Volume 26 Issue 11, November 2020

As the US general election looms, feelings are more than mixed about science policy for biomedical and medical research under US President Donald Trump’s administration.

Kizzmekia ‘Kizzy’ Corbett, a viral immunologist and research fellow, is the team lead for coronavirus research within the Viral Pathogenesis Laboratory of the Vaccine Research Center at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the US National Institutes of Health.

The relentless violence against Black people takes an overwhelming emotional toll on Black trainees. In those we continue to lose, we see our families, our friends and our own lives being taken.

The limitations of using race in biomedicine are important to recognize because race is often afforded more biological value than can be scientifically justified — and less social value than it commands.

A metabolic study comparing people who lost weight through dieting or through bariatric surgery shows that the effects on diabetes are due to weight loss.

Understanding the risk of reinfection with SARS-CoV-2 in exposed cohorts provides an avenue to understanding the path to protection against SARS-CoV-2 for vaccine development.

Genome sequencing of patients with sporadic congenital hydrocephalus reveals mutations of large effect size indicative of a developmental origin for the disease.

The Zero Childhood Cancer Program’s multi-platform sequencing approach identified molecular alterations in 94% of a cohort of 247 pediatric patients with high-risk cancers, which has enabled more-precise diagnoses and alternative therapeutic recommendations.

In an interim analysis of a first-in-human phase 1 trial of patients with neuroblastoma, highly pure GD2-specific CAR-NKT cells were well tolerated with no observed dose-limiting toxicities.

The durability of immunity to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is unknown. Lessons from seasonal coronavirus infections in humans show that reinfections can occur within 12 months of initial infection, coupled with changes in levels of virus-specific antibodies.

A single immunization with an adenovirus vector-based vaccine expressing a stabilized SARS-CoV-2 spike protein induces protection against SARS-CoV-2-induced weight loss, pneumonia and mortality in hamsters.

Characterization of a cohort of children with multisystem inflammatory syndrome associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection provides insights into the immunopathogenic features of the disease.

Convalescent plasma for treatment of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 is associated with improved survival in a retrospective comparison with matched controls, supporting further study in randomized controlled trials.

Cases linked to superspreading events are estimated to account for 80% of all local transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in Hong Kong in a study with implications for public health policies.

A GMP-compliant process for generating human iPSC-derived mesenchymal stromal cells tested in a phase 1 trial is safe and well tolerated in subjects with acute steroid-resistant graft versus host disease.

Longitudinal molecular profiling of copy number alterations in patients with Barrett’s esophagus can identify patients at higher risk of developing esophageal cancer.

Biomarker analysis of the phase 3 JAVELIN Renal 101 trial uncovers molecular determinants of therapy-specific outcomes, which may inform personalized treatment strategies for patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma.

The Zero Childhood Cancer pediatric precision medicine program informs treatment recommendations for children with high-risk cancers through comprehensive molecular profiling

The largest whole-exome sequencing study of sporadic congenital hydrocephalus identities mutations associated with disrupted fetal neuro-gliogenesis as the primary pathophysiological event in a significant number of cases.

Growing up in the rich microbial environment of a farm strongly influences the maturation of the gut microbiome in the first year of life, which helps protect against the development of asthma in children.

Chimeric antigen receptor T cells targeting HIV-infected cells prevent T cell loss and reduce virus in blood and tissues of HIV-infected humanized mice, highlighting a path toward a cell-based therapy for HIV infection.

Dysregulation of ribonucleoprotein complex granules, previously implicated in neuromuscular disease, can drive pathogenesis in a genetic form of dilated cardiomyopathy, as shown in gene-edited pigs and patient-derived cardiomyocytes.