Self-experimentation, ethics, and regulation of vaccines

DIY COVID-19 vaccines raise legal and ethical questions.

23h

Vascular transcription factors guide plant epidermal responses to limiting phosphate conditions

Optimal plant growth is hampered by deficiency of the essential macronutrient phosphate in most soils. Plant roots can, however, increase their root hair density to efficiently forage the soil for this immobile nutrient. By generating and exploiting a high-resolution single-cell gene expression atlas of Arabidopsis roots, we show an enrichment of TARGET...

23h

Trump lied about science

6d

The emergence of SARS-CoV-2 in Europe and North America

Accurate understanding of the global spread of emerging viruses is critically important for public health responses and for anticipating and preventing future outbreaks. Here, we elucidate when, where and how the earliest sustained SARS-CoV-2 transmission networks became established in Europe and North America. Our results suggest that rapid early interventions...

1w

Cryptic transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in Washington state

Following its emergence in Wuhan, China, in late November or early December 2019, the SARS-CoV-2 virus has rapidly spread globally. Genome sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 allows reconstruction of its transmission history, although this is contingent on sampling. We have analyzed 453 SARS-CoV-2 genomes collected between 20 February and 15 March 2020 from infected...

1w

Thermosensitive crystallization-boosted liquid thermocells for low-grade heat harvesting

Low-grade heat (below 373 K) is abundant and ubiquitous, but mostly wasted due to the lack of cost-effective recovery technologies. The liquid-state thermocell (LTC), an inexpensive and scalable thermoelectric device, may be commercially viable for harvesting low-grade heat energy if its Carnot-relative efficiency (r) reaches ~5%, which is a challenging...

1w

Structural basis of nucleosome-dependent cGAS inhibition

Cyclic GMP-AMP synthase (cGAS) recognizes cytosolic foreign or damaged DNA to activate the innate immune response to infection, inflammatory diseases, and cancer. In contrast, cGAS reactivity against self-DNA in the nucleus is suppressed by chromatin tethering. We report a 3.3-angstrom-resolution cryo-electron microscopy structure of cGAS in complex...

1w

Structural basis for the inhibition of cGAS by nucleosomes

The cyclic GMP-AMP synthase (cGAS) senses invasion of pathogenic DNA and stimulates inflammatory signaling, autophagy and apoptosis. Organization of host DNA into nucleosomes was proposed to limit cGAS autoinduction, but the underlying mechanism was unknown. Here, we report the structural basis for this inhibition. In the cryo-EM structure of the human...

1w

De novo design of picomolar SARS-CoV-2 miniprotein inhibitors

Targeting the interaction between the SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein and the human ACE2 receptor is a promising therapeutic strategy. We designed inhibitors using two de novo design approaches. Computer generated scaffolds were either built around an ACE2 helix that interacts with the Spike receptor binding domain (RBD), or docked against the RBD to identify...

2w

An ethical framework for global vaccine allocation

The Fair Priority Model offers a practical way to fulfill pledges to distribute vaccine fairly and equitably

2w