The COVID-19 pandemic has adversely affected our lives since its emergence in December 2019 and urged the development of therapeutics and prophylactics to combat the disease. Masks, sanitizers, and social distancing have become the new normal. Although we are taking baby steps towards a COVID-free world, thousands of people are still getting infected worldwide. At the time of writing this, over 4.8 million people have died worldwide after infection with the deadly virus. COVID-19 is a complex disease. While most individuals recover after mild to manageable symptoms, a significant fraction of people developed serious complications which require hospitalization and ventilation and often progress to multiorgan failure and death... Click the image to the left to continue reading.

Heather Caslin is a postdoctoral researcher in the Alyssa Hasty lab at Vanderbilt University in the Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics. She received her Ph.D. from Virginia Commonwealth University. She studies how macrophages and mast cells contribute to weight cycling accelerated metabolic disease. Heather is also passionate about teaching, mentorship, and outreach, and she has worked with the Collaborative for STEM Outreach and Education at Vanderbilt University, has volunteered with the organization Black in Immuno, and does science communication via Instagram!... Click the image on the left to continue reading.

Chris Peritore-Galve is a postdoctoral researcher in the Borden Lacy Lab at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center in the department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology. He received his PhD from Cornell University. His work is on understanding the role of Clostridioides difficile toxins during infection. Chris also serves on the VI4 DEI Committee.... Click the image on the left to continue reading.

MHC class II tetramers engineered for enhanced binding to CD4 improve detection of antigen-specific T cells. Evavold B & Jenkins M et al. in Nature Biotechnology, May 23, 2021 Two chemoattenuated PfSPZ malaria vaccines induce sterile hepatic immunity. Mwakingwe-Omari A, Et al.

Exercise training improves tumor control by increasing CD8+ T-cell infiltration via CXCR3 signaling and sensitizes breast cancer to immune checkpoint blockade. Fukumura K et al. in Cancer Immunology Research, April 10, 2021 A microRNA expression and regulatory element activity atlas of the mouse immune system. Brown B et al.

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SorTn-seq: a high-throughput functional genomics approach to discovering regulators of bacterial gene expression. Fineran P et al. in Nature Protocols, August 4, 2021 Two chemoattenuated PfSPZ malaria vaccines induce sterile hepatic immunity. Duffy P et al.

The adenovirus-based vaccine is a type of vaccine that uses a surrogate virus instead of the actual coronavirus to deliver the components needed to induce an immune response. When the adenovirus infects your cells, it will release DNA coding that your cells can use to produce the spike protein. The spike protein – a harmless piece of the coronavirus – will train your immune response to protect you from getting infected/sick if you later encounter the actual virus. In addition to adding the coronavirus DNA, scientists also remove portions of the adenovirus essential for replication; thus, each virus can only infect one cell and cannot make copies of itself. Engineering the adenovirus further enhances the safety of the vaccine.... Click the infographic to learn more!

Dr. Dash is a faculty member in the Meharry Medical College Center for AIDS Health Disparities Research (CAHDR) and the Department of Biochemistry, Cancer Biology, Pharmacology and Neuroscience. His research focuses on understanding the mechanisms of HIV-1 infection and probing the effects of drugs of abuse on HIV pathogenesis.