2021

6 August 2021 Prof Lynn Morris presented results from the antibody-mediated prevention trial that tested the ability of VRC01 broadly neutralising Ab(specific for the HIV envelope protein CD4 binding site and has a wide coverage of HIV subtype B and C strains. Participants in the AMP trials received 10 doses of VRC01...

5 August 2021 Prof. Lynn Morris began her talk comparing the HIV and SARS-Cov-2 epidemics, at the peak of the HIV epidemic approximately annual mortality was 1.8 million deaths reported due to HIV/AIDS. Fortunately, HIV-associated mortality has drastically decreased due to the successful roll-out of anti-retroviral treatment.

2 August 2021 Wang and colleagues aimed to isolate potent neutralising antibodies that have activity against VOCs as well as other SARS-Cov-2 variants, as well as determine whether these potent nAbs have therapeutic potential and can reduce resistance development. Researchers isolated SARS-CoV-2 specific antibodies...

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a genetically diverse including six major genotypes and more than 86 subtypes, additionally, HCV has a rapid mutation of HCV leads to viral quasispecies that can escape the immune response in infected individuals. This makes developing HCV vaccines very challenging.

There are currently multiple trials that are investigating different strategies such as SARS-CoV-2 vector vaccine prime followed by an mRNA vaccine boost and vice versa. In this summary, we report on findings by Borobia et al., 2021,

We highlight Global-ImmunoTalks webinar featuring Dr Tineke Cantaert, Dr Cantaert began her talk highlighting the main focus of her research lab: Investigation of adaptive immune responses to Arboviruses.

HLA-DR is a molecule typically expressed by antigen-presenting cells and is associated with antigen presentation. Interestingly HLA-DR is also expressed on T cells and has been associated with T cell activation. However, why and how activated T cells express HLA-DR is not fully understood.

Prof Cossarizza webinar focused on COVID-19 immunopathology during pregnancy and ageing. He began his talk by highlighting the role inflammation plays in ...

9 July 2021Cheemarla et al, studied Rhinovirus (RV) infection before SARS-CoV-2 exposure and they found that RV infection provided protection from SARS-CoV-2 replication by accelerating ISG responses.

7 July 2021Mishra, A. et al, found live bacterial strains including Lactobacillus and Staphylococcus which activated memory T cells in the foetal mesenteric lymph nodes. This suggests that microbes do play a role in foetal immune-priming.