Outlook |
Featured
-
-
News |
Can the world really stop wild polio by the end of 2023?
Given that global efforts to eradicate the poliovirus were recently described as unsuccessful, how are Afghanistan and Pakistan now on the verge of eliminating it?
- Clare Watson
-
-
Obituary |
Harald zur Hausen, virologist who linked viruses to cancer (1936–2023)
Nobel laureate who laid the foundations for vaccines to prevent cervical cancer.
- Michael Baumann
- & Magnus von Knebel Doeberitz
-
News Explainer |
Disinformation researchers under investigation: what’s happening and why
US researchers have spent years studying how conspiracy theories spread. Now they are accused of helping to suppress conservative opinions.
- Jeff Tollefson
-
News |
Tasmanian devil cancer vaccine approved for testing
The vaccine was inspired by COVID jabs, but if it is approved, it will be delivered in edible bait.
- Gemma Conroy
-
News |
New COVID jabs are coming — who should get them?
Countries rolling out updated vaccines weigh up whether to restrict them to high-risk individuals.
- Max Kozlov
-
Outlook |
The challenges facing scientists in the elimination of malaria
The world now has a malaria vaccine, but it won’t be enough to wipe out the parasitic disease
- Richard Hodson
-
News |
Promising tuberculosis vaccine gets US$550-million shot in the arm
The candidate is moving to long-awaited phase III trials — if successful, it would be the first new jab against the disease in more than 100 years.
- Lilly Tozer
-
Outlook |
The next frontier for malaria vaccination
Hot on the heels of the first approved vaccine for malaria, researchers are racing to develop even better shots that tackle the parasite at every stage of its life cycle.
- Cassandra Willyard
-
Outlook |
In search of a vaccine for Plasmodium vivax malaria
Vaccinologist Arturo Reyes-Sandoval explains how researchers are edging closer to a much-needed vaccine.
- Laura Vargas-Parada
-
News Explainer |
Long COVID: answers emerge on how many people get better
Studies are shedding light on rates of recovery as well as the prevention and treatment of the complex condition.
- Michael Marshall
-
Editorial |
Vaccine-derived polio is undermining the fight to eradicate the virus
Wild polio has almost been eradicated, but vaccine-derived strains retain the potential to paralyse. Better vaccines have arrived — but they are only part of the answer.
-
News & Views |
Polio endgame finish is in sight
Efforts to eradicate polio globally have been under way for more than 35 years. The development of modified versions of a vaccine in current use now makes eradication a real possibility.
- Alan D. T. Barrett
-
Article
| Open AccessGenetic stabilization of attenuated oral vaccines against poliovirus types 1 and 3
Mouse experiments and deep sequencing confirmed that two additional live attenuated vaccine candidates against type 1 and 3 polioviruses remained attenuated and preserved all documented nOPV2 characteristics concerning genetic stability following accelerated virus evolution.
- Ming Te Yeh
- , Matthew Smith
- & Andrew Macadam
-
News |
China’s rolling COVID waves could hit every six months — infecting millions
The latest surge is unlikely to crash the country’s health-care system, but scientists fear hundreds of millions of infections.
- Yvaine Ye
-
News |
Does shingles vaccination cut dementia risk? Large study hints at a link
Analysis of nearly 300,000 people finds an association between the shingles jab and a lower rate of dementia — but questions linger.
- Sara Reardon
-
News & Views |
A tool for optimizing messenger RNA sequence
With messenger RNA therapeutics being developed for uses beyond vaccines, problems of RNA instability must be addressed. A new algorithm optimizes mRNA sequence for both stability and the encoding of amino acids.
- Anna K. Blakney
-
Nature Podcast |
Audio long read: Can giant surveys of scientists fight misinformation on COVID, climate change and more?
Hoping to improve public debate and policymaking, multiple efforts have been launched to gather researchers' consensus views.
- David Adam
- & Benjamin Thompson
-
News |
US will vaccinate birds against avian flu for first time — what researchers think
The country plans to vaccinate endangered condors in an effort to curb unprecedented H5N1 outbreaks.
- Max Kozlov
-
Research Highlight |
COVID vaccines falter in people with severe obesity
Levels of protective antibodies decline faster in people with a very high body mass index.
-
News Feature |
Can giant surveys of scientists fight misinformation on COVID, climate change and more?
Shocked by the COVID-19 infodemic, several efforts have launched to gather researchers’ consensus views, with the hope of improving public debate and policymaking.
- David Adam
-
Article
| Open AccessMicrobial peptides activate tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes in glioblastoma
Tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes from glioblastoma can recognize bacterial and gut microbial peptides.
- Reza Naghavian
- , Wolfgang Faigle
- & Roland Martin
-
Research Highlight |
Timing matters for COVID vaccine effectiveness
Younger and older people gained greater protection if they had their jabs in the middle of the day.
-
News |
‘A good day’: FDA approves world’s first RSV vaccine
Green light from US regulatory agency for GSK’s jab caps off a decades-long quest.
- Myriam Vidal Valero
-
News |
‘Remarkable’ AI tool designs mRNA vaccines that are more potent and stable
Software from Baidu Research yields jabs for COVID that have greater shelf stability and that trigger a larger antibody response in mice than conventionally designed shots.
- Elie Dolgin
-
Article
| Open AccessAlgorithm for optimized mRNA design improves stability and immunogenicity
An algorithm based on concepts established in computational linguistics enables rapid principled design of mRNA vaccines optimizing both structural stability and codon usage, resulting in improved half-life, protein expression and immune responses.
- He Zhang
- , Liang Zhang
- & Liang Huang
-
Research Highlight |
Hopes fizzle that a TB vaccine also fends off COVID
The BCG injection failed to prevent COVID-19 in a large trial, contrary to preliminary evidence.
-
Editorial |
The gene-therapy revolution risks stalling if we don’t talk about drug pricing
Regulation and new intellectual property laws are needed to reduce the cost of gene-editing treatments and fulfil their promise to improve human health.
-
Article |
SARS-CoV-2 Omicron boosting induces de novo B cell response in humans
COVID-19 booster immunizations aimed at spike protein from new SARS-CoV-2 variants induce robust germinal centre B cell responses against the original spike protein, as well as de novo B cell responses against the variant spike protein.
- Wafaa B. Alsoussi
- , Sameer Kumar Malladi
- & Ali H. Ellebedy
-
Research Highlight |
Fast-spreading virus could help to slash rabies in vampire bats
A virus that readily infects bats without harming them could spread a vaccine throughout a population.
-
Technology Feature |
How cell-free processes could speed up vaccine development
Rather than relying on yeast and bacteria, bioengineers are looking for cheaper and easier ways to make proteins and other biomolecules.
- Carrie Arnold
-
News Explainer |
How to stop the bird flu outbreak becoming a pandemic
From tracking the disease’s spread in wild birds to updating human vaccines, there are measures that could help keep avian influenza in check.
- Saima May Sidik
-
Nature Podcast |
Audio long read: How your first brush with COVID warps your immunity
Researchers are working to overcome ‘imprinting’, where the immune system responds more strongly to the strain of a virus it first met, weakening response to other strains.
- Rachel Brazil
- & Benjamin Thompson
-
News |
Marburg virus outbreak: researchers race to test vaccines
Control measures such as quarantine could end the outbreak in Equatorial Guinea quickly — good news for inhabitants but a mixed blessing for clinical trials.
- Ewen Callaway
-
News |
WHO may soon end mpox emergency — but outbreaks rage in Africa
African health officials worry that as the mpox outbreak wanes in wealthy countries, so too will the global interest in research and funding.
- Max Kozlov
-
News |
What the WHO’s new treaty could mean for the next pandemic
A draft of the agreement highlights vaccine and drug equity but lacks teeth to enforce it, say researchers.
- Smriti Mallapaty
-
News |
How quickly does COVID immunity fade? What scientists know
Vaccination, infection with SARS-CoV-2 and a combination of both provide varying degrees of protection.
- Cassandra Willyard
-
Nature Video |
The race to make a variant-proof COVID vaccine
Exploring the next generation of vaccines aiming to keep on top of the pandemic
- Dan Fox
-
News Feature |
The next generation of coronavirus vaccines: a graphical guide
New technologies might provide more potent or broader immunity — but will have to fight for market share.
- Ewen Callaway
-
News Explainer |
Will a new wave of RSV vaccines stop the dangerous virus?
Pfizer, GSK and Moderna are ahead in the race to produce vaccines against respiratory syncytial virus — what will be their impact?
- Liam Drew
-
News |
Should COVID vaccines be given yearly? Proposal divides US scientists
Some say the US Food and Drug Administration’s suggestion of updating COVID-19 vaccines each year, as happens with influenza jabs, could boost uptake.
- Max Kozlov
-
World View |
Don’t wait for an Ebola outbreak to vaccinate people against it
The Ebola outbreak in Uganda was a wake-up call. We need preventive vaccination.
- Henry Kyobe Bosa
-
News Feature |
How your first brush with COVID warps your immunity
The immune system responds more strongly to the strain of a virus that it first met, weakening response to other strains. Can this ‘imprinting’ be overcome?
- Rachel Brazil
-
News |
Trial settles debate over best design for mRNA in COVID vaccines
The biggest defender of ‘unmodified’ mRNA for vaccines against infectious disease has a change of heart.
- Elie Dolgin
-
Editorial |
Vaccine incentives do not backfire — policymakers take note
Rigorously designed studies can dispel suspicions that offering cash for vaccines erodes trust, and help health-care providers to design effective immunization campaigns.
-
-
Nature Podcast |
Science in 2023: what to expect this year
Moon missions, gigantic telescopes, CRISPR therapies and novel vaccines - we run through what to look out for in the new year
- Noah Baker
- & Miryam Naddaf
-
Article |
Influenza vaccination reveals sex dimorphic imprints of prior mild COVID-19
Immune responses to influenza vaccination are affected by previous mild COVID-19 in a sex-dimorphic manner.
- Rachel Sparks
- , William W. Lau
- & John S. Tsang
-
Outlook |
The slow roll-out of the world’s first malaria vaccine
After 30 years of development, there is finally a vaccine for malaria. But it might take years to get it to the children who need it.
- Cassandra Willyard