibility to upper respiratory viruses.

Male patients who recover from mild COVID-19 have baseline immune states primed to mount stronger responses to future challenges than female patients.

mRNA-encoded self-assembling enveloped virus-like particles presenting SARS-CoV-2 spike protein enhance immunity and may provide better protection against viral variants. 

Researchers shed light on the immunometabolism of respiratory infection, providing an avenue towards safer COVID-19 therapeutics for those affected by metabolic disorders.

A new study relying on DNA methylation clocks suggests that the biological age of mouse and human cells can fluctuate in response to stressful events.

SARS-CoV-2 infection triggers structural changes in the host cell’s DNA, which provide a molecular explanation for long COVID, a new study suggests. 

Researchers discover new idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis risk factors with multi-ancestry analyses that increase representation of understudied populations.

Metagenomic sequencing can help detect unknown pathogens, but its widespread use faces challenges.

Researchers dissect the Neanderthal-derived region on chromosome 3 that drives severe COVID-19 to zero in on the key causal variants.