Nobel Prize for Medicine 2023
Reading Time: < 1 minuteNOBLE PRIZE FOR MEDICINE 2023: The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institute has awarded the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine jointly to Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman for their discoveries concerning nucleoside base modifications that enabled the development of effective mRNA vaccines against COVID-19. The discoveries by the two Nobel Laureates were critical for developing effective mRNA vaccines […]
COVID-19 pandemic underscored why science communication must be robust
Reading Time: 2 minutesWHEN COVID-19 vaccines saved millions and provided relief from the pandemic, I believed this would serve as powerful ammunition for science communication. While the vaccines had flaws, they offered the best option available then, and their benefits far outweighed the risks. With this in mind, I turned to TikTok, my new social media tool, to […]
Expert: Weigh your own risk for Covid-19 second booster
Reading Time: 2 minutesBY UMAIRAH RAZAK & MARYAM AL-HERWI MOST countries are guarding up again due to the recent spike in COVID-19 cases in China. The Malaysian government has urged the public to get a second booster shot after two main variants in China, BA 5.2 and BF.7, were detected in the country early this year. Both variants […]
Microbiologist: Viral mutation keeps Covid-19 in circulation
Reading Time: 4 minutesTHE key point which is the most important factor determining whether COVID-19 is here to stay or whether we can eradicate this “virus”, is a mutation, says Dr Vinod Balasubramaniam from Jeffrey Cheah School of Medicine & Health Sciences, Monash University Malaysia. “The virus continues to evolve through mutation, evading the immunity built by existing vaccines,” […]
Post pandemic: When the normal we know is not the ideal
Reading Time: 3 minutesTHE popular question right now as we are in the endemic phase is “when will it all return to the normal lifestyle which we were familiar with?” To answer this question, Tan Sri Dr Jemilah Mahmood, Executive Director of Planetary Health, University Sunway at a recent webinar retorted: “Was our pre-pandemic so-called normal lifestyle, the ideal […]
Researchers in Japan invest mask that glows when exposed to Coronavirus
Reading Time: < 1 minuteA TEAM of scientists at Kyoto Prefectural University headed by its president, Yasuhiro Tsukamoto, has developed masks that glow when exposed to ultraviolet (UV) light if they contain traces of the COVID-19 coronavirus, using antibodies extracted from ostrich eggs. In February 2020, the team injected an inactive and non-threatening form of the coronavirus into female ostriches, successfully […]
SMART develops 10-minute test for detection of COVID immunity
Reading Time: 4 minutesSINGAPORE: Researchers from the Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Interdisciplinary Research Group (IRG) at Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART) and the Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore), alongside collaborators at National University Hospital (NUH), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and the Centre for Life Sciences (CeLS) and Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine at National […]
Drugs that mimic effects of cigarette smoke reduce SARS-CoV-2’s ability to enter cells
Reading Time: 3 minutesRESEARCHERS have identified a potential reason why lower numbers of COVID cases have appeared amongst smokers compared to non-smokers, even as other reports suggest smoking increases the severity of the disease. Researchers have identified two drugs that mimic the effect of chemicals in cigarette smoke to bind to a receptor in mammalian cells that inhibits […]
Antibody cocktail therapy centre for mild Covid-19 patients opens in Sendai
Reading Time: < 1 minuteMIYAGI PREFECTURE and Tohoku University Hospital have set up an Antibody Cocktail Therapy Centre in Sendai. The treatment, which involves artificial monoclonal antibodies administered through an intravenous drip, is aimed at preventing patients with mild COVID-19 from becoming seriously ill. Doctors, nurses and pharmacists from Tohoku University Hospital and six other hospitals across the prefecture, […]
UC San Diego Nanoengineers Develop Fridge-Free COVID-19 Vaccines Grown in Plants and Bacteria
Reading Time: < 1 minuteNANOENGINEERS at the University of California San Diego have developed COVID-19 vaccine candidates that can take the heat. These fridge-free vaccines are made from a plant virus called cowpea mosaic virus and the other is from a bacterial virus or bacteriophage. The two vaccines were made using similar recipes. The researchers used cowpea plants and Escherichia coli bacteria to […]