Could mRNA make us superhuman?
3 years, 1 month ago

Could mRNA make us superhuman?

BBC  

Could mRNA make us superhuman? It's such a game changer that it raises some very big, exciting questions: could mRNA vaccines provide a cure for cancers, HIV, tropical diseases, and even give us superhuman immunity? There weren't many people in the mRNA therapeutics world who would have imagined 95% initial efficacy rates – Kathryn Whitehead The theory behind the mRNA vaccine was pioneered by University of Pennsylvania scientists Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman, who both received the 2021 Lasker Award, America's top biomedical research prize, and more recently were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their research. Lipids have been described as the "unsung hero" – without lipid delivery being finally perfected and approved in 2018, there would have been no Covid-19 mRNA vaccines by 2020. There's also the potential to mix various mRNA vaccines together into a single health booster vaccine, which could ward off cancers and viruses at the same time.

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History of this topic

New push for mRNA bird flu vaccine development: WHO
4 months, 3 weeks ago

New push for mRNA bird flu vaccine development: WHO

The Hindu  

The World Health Organisation announced Monday, July 29, 2024, a new project to accelerate the development in poorer countries, of vaccines for human bird flu infections, using cutting-edge messenger RNA technology. Vaccine equity Swiftly developed mRNA Covid vaccines were game-changers during the pandemic, but they also exposed glaring global vaccine inequity and demands for a fairer distribution amid efforts to …

Scientists are testing mRNA vaccines to protect cows and people against bird flu
6 months, 3 weeks ago

Scientists are testing mRNA vaccines to protect cows and people against bird flu

Associated Press  

The bird flu outbreak in U.S. dairy cows is prompting development of new, next-generation mRNA vaccines — akin to COVID-19 shots — that are being tested in both animals and people. the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has been talking to manufacturers about possible mRNA flu vaccines for people that, if needed, could supplement millions of bird flu …

Scientifically Speaking | New mRNA vaccines show promise in fighting cancer
7 months, 2 weeks ago

Scientifically Speaking | New mRNA vaccines show promise in fighting cancer

Hindustan Times  

Cancer is one of the toughest health challenges we face, and even after decades of progress in detection and treatment, many patients still succumb to it, with over nine million deaths recorded worldwide in recent years. A promising new approach is cancer immunotherapy, which uses the body's immune system to attack cancerous tumours. They used a newly engineered mRNA vaccine …

Does frequently updating COVID-19 vaccines have any benefits? | Explained
10 months, 1 week ago

Does frequently updating COVID-19 vaccines have any benefits? | Explained

The Hindu  

Researchers update the composition of influenza vaccines every six months to match the strains of the virus that are circulating in the wild, so that the shots may provide protective immunity against the flu. The VE of COVID-19 vaccines varies according to the disease’s progression as well as the circulating strains. Thus, researchers worldwide rushed to revise COVID-19 vaccines that …

New mRNA cancer vaccine from Moderna trialled in British patients
10 months, 3 weeks ago

New mRNA cancer vaccine from Moderna trialled in British patients

The Independent  

Sign up for our free Health Check email to receive exclusive analysis on the week in health Get our free Health Check email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. The appeal of cancer vaccines is that you can …

Beyond COVID-19 vaccines: what else could mRNA technology do for our health?
1 year, 2 months ago

Beyond COVID-19 vaccines: what else could mRNA technology do for our health?

The Hindu  

Many people first became familiar with the term “mRNA” when Pfizer’s and Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccines were rolled out. In the simplest terms, mRNA, which stands for messenger ribonucleic acid, is a type of genetic material that gives cells in our bodies instructions to make specific proteins. So it was pivotal when Karakó and Weissman pioneered a technique to “cloak” mRNA …

How was mRNA research used to fight COVID? | Explained
1 year, 2 months ago

How was mRNA research used to fight COVID? | Explained

The Hindu  

The story so far: On October 2, Nobel Prize week began with the 2023 Prize in Physiology or Medicine being awarded to Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman. They were awarded the prize for their “discoveries concerning nucleoside base modifications that enabled the development of effective mRNA vaccines against COVID-19”. However, while most vaccines use weakened or dead bacteria or viruses …

Perseverance counts: A Nobel for mRNA vaccines is welcome
1 year, 2 months ago

Perseverance counts: A Nobel for mRNA vaccines is welcome

Live Mint  

This year’s Nobel Prize in medicine is a testament to the power of perseverance in science. By swapping out a basic building block of mRNA called uridine for a related molecule called pseudouridine, strands of mRNA could get their message to cells without triggering an immune attack. That discovery helped spawn the earliest biotech companies working on the technology, thus …

Nobel medicine prize: How two scientists modified mRNA for vaccine breakthrough
1 year, 2 months ago

Nobel medicine prize: How two scientists modified mRNA for vaccine breakthrough

Hindustan Times  

In the battle against Covid-19, one of the gamechangers has been the mRNA vaccine, which was rolled out and administered in quick time. Scientists Katalin Kariko and Drew Weissman, who won the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discoveries enabling the development of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines, speak during a news conference hosted by the University of Pennsylvania and …

Katalin Karikó’s Nobel Prize Marks the Beginning of an mRNA Vaccine Revolution
54 years, 11 months ago

Katalin Karikó’s Nobel Prize Marks the Beginning of an mRNA Vaccine Revolution

Wired  

No one expected the first Covid-19 vaccine to be as good as it was. “We were hoping for around 70 percent, that’s a success,” says Dr Ann Falsey, a professor of medicine at the University of Rochester, New York, who ran a 150-person trial site for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in 2020. All the preliminary laboratory tests looked good; having seen …

Years of research laid the groundwork for speedy COVID-19 shots
1 year, 2 months ago

Years of research laid the groundwork for speedy COVID-19 shots

Associated Press  

The Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded Monday to two scientists whose work led to the mRNA vaccines against COVID-19. “Abject giddiness,” is how Dr. C. Buddy Creech, a Vanderbilt University vaccine expert, described scientists’ reactions when separate studies showed the two candidates were about 95% effective. Billions in company and government funding certainly sped up vaccine development — and …

Medicine Nobel for the technology that turned the pandemic
1 year, 2 months ago

Medicine Nobel for the technology that turned the pandemic

The Hindu  

The 2023 Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine has been awarded to the Hungarian biochemist Katalin Karikó and the American physician-scientist Drew Weissman. The idea was to inject the body with a modified mRNA that would instruct cells to build a certain protein, which could then provoke the body’s immune system to ‘attack’ it as well as prepare itself to …

2023 Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology: What are mRNA vaccines and how do they work?
1 year, 2 months ago

2023 Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology: What are mRNA vaccines and how do they work?

The Hindu  

The story so far: The 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded to Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman for their research that enabled the development of mRNA vaccines against COVID-19. However, while most vaccines use weakened or dead bacteria or viruses to evoke a response from the immune system, mRNA vaccines only introduce a piece of the …

Scientists whose work on mRNA paved the way for first COVID-19 vaccines win Nobel Prize
1 year, 2 months ago

Scientists whose work on mRNA paved the way for first COVID-19 vaccines win Nobel Prize

LA Times  

Dr. Drew Weissman, left, a physician-scientist, and biochemist Katalin Karikó won the Nobel Prize in medicine for discoveries that enabled the creation of mRNA vaccines against COVID-19 and that could be used to develop other shots in the future. “This year’s Nobel Prize recognizes their basic science discovery that fundamentally changed our understanding of how mRNA interacts with the immune …

How vaccines helped reshape the course of the Covid-19 pandemic
1 year, 3 months ago

How vaccines helped reshape the course of the Covid-19 pandemic

Hindustan Times  

When future generations look back at the pandemic, they will deem it a black swan event. Let’s delve deep into the crucial role vaccines played in the fight against COVID-19, highlighting their significance in preventing infections, crucial collaborations, the emergence of mRNA as the next big revolution in the vaccine space and more. mRNA vaccines represent a ground-breaking technology that …

Vaccine for Cancer & Heart Disease by 2030? Studies Show 'Tremendous Promise'
1 year, 8 months ago

Vaccine for Cancer & Heart Disease by 2030? Studies Show 'Tremendous Promise'

News 18  

The coronavirus pandemic and the subsequent rollout of vaccines to protect against the virus, was another reminder of how getting inoculated proved vital in preventing something deadly. Vaccine for Multiple Respiratory Infections, mRNA Therapies “If not millions, hundreds of thousand lives could be saved with the customised cancer vaccines against multiple types of tumor, and will cater to people across …

Explained | How can mRNA vaccines help fight cancer?
2 years ago

Explained | How can mRNA vaccines help fight cancer?

The Hindu  

The story so far: The results of a trial of an experimental cancer vaccine built on the mRNA platform, made by Moderna and MSD, have shown promising results, media announcements claimed last week. “Once in the body, the mRNA instructs cells that take up the vaccine to produce proteins that may stimulate an immune response against these same proteins when …

Researchers Prepare New mRNA Flu Shot that Can Target All Strains, Prevent Influenza Pandemic
2 years, 1 month ago

Researchers Prepare New mRNA Flu Shot that Can Target All Strains, Prevent Influenza Pandemic

News 18  

Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania are developing a new mRNA vaccine targeting all known flu strains in a single shot and said the vaccine is showing promise in animal studies. Scott Hensley, an immunologist at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia told CBC: “Our approach was to make a vaccine that encoded every influenza subtype and lineage that we …

India to soon get its first mRNA COVID-19 vaccine: Why is this being touted as a gamechanger?
2 years, 6 months ago

India to soon get its first mRNA COVID-19 vaccine: Why is this being touted as a gamechanger?

Firstpost  

Pune-based Gennova Biopharmaceuticals COVID-19 vaccine, which is awaiting a nod from India’s drug regulators, can be stored at temperatures between 2 and 8 degree Celsius, making its availability in remote areas possible too India’s fight against COVID-19 is about to get a huge push as the country’s first mRNA-based vaccine is one step closer to getting approval. According to reported …

Hyderabad-based CCMB announces first potential mRNA COVID vaccine
2 years, 7 months ago

Hyderabad-based CCMB announces first potential mRNA COVID vaccine

Firstpost  

Dr N Madhusudan Rao, CEO of Atal Incubation Centre at Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, said the mRNA platform has an advantage of flexibility unlike other vaccine platforms New Delhi: Dr N Madhusudan Rao, CEO-Atal Incubation Centre at Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology on Monday said that India has developed mRNA technology against the COVID-19. The Hyderabad-based Centre …

India develops first mRNA vaccine technology to fight Covid-19
2 years, 7 months ago

India develops first mRNA vaccine technology to fight Covid-19

India Today  

India’s first indigenous mRNA vaccine technology to fight against Covid-19 has been developed by the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology and Council Of Scientific And Industrial Research. CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology is leading the development of mRNA vaccine technology in India. However, we lack the potent mRNA vaccine technology, as developed by Moderna or Pfizer/BioNtech to combat …

Hyderabad-based manufacturer to get mRNA technology from WHO to produce COVID-19 vaccines
2 years, 8 months ago

Hyderabad-based manufacturer to get mRNA technology from WHO to produce COVID-19 vaccines

Firstpost  

WHO and their partners will work with the Indian government to develop a roadmap and put in place the necessary training and support for Biological E to start producing mRNA vaccines as soon as possible Hyderabad: Hyderabad-based vaccine manufacturer Biological E on Monday announced that it has been selected as a recipient of mRNA technology from the World Health Organisation …

US researchers share COVID-19 vaccine with the world
2 years, 11 months ago

US researchers share COVID-19 vaccine with the world

Al Jazeera  

Using traditional technology that can be scaled widely and cheaply, Corbevax offers a potential solution to vaccine inequity. Bypassing the patent restrictions of major pharmaceutical firms, doctors Maria Elena Bottazzi and Peter Hotez at the Baylor College of Medicine and the Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development used traditional vaccine technology that can be deployed rapidly to help inoculate …

COVID-19: Protein-based vaccines give hope
3 years ago

COVID-19: Protein-based vaccines give hope

The Hindu  

Many people who refuse to get vaccinated against COVID-19 say they don't trust the technology behind mRNA vaccines, such as in BioNTech-Pfizer and Moderna shots. Protein-based vaccines appear to offer a good level of protection against COVID-19 and produce fewer side effects than those existing and approved mRNA and vector-based vaccines. Urgently needed for global vaccine campaign Experts say protein-based …

Africa trying to replicate Moderna's COVID vaccine in an attempt to lessen the gap of vaccine inequity
3 years, 2 months ago

Africa trying to replicate Moderna's COVID vaccine in an attempt to lessen the gap of vaccine inequity

Firstpost  

Some experts see reverse engineering — recreating vaccines from fragments of publicly available information — as one of the few remaining ways to redress the power imbalances of the pandemic. “The United States government has played a very substantial role in making Moderna the company it is,” said David Kessler, the head of Operation Warp Speed, the U.S. program to …

Gennova to use mRNA tech to develop vaccines for Zika, tuberculosis
3 years, 4 months ago

Gennova to use mRNA tech to develop vaccines for Zika, tuberculosis

Business Standard  

Gennova to use mRNA tech to develop vaccines for Zika, tuberculosis mRNA vaccines typically have stringent temperature requirements to remain stable Premium The mRNA vaccine candidate contains a short, synthetic version encoding the spike protein of the novel coronavirus Sars-CoV-2. Sohini Das Mumbai Gennova Biopharmaceuticals, a subsidiary of Pune-headquartered Emcure Pharmaceuticals, is not only developing India’s first indigenous messenger ribonucleic …

Will there be an mRNA vaccine for cancer?
3 years, 5 months ago

Will there be an mRNA vaccine for cancer?

The Hindu  

Vaccines for cancer caused by some viruses already exist. "Similar to the way an mRNA vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 works, an mRNA cancer vaccine trains your immune system to recognize a certain protein on the surface of cancer cells," said Anna Blakney, an assistant professor in the School of Biochemical Engineering at the University of British Columbia in Canada. "Basically, the …

Will we all need COVID vaccine booster shots?
3 years, 5 months ago

Will we all need COVID vaccine booster shots?

Al Jazeera  

As more and more people are fully vaccinated around the world, attention has turned to whether or not booster vaccines will be required to maintain immunity and to protect against emerging variants of the COVID-19 virus. by Dr Amir Khan On July 8, Pfizer-BioNTech announced that it plans to apply for emergency authorisation for a booster dose of its vaccine, …

Pfizer, Moderna Vaccines Cut Covid-19 Risk by 91 Per Cent: Study
3 years, 5 months ago

Pfizer, Moderna Vaccines Cut Covid-19 Risk by 91 Per Cent: Study

News 18  

People who receive Covid-19 vaccines by Pfizer and Moderna are up to 91 per cent less likely to develop the disease, according to a US study which also suggests that the preventives reduce the severity of symptoms and duration in those who still get an infection. The study found that mRNA Covid-19 vaccines were 91 per cent effective in reducing …

Pfizer, Moderna vaccines cut COVID-19 risk by 91 per cent: Study
3 years, 5 months ago

Pfizer, Moderna vaccines cut COVID-19 risk by 91 per cent: Study

Deccan Chronicle  

Washington: People who receive COVID-19 vaccines by Pfizer and Moderna are up to 91 per cent less likely to develop the disease, according to a US study which also suggests that the preventives reduce the severity of symptoms and duration in those who still get an infection. The study found that mRNA COVID-19 vaccines were 91 per cent effective in …

Pfizer, Moderna Covid vaccines reduce severity, viral load in re-infected people: US study
3 years, 5 months ago

Pfizer, Moderna Covid vaccines reduce severity, viral load in re-infected people: US study

India Today  

A new study of mRNA preventives, conducted in the United States, suggests that people who contract Covid-19 even after vaccination are likely to have a lower viral load or quantity, experience a shorter duration of illness and have milder symptoms than unvaccinated individuals. Researchers also noted that while Covid-19 vaccines are proving to be highly effective in preventing infection, no …

Science behind Moderna vaccine: Triggering immune response against Covid-19 using mRNA
3 years, 5 months ago

Science behind Moderna vaccine: Triggering immune response against Covid-19 using mRNA

India Today  

India added one more Covid-19 vaccine to its kitty after the Drug Controller General of India granted emergency-use approval to Moderna's mRNA jab. Indian drug manufacturer Cipla has been given permission to import Moderna's Covid-19 vaccine, which will be the second foreign candidate to be approved after Russia's Sputnik V. India is also in talks with Pfizer, which has played …

CureVac’s COVID-19 mRNA vaccine disappoints in preliminary results as it shows 47 percent efficacy
3 years, 6 months ago

CureVac’s COVID-19 mRNA vaccine disappoints in preliminary results as it shows 47 percent efficacy

Firstpost  

Franz-Werner Haas, chief executive blamed the results on the high number of variants in the countries where the vaccine was tested. The German company CureVac delivered disappointing preliminary results Wednesday from a clinical trial of its COVID-19 vaccine, dimming hopes that it could help fill the world’s great need. The trial, which included 40,000 volunteers in Latin America and Europe, …

Beyond COVID-19, Understanding the Application and Future Potential of mRNA Vaccines
3 years, 6 months ago

Beyond COVID-19, Understanding the Application and Future Potential of mRNA Vaccines

News 18  

Vaccines are often described as one of the greatest public health interventions in recent history, based on the profound effect that they have had in decreasing global morbidity and mortality. It is the third factor in particular that unleashed the future potential of messenger RNA, or mRNA, vaccines, which is the platform adopted by both Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna for their …

Vaccines Could Drive The Evolution Of More COVID-19 Mutants
3 years, 10 months ago

Vaccines Could Drive The Evolution Of More COVID-19 Mutants

NPR  

Vaccines Could Drive The Evolution Of More COVID-19 Mutants Mutant coronaviruses can make vaccines less effective. HARRIS: If the vaccine keeps virus levels low, even mutated viruses, the infected person won't produce enough to spread to other people. Andrew Read at Penn State University says, whatever the answers may be, vaccine resistance or escape, as it's called, isn't nearly as …

Pfizer and Moderna's COVID-19 vaccines are just the beginning. Will Australia miss out on the mRNA medical revolution?
3 years, 10 months ago

Pfizer and Moderna's COVID-19 vaccines are just the beginning. Will Australia miss out on the mRNA medical revolution?

ABC  

When Drew Weissman and Katalin Karikó got their COVID-19 vaccine jabs before Christmas at the University of Pennsylvania, the cameras were rolling. They borrow a mechanism that all of your cells use to make all the proteins in your body They borrow a mechanism that all of your cells use to make all the proteins in your body They work …

Will the coronavirus vaccines work against the new, fast-spreading UK strain?
4 years ago

Will the coronavirus vaccines work against the new, fast-spreading UK strain?

ABC  

At least four drug makers are rushing to confirm the efficacy of their COVID-19 vaccines against the new fast-spreading variant of the virus detected in the UK. Key points: The new strain of the novel coronavirus may up to 70 per cent more infectious The new strain of the novel coronavirus may up to 70 per cent more infectious But …

What 2020 Gave Science: Medical Advances and Learnings from COVID
4 years ago

What 2020 Gave Science: Medical Advances and Learnings from COVID

The Quint  

The vaccines developed by Pfizer and Moderna - both use a technology that has never been used to create a vaccine so far. It involves using genetic material from the virus called mRNA, short for messenger RNA, which directs the body’s cells to stimulate the immune system. India’s first indigenous mRNA vaccine candidate, developed by Pune-based Gennova Biopharmaceuticals, has also …

Years of research laid groundwork for speedy COVID-19 shots
4 years ago

Years of research laid groundwork for speedy COVID-19 shots

Associated Press  

How could scientists race out COVID-19 vaccines so fast without cutting corners? “Abject giddiness,” is how Dr. C. Buddy Creech, a Vanderbilt University vaccine expert, described scientists’ reactions when separate studies showed the two candidates were about 95% effective. “Instead of growing up a virus in a 50,000-liter drum and inactivating it, we could deliver RNA and our bodies make …

Why mRNA vaccines like those being made to treat coronavirus are a quantum leap for biotech
4 years ago

Why mRNA vaccines like those being made to treat coronavirus are a quantum leap for biotech

Salon  

If the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines successfully put an end to the COVID-19 pandemic, as they seem poised to do, we will owe our salvation to the development of mRNA vaccines — an unprecedented, novel vaccine technology that may revolutionize how vaccines are made. "When you use viral-vectored-based or genetic vaccines, you deliver a blueprint that will allow the host …

December 1 coronavirus news
4 years ago

December 1 coronavirus news

CNN  

While the USA Food and Drug administration reviews the Moderna and Pfizer vaccine candidates’ data for emergency use authorization, CNN’s chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta outlines key things you should know about how the process will work. Moderna and Pfizer vaccine candidates have shown high effectiveness in preventing people from getting Covid-19. “They’re still going to need the long-term …

How mRNA vaccines work, and how they might protect us from the flu and other diseases
4 years, 1 month ago

How mRNA vaccines work, and how they might protect us from the flu and other diseases

ABC  

First it was Pfizer, then Moderna: two drug company press releases, dropped days apart, announcing their COVID-19 vaccines that were more than 90 per cent effective against the disease. "But these mRNA vaccines, from what I've read in their press releases, do not seem to be as powerful at inducing cytotoxic T cells," she said. mRNA vaccines' strength in generating …

Why Moderna’s Covid vaccine win is a giant leap for fighting future pandemics
4 years, 1 month ago

Why Moderna’s Covid vaccine win is a giant leap for fighting future pandemics

Live Mint  

The world now seems likely to have at least two effective vaccines against Covid-19 with Monday's announcement of positive early data from Moderna Therapeutics Inc.'s 30,000-person clinical trial. Both leading vaccines use the same promising messenger RNA technology, and their combined excellent early results suggest the world has a crucial new tool to respond quickly to diseases. These vaccines use …

Moderna's COVID-19 mRNA vaccine could revolutionise how pandemics are treated, but experts say to wait for Phase 3 human trials
4 years, 5 months ago

Moderna's COVID-19 mRNA vaccine could revolutionise how pandemics are treated, but experts say to wait for Phase 3 human trials

Firstpost  

The upcoming trials in 30,000 volunteers in a real-world setting will give experts a comprehensive look at its effectiveness and feasibility. An mRNA molecule developed by American firm Moderna Therapeutics – mRNA-1273 – is among the leading candidates in human trials for a working vaccine against the COVID-19-causing SARS-CoV-2 virus. Experts, trial volunteer advise ‘cautious optimism’ The COVID-19 vaccine developed …

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