Could the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine reawaken previous antibody responses and point the way to a universal coronavirus vaccine? A new analysis of the antibody response to a COVID-19 vaccine suggests the immune system’s history with other coronaviruses, including those behind the common cold, shapes the patient’s response, according to a study published… Read more
Although only recently recognized as an issue in wildlife ecology, snake fungal disease (SFD) is of emerging concern in the U.S., with parallels among other better-known wildlife fungal diseases such as white-nose syndrome in bats. SFD can be deadly to snakes, and even in milder cases disrupts an… Read more
C. Todd French, assistant professor of biology and leader of Northern Arizona University’s new COVID-19 Testing Service Center (CTSC), is working with scientists at Vault Pharma, an emerging biotechnology company, to test candidate vaccines against the novel coronavirus. Through a multi-institutional public-private partnership linking the company with UCLA, NAU and the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, French is… Read more
One of the most challenging aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic has been the lack of testing needed to detect and trace infections—and without adequate testing, government officials do not have the data they need to make the best possible decisions in the interest of public health.
In addition to being in short supply,… Read more
At a time when the world is gripped by the COVID-19 pandemic, the need for trained student researchers in the biomedical field may have never been greater. That’s why the unique undergraduate student research training program offered by Northern Arizona University’s Pathogen and Microbiome Institute (PMI), established through the… Read more
The global demand and consumption of agricultural crops is increasing at a rapid pace. According to the 2019 Global Agricultural Productivity Report, global yield needs to increase at an average annual rate of 1.73 percent to sustainably produce food, feed, fiber and bioenergy for 10 billion people in 2050. In the US, however, agricultural productivity is struggling to… Read more