To better understand the mechanism of SARS-CoV-2 cell entry, BPS Bioscience have developed 3 new pseudotyped lentiviruses, allowing you to study the interaction between the coronavirus Spike protein and the human ACE2 protein in a physiologically relevant context.

One of the challenges in respiratory research in general, and for COVID-19 related projects in particular, is to have access to relevant in vitro cell culture models. Human lung epithelium models are currently being tested as a platform for COVID-19 research and several cell types susceptible to SARS-CoV infection have already been identified. In this post, I’ll introduce lung primary cell models you may find useful, as well as other cell types that have been reported as involved in COVID-19 infections and the multiple severe associated syndromes.

Advances in mRNA Vaccines for Infectious Diseases

It is now admitted that mRNA vaccines provide a safe and long-lasting immune response in humans. Since capping of the mRNA is involved in the protein production into the cells, the capping technologies are of great interest for the development of prophylactic and therapeutic vaccines. In this post, I’ll focus on the CleanCap reagents (Trilink BioTechnologies), and notably the CleanCap AU for the self-amplifying mRNA, as well as their benefits, especially for vaccine approaches against pathogens (including the SARS-CoV-2).

With the great success of the SIR-probes for efficient labeling of the cell Cytoskeleton, DNA and Lysosome, Spirochrome have just launched a series of 8 new live cell fluorescent tools : The SPY^TM probes.