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Phase I trial aims to build on response seen in proof-of-concept trial.

NEW YORK AND CAMBRIDGE, MASS. — JANUARY 27, 2022 — IAVI and biotechnology company Moderna announced today that first doses have been administered in a clinical trial of experimental HIV vaccine antigens at George Washington University (GWU) School of Medicine and Health Sciences in Washington, D.C. The Phase I trial, IAVI G002, is designed to test the hypothesis that sequential administration of priming and boosting HIV immunogens delivered by messenger RNA (mRNA) can induce specific classes of B-cell responses and guide their early maturation toward broadly neutralizing antibody (bnAb) development. The induction of bnAbs is widely considered to be a goal of HIV vaccination, and this is the first step in that process. The immunogens being tested in IAVI G002 were developed by scientific teams at IAVI and Scripps Research and will be delivered via Moderna’s mRNA technology.


IAVI and Moderna and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States government.

“Beneficial Viruses” For Human Health, Agriculture And Environmental Sustainability — Dr. Marilyn Roossinck, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, Penn State


Dr. Marilyn Roossinck Ph.D. (https://plantpath.psu.edu/directory/mjr25) is Professor Emeritus of plant pathology, environmental microbiology and biology at Penn State University.

Dr. Roossinck is an expert on viruses, from their evolutionary pressures and mechanisms, to the ecology of viral diseases. She performed some of the first experimental evolution studies on plant viruses and pioneered the first virus discovery work in a terrestrial system, by deep sequencing wild plant samples. A specialty of hers is the symbiotic relationships between plants and so-called “beneficial viruses.”

Another E5 update. At the moment there is a great difference between the control and treated rats. The treated rats are nearing their expected lifespan. And it looks like E5 human trials are trying to be set up.


In this video we report on the Feb 2022 update from Dr. Katcher’s experiment with E5, where he is testing to see how long the rats will stay alive if they are given an E5 injection every 90 days.

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American auto magazine Motor Trend is back to rehash its initial predictions for Apple’s yet unannounced “Apple Car”, this time updating it for the “inevitable” autonomous future.

The new report is, once again, a think piece that collates a collection of rumors into Motor Trend’s best guess at what Apple might have in the works.

It doesn’t take long for the publication to reference its first stab at imagining the “Apple Car,” one which wound up being ridiculed for being too “podlike.” Yet, as Motor Trend points out, podlike cars are being developed all over.

Researchers from the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST) have used microscopic strands of DNA to guide the assembly of gel blocks that are visible to the naked eye.

The blocks, which measure up to 2mm in length and contain DNA on their surface, self-assembled in around 10–15 minutes when mixed in a solution, the scientists reported today in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

“These hydrogel blocks are, we believe, the largest objects so far that have been programmed by DNA to form organized structures,” said Dr. Vyankat Sontakke, first author of the study and a postdoctoral researcher in the OIST Nucleic Acid Chemistry and Engineering Unit.