Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
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Circa 2014 Emerging respiratory coronaviruses such as the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) pose potential biological threats to humans. SARS and MERS are manifested as severe atypical pneumonia associated with high morbidity and mortality in humans. The majority of studies carried out in SARS-CoV-infected humans and animals attribute a dysregulated/exuberant innate response as a leading contributor to SARS-CoV-mediated pathology. A decade after the 2002–2003 SARS epidemic, we do not have any approved preventive or therapeutic agents available in case of re-emergence of SARS-CoV or other related viruses. A strong neutralizing antibody response generated against the spike (S) glycoprotein of SARS-CoV is completely protective in the susceptible host. However, neutralizing antibody titers and the memory B cell response are short-lived in SARS-recovered patients and the antibody will target primary homologous strain. Interestingly, the acute phase of SARS in humans is associated with a severe reduction in the number of T cells in the blood. Surprisingly, only a limited number of studies have explored the role of the T cell-mediated adaptive immune response in respiratory coronavirus pathogenesis. In this review, we discuss the role of anti-virus CD4 and CD8 T cells during respiratory coronavirus infections with a special emphasis on emerging coronaviruses.

Coronaviruses belong to the family coronaviridae and are enveloped, positive-sense, single stranded RNA viruses. The coronavirus genome is approximately 31 kb, making these viruses the largest known RNA viruses yet identified. Coronaviruses infect a variety of hosts including humans and several other vertebrates. Coronaviruses are associated with several respiratory and intestinal tract infections. Respiratory coronaviruses have long been recognized as significant pathogens in domestic and companion animals and as the cause of upper respiratory tract infections in humans. Thus, several human coronaviruses (HCoVs) are the etiological agents for mild respiratory illness, including the common cold and croup (e.g.: HCoV-229E, HCoV-OC43, HCoV-NL63 and HCoV-HKU) (3, 4). Human coronaviruses such as SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV are also associated with severe respiratory illness (5–9).

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About 80,000 people worldwide have survived a Covid-19 infection. Their immune systems will have produced antibodies, which will help their bodies recognize and fight a repeat attack by the coronavirus. It’s a natural defense mechanism.

Aside from a Covid-19 vaccine, antibodies from recovered patients could provide a short-term “passive immunization” to the disease. A German immunologist saved thousands of lives with the method 100 years ago.

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Topline: A group of 300-plus engineers, designers, tech founders and others galvanized on Facebook with a goal of building a ventilator using readily available materials, 3D printing and open-source hardware resources. In just seven days, they built a prototype that will be validated as a solution to the global ventilator shortage by Irish authorities as early as next week.

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In addition to working with the World Health Organization to end smallpox, Larry Brilliant has fought flu, polio, and blindness. He says we will, eventually, get back to normal. But that’s not going to occur until three important things happen first. LARRY BRILLIANT SAYS he doesn’t have a crystal ball. But 14 years ago, Brilliant, the epidemiologist who helped eradicate smallpox, spoke to a TED audience and described what the next pandemic would look like. At the time, it sounded almost too horrible to take seriously. “A billion people would get sick,” he said. “As many as 165 million people would die. There would be a global recession and depression, and the cost to our economy of $1 to $3 trillion would be far worse for everyone than merely 100 million people dying, because so many more people would lose their jobs and their health care benefits, that the consequences are almost unthinkable.”

Epidemiologist Larry Brilliant, who warned of pandemic in 2006, says we can beat the novel coronavirus—but first, we need lots more testing.

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‘La Maison de La Celle-Saint-Cloud’ is an art installation from 1974, in a house built by French artist, Jean Pierre Raynaud. Fascinated by space, uniformity and identity, he began to build this house in 1969 using entirely white tiles with black grout, creating the regular grid pattern in a rigid and geometric form. In 1974, the house was opened to the public in Paris showing the ultimate perfection and flawlessness. But then in 1988, the artist decided to closed the house to himself only and subsequently demolished it in 1993 and presented the debris in 976 surgical containers.

The life of La Maison didn’t stop there, the fragments of which, have since been exhibited in various installations, and the fashion industry has also been paying tribute to it with different ad campaigns and collections inspired by the house.

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Computer scientists from Loughborough University in the UK have developed a new AI system that predicts air pollution levels days in advance.

The system developed analyzes air data through sensors installed in cities to predict the pollution levels.

It could be used to help us understand the environmental factors that affect one of the most dangerous pollutants in the world: PM2.5.

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Numbers don’t lie, they say. And the numbers show that, as with other life sciences and biotech fields, the number of women in leadership positions in the synthetic biology space is disappointingly low. Last year, I reported that only 14% of the 236 synthetic biology companies I surveyed were led by women. I think most people would agree this is a serious issue — and that something needs to be done about it. But all too often, well-meaning, proactive efforts fizzle out before they have a chance to make a real impact. Why?

I think one of the biggest problems lies in what the numbers can’t show us. The numbers can’t help us understand what it is like, day in and day out, to be a woman in a space where your authority, expertise, and qualifications are constantly questioned. The numbers can’t help us feel the sadness, anger, and frustration facing many women in synthetic biology. The numbers don’t adequately describe what it is really like to be a woman in synthetic biology, so for those that aren’t a woman in synthetic biology, the problem is easily forgotten, or assumed to be taken care of by, who else, the women in synthetic biology.

To put some emotion and empathy behind the numbers — rather than distance and apathy — I recently reached out to several leading women in the synthetic biology space for their stories. In their own, non-sugar coated words, here’s what’s it’s really like to be a woman in synthetic biology. I hope you are as inspired by their stories as I am.

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Researchers at Duke University and Michigan State University have engineered a novel type of supercapacitor that remains fully functional even when stretched to eight times its original size. It does not exhibit any wear and tear from being stretched repeatedly and loses only a few percentage points of energy performance after 10,000 cycles of charging and discharging.

The researchers envision the being part of a power-independent, stretchable, flexible electronic system for applications such as wearable electronics or .

The results appear online March 19 in Matter, a journal from Cell Press. The research team includes senior author Changyong Cao, assistant professor of packaging, and electrical and computer engineering at Michigan State University (MSU), and senior author Jeff Glass, professor of electrical and computer engineering at Duke. Their co-authors are doctoral students Yihao Zhou and Qiwei Han and research scientist Charles Parker from Duke, as well as Ph.D. student Yunteng Cao from the Massachusetts Institutes of Technology.

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