Coronavirus variants can evade antibodies by spreading via supercells – new research

By Zania Stamataki, Senior Lecturer in Viral Immunology, University of Birmingham

The antibodies we create after we’re infected with a virus or vaccinated against it can be very powerful. A virus typically spreads within our bodies by entering a cell and using it as a factory to create copies of itself, which then burst out and find new cells to infect. Our antibodies work by binding to the virus and this can block it from attaching to and entering our cells in the first place.

But what happens if a virus does not need to exit the cell in order to spread to neighbouring cells? Can our antibodies be effective against it?

Scientists

Read complete article

~	We reconstructed landscapes that greeted the first humans in Australia around 65,000 years ago

~	What do we lose when our old suburbs disappear?

~	Does fighting inflation always lead to recession? What 60 years of NZ data can tell us

~	Australia: Rights Vetting Crucial for Defence Cooperation

~	How visas for social care workers may be exacerbating exploitation in the sector

~	Why the British Columbia Conservation Officer Service should be designated as a provincial police service

~	Detaining migrants in prisons violates human rights and risks abuses

~	Granting legal ‘personhood’ to nature is a growing movement – can it stem biodiversity loss?

~	Friday essay: Project 2025, the policy substance behind Trump’s showmanship, reveals a radical plan to reshape the world

~	Longer-lasting ozone holes over Antarctica expose seal pups and penguin chicks to much more UV