In a ray of hope against the #COVID19Pandemic, an mRNA vaccine under human clinical trial by US-based biotechnology giant #Moderna has shown promising results by generating an immune-system response in the body to fight coronavirus.
#mRNA-1273 is an mRNA vaccine against SARS-CoV-2, which was selected by Moderna in collaboration with investigators from the Vaccine Research Center (VRC) at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), a part of the US National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Vaccine candidates from the NIH and Moderna Inc, and the one from the #OxfordUniversity, have been getting maximum attention, as over 100 vaccines are currently under various stages of trial.
"At this time, neutralising antibody data are available only for the first four participants in each of the 25 µg and 100 µg dose level cohorts," Moderna said in a statement.
Consistent with the binding antibody data, #mRNA vaccination elicited neutralising antibodies in all the eight participants.
"The levels of neutralising antibodies on day 43 were at or above levels generally seen in convalescent sera," explained the drug maker.
"mRNA-1273 was generally safe and well tolerated, with a safety profile consistent with that seen in prior Moderna infectious disease vaccine clinical studies," said the company.
Based on the interim Phase 1 data, the Moderna-led Phase 2 study will soon start, with the aim of selecting a dose for pivotal studies.
Moderna anticipates the dose for the Phase 3 study to be between 25 µg and 100 µg, and expects Phase 3 trial initiation in July, subject to finalisation of the clinical trial protocol.
"These interim Phase 1 data, while early, demonstrate that vaccination with mRNA-1273 elicits an immune response of the magnitude caused by natural infection starting with a dose as low as 25 µg," said Tal Zaks, Chief Medical Officer at #Moderna.
While searching for life in the Gulf of Mexico, researchers pulled out a new bizarre-looking species of isopod, whose head resembles the Darth Vader from Star Wars!
This new-found crustacean, named Bathonymus yucatanensis, has 14 legs and is around 26 cm long — approximately 25 times larger than its closest relative, the common woodlouse.
While these blonde creatures seem pretty scary, the "Vanilla Vaders" are, in fact, harmless to humans.
Their huge size is only due to deep-sea gigantism — a phenomenon wherein ocean dwellers grow bigger than their terrestrial relatives due to lack of sunlight.
This super-Earth is a rocky world, on which a year is equal to just 11 Earth days.
The short orbit is down to the red dwarfs being a lot smaller than the Sun that centres our solar system. But the smaller sizes also make their gravitational fields less expansive than the Sun's.
Therefore, Ross 508b revolves around its red dwarf at a distance of just 5 million km. Mercury, in comparison, is about 60 million km from the Sun.
The short distance between this super-Earth & its red dwarf begs the question: how could it possibly be habitable?
#Japan is making grand plans of creating interplanetary #trains and champagne flute-like glass habitats in its bid to send and host humans on the #Moon and #Mars!
An interplanetary transportation system dubbed the 'Hexatrack', which maintains a gravity of 1G during long-distance travel to mitigate the effects of prolonged exposure to low gravity, has been proposed by #Japanese researchers.
The #trains will also possess 'Hexacapsules', which are essentially hexagon-shaped capsules with a moving device in the middle.
In 2012, the almost-complete skeleton of a new kind of #dinosaur was found in the northern Patagonia region of #Argentina.
The dinosaur has been christened #Meraxes gigas. The generic epithet is an ode to a dragon in the #GameOfThrones series.
Standing at the height of 11 m (36 ft) and weighing roughly 4000 kgs, the #dinosaur sported several crests, bumps and horns on its skull, which lent it a menacing appearance.
But the highlight of the findings is that the dinosaur had teeny-tiny arms, just like the #Trex!
Dr Jose, along with an international research team from the US, UK and Australia, will be examining the Galactic Centre Cloud (GCC) — the central molecular zone of our Milky Way — in April 2023.
They have been allotted 27.3 hours over the access period of 12 months.