SARS-CoV-2

[Nature] Scientists discovered COVID-19 disease-associated microglia and astrocyte subpopulations that share features with pathological cell states reported in human neurodegenerative disease4–6.

[Nature Communications] SARS-CoV-2-infected cells showed accumulation of key metabolites, activation of autophagy inhibitors and reduction of proteins responsible for autophagy initiation, membrane nucleation, and phagophore formation, as well as autophagosome-lysosome fusion.

[Nature Communications] The authors described an engineered human virus receptor, ACE2, by mutagenesis and screening for binding to the receptor binding domain.

[PLOS One] Scientists evaluated the in vitro anti-viral activities of combinations of certain commercially available drugs that have recently formed part of COVID-19 therapy. These drugs were mixed at specific ratios and evaluated for their safe use based on the cytotoxicity concentration values of human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells.

[Science Translational Medicine] To examine the ontogeny and function of MS1 cells, researchers developed a cellular model for inducing CD14+ MS1 monocytes from healthy bone marrow hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells.

[Cell] Researchers studied the ability of monoclonal antibodies, convalescent and vaccine sera to neutralize B.1.617.1 and B.1.617.2 and complement this with structural analyses of Fab/RBD complexes and map the antigenic space of current variants.