Warren symposium follows legacy of geneticist giant

If we want to understand how the brain creates memories, and how genetic disorders distort the brain’s machinery, then the fragile X gene is an ideal place to start. That’s why the Stephen T. Warren Memorial Symposium, taking place November 28-29 at Emory, will be a significant event for those interested in neuroscience and genetics. Stephen T. Warren, 1953-2021 Warren, the founding chair of Emory’s Department of Human Genetics, led an international team that discovered Read more

Mutations in V-ATPase proton pump implicated in epilepsy syndrome

Why and how disrupting V-ATPase function leads to epilepsy, researchers are just starting to figure Read more

Tracing the start of COVID-19 in GA

At a time when COVID-19 appears to be receding in much of Georgia, it’s worth revisiting the start of the pandemic in early 2020. Emory virologist Anne Piantadosi and colleagues have a paper in Viral Evolution on the earliest SARS-CoV-2 genetic sequences detected in Georgia. Analyzing relationships between those virus sequences and samples from other states and countries can give us an idea about where the first COVID-19 infections in Georgia came from. We can draw Read more

common cold

Vaccine vs many common cold viruses achievable

Scientists are making the case that a vaccine against rhinoviruses, the predominant cause of the common cold, is achievable.

The quest for a vaccine against rhinoviruses may have seemed quixotic, because there are more than 100 varieties circulating around the world. Even so, the immune system can handle the challenge, researchers from Emory University School of Medicine and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta say.

Martin Moore, PhD

Martin Moore, PhD

Vaccines that combine dozens of varieties of rhinovirus at once are effective in stimulating antiviral antibodies in mice and monkeys, the researchers report in Nature Communications. The paper was also posted on Biorxiv before publication.

“We think that creating a vaccine for the common cold can be reduced to technical challenges related to manufacturing,” says Martin Moore, PhD, associate professor of pediatrics at Emory University School of Medicine and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. Read more

Posted on by Quinn Eastman in Immunology Leave a comment

Fact or Fiction when it comes to colds

Man with a coldCongested, tired, coughing, icky… It’s a rare human being who hasn’t experienced a cold.

We take our miserable selves to the pharmacy and, in our cold stupor, we stand in front of the “cold and flu” aisle trying to figure what cold remedy actually works – or do any of them work? And how did we end up with this lousy cold anyway?!

In a CNN.com Health article, Emory physician Dr. Sharon Bergquist discusses how colds are transmitted, how long a cold should last, what makes people resistant and what treatments work.

Posted on by Wendy Darling in Uncategorized Leave a comment