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Two ferrets look out of a rectangular hole in a wooden structure.
Obesity Alters the Course of Influenza Infections
Researchers explored the effects of obesity on the lung microenvironment in ferrets, searching for new therapeutic targets to protect vulnerable populations.
Obesity Alters the Course of Influenza Infections
Obesity Alters the Course of Influenza Infections

Researchers explored the effects of obesity on the lung microenvironment in ferrets, searching for new therapeutic targets to protect vulnerable populations.

Researchers explored the effects of obesity on the lung microenvironment in ferrets, searching for new therapeutic targets to protect vulnerable populations.

influenza

A stock image featuring a render of an influenza virion in the bottom-right corner.
Staying Ahead of Influenza
The Scientist Staff | May 1, 2024 | 2 min read
Researchers access a wide range of tools and reagents to keep pace with seasonal influenza.
A pregnant woman blowing her nose.
Viral Immune Responses Suppress a Gestational Hormone
Shelby Bradford, PhD | Mar 25, 2024 | 4 min read
Influenza infection activates a pathway that leads to a detrimental drop in progesterone during pregnancy in mice.
What Could Cause the Next Pandemic?
What Could Cause the Next Pandemic?
The Scientist | 2 min read
Scientists prepare for the future by filling in the research gaps between zoonotic viral reservoirs, emerging viruses, and human immune defenses.
A Signal for T Cells to Remember
Patience Asanga | Feb 22, 2024 | 3 min read
Timely modulation of a common signaling pathway can preserve influenza memory in lung T cells.
Illustration of a virus
Vaccines: Sex Matters
Niki Spahich, PhD | Jun 1, 2023 | 3 min read
Male patients who recover from mild COVID-19 have baseline immune states primed to mount stronger responses to future challenges than female patients.
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The Scientist Speaks - To Conserve and Protect: The Quest for Universal Vaccines
Niki Spahich, PhD | 1 min read
Patrick Wilson discusses the challenges in designing universal vaccines and his work developing one for influenza.
An artistic rendering of SARS-CoV-2 made to look like stained glass
SARS-CoV-2 Infection Can Alter Future Immune Reponses
Niki Spahich, PhD | Feb 22, 2023 | 3 min read
Males recovered from mild COVID-19 have baseline immune states primed to mount stronger responses to future challenges.
An artist’s rendering of a DNA-based virus trap, represented as gray rods in a short cone-shaped arrangement. One is coated with blue molecules, likely antibodies, that adhere to a virus target. Another image shows to traps coming together to capture a red coronavirus.
“Origami” DNA Traps Could Keep Large Viruses From Infecting Cells
Natalia Mesa, PhD | Jan 18, 2023 | 4 min read
By engineering structures out of DNA, scientists could potentially prevent larger viruses, like coronaviruses and influenza viruses, from interacting with cells.
Discover Genetic Influences on the Immune Response
The Genetics Behind Immune Response Variability
The Scientist | 1 min read
Researchers seek genomic clues to understand differences in the immune response to infection.
Illustration of viruses represented with different colors overlapping each other.
What Happens When You Catch More than One Virus?
Alejandra Manjarrez, PhD | Dec 7, 2022 | 8 min read
The “tripledemic” shines a spotlight on viral interference, in which one infection can block another.
A mouse in front of an open sack of grain.
Mice Fed a Highly Processed Diet Are More Susceptible to the Flu
Alejandra Manjarrez, PhD | Nov 18, 2022 | 3 min read
It’s not clear why grain-fed mice are better able to recover after infection, but a study’s findings suggest food type may skew the results of animal studies.
The Impact of Influenza
The Scientist | 1 min read
Richard Webby and Edward Hutchinson discuss influenza viruses—the development of new strains, how they mediate virulence, and their threat to human society.
person in white jacket putting bandaid on arm of child
Can We Predict How Well Someone Will Respond to a Vaccine?
Natalia Mesa, PhD | Nov 14, 2022 | 7 min read
Researchers find signatures pre- and post-vaccination that correlate with a more robust immune response. 
Micrograph of influenza A virus and RSV
Flu/RSV Coinfection Produces Hybrid Virus that Evades Immune Defenses
Catherine Offord | Oct 25, 2022 | 2 min read
When fused to RSV, influenza A virus is better able to escape antibodies that usually neutralize it, an in vitro study finds.
Understanding Immune-Mediated Damage After Respiratory Infection
The Scientist Creative Services Team in collaboration with 10x Genomics | 1 min read
Paul Thomas from St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital will discuss how he used single cell and spatial transcriptomics to discover the underlying mechanism of an inflammatory immune response in the lungs.
an immune cell in blood
Why Viral Infections Are More Severe in People with Down Syndrome
Andy Carstens | Oct 14, 2022 | 6 min read
In people with the genetic condition, inflammation can cause a mild infection to snowball out of control, a study finds.
A dead northern gannet (Morus bassanus) on a beach
Unprecedented Avian Flu Epidemic Could Presage Year-Round Outbreaks
Christie Wilcox, PhD | Oct 4, 2022 | 2 min read
Nearly 50 million birds have been culled amid efforts to mitigate the spread of the virus, which continues to ravage the Northern Hemisphere.
The balance of mind and body on a seesaw
Psychological Stress Distracts the Immune System from Fighting Infections
Jennifer Zieba, PhD | Aug 8, 2022 | 3 min read
Acute stress makes immune cells migrate immediately to the bone marrow, which prepares the body for injury at the expense of increasing infectious disease susceptibility.
Person in a black, beaked robe (left) and man in a black tunic (right), flanking a red coat of arms
Masking Up, 1619 to Present
Devin A. Reese, PhD | Jul 5, 2022 | 3 min read
Putting on a mask to protect oneself and others against disease is nothing new, nor is resistance to mask-wearing, but mask designs have changed considerably from their first iterations.
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