COVID-19 in Animals: What to Fear and What to Learn.

While COVID-19 Has been racing through much of the human population, the SARS-CoV-2 virus has also turned up in other mammals. This leads to many questions: Might these animals serve as reservoirs where new variants can emerge and then infect humans? Can animal surveillance identify novel variants before they appear in humans? How dangerous is COVID-19 to nonhuman animals?

Better Tech for Detecting COVID-19.

Earlier, Better Detection of SARS-CoV-2 infection and exposure is a necessary part of battling COVID-19, and many research groups are working on new methods to do it.

New Biomed-Tech Advances Poised to Change the Future.

Biomedical and health technology is progressing at breakneck speed. From specialty pharmacies to general discount shops, store shelves are packed with a vast assortment of wearable medical devices that measure glucose levels, heart rate, and other health metrics; and over-the-counter test kits are helping to check for a wide array of infections. At the same time, electronic health records and other data-sharing platforms have smoothed the mass shift from in-person to virtual office visits over the past two years, and new imaging technologies are allowing earlier disease detection so treatments can begin sooner when they are more effective.

Innovative Vaccines to Fight COVID-19, Other Viruses.

COVID-19 added urgency to the quest for the development of new vaccines, and academic researchers and biotechnology companies responded by capitalizing on already-in-the-pipeline advances and swiftly transitioning products from the lab to the clinic. Their efforts reaped rewards. According to a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services analysis, the COVID vaccines delivered in the USA from January to May 2021 resulted in 39,000 fewer deaths and 107,000 fewer hospitalizations, and prevented another 265,000 cases among Medicare recipients alone [1].

CRISPR Tech Behind Super-Sensitive, Smartphone COVID Test.

Reports on the CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) technology test. Advanced CRISPR technology is part of a new test that determines within minutes whether a person has been infected with even very low levels of the SARS-CoV-2 virus (the cause of COVID-19), and also quickly and directly measures the viral load, or how much replicating virus is in a person's body. The California research group behind the technology seeks to provide a do-it-yourself test that people can use to check themselves for infection before going out in public, so they know whether they should head to work or school, hop on a plane, or visit older relatives.

Researchers Seek Answers for Millions With Long COVID-19.

"I am now eight-and-a-half months into my journey with long COVID … My symptoms include diagnosed post-COVID tachycardia and acute fatigue. I also have chest tightness and breathlessness from time to time; anxiety; muscle aches and pains, especially in the evening; memory loss; and insomnia."-38-year-old female from the U.K.

New Vaccine-Manufacturing Methods Are Moving Away From the Egg.

With seasonal influenza, Ebola, shingles, pneumonia, human papillomavirus, and other pathogens-combined now with the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2)-the world's demand for vaccines is on a steep incline. New vaccine development is progressing rapidly, as seen with recent announcements of coronavirus options [1], [2], but what about their manufacture?

The Great Exhale: Using Breath Analysis to Detect Disease.

Your breath gives away a lot of information. Besides betraying that you've had garlic or onions for lunch, it also contains volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that provide quite telling biomarkers of disease. Building on the potential capability of VOCs to detect illness, the U.K. company Owlstone Medical is now developing a testing platform called Breath Biopsy [1] as a noninvasive diagnostic method and is collaborating with clinicians, researchers, and other biomedical companies around the world on its potential application for early detection of various cancers, respiratory illnesses, and immune diseases.

Versatile Graphene Underlies New COVID-Zapping Air Filter.

Researchers have developed new ways to use the extremely versatile material graphene, and a company is now building on that work to manufacture an air-filtration device that kills bacteria and viruses-including the virus responsible for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)-on contact.

One Shot Wonder: A Vaccine Against All Coronaviruses.

As the current pandemic continues to affect populations around the globe, the search for a viable vaccine for coronavirus-2019 (COVID-19) continues. However, rather than constantly scrambling to generate a vaccine after an outbreak happens, some researchers are working on what they see as a better approach: developing a broad-acting "pan-coronavirus" vaccine that provides protection from any coronavirus, present or future.

Developing Antibody Defenses

Long before the coronavirus-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic began, four research groups-two at universities and two at biotechnology companies-were preparing for it by tackling a seemingly outlandish challenge proffered by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) of the U.S. Department of Defense: find a stopgap defense against emerging pathogens, so people would have protection until a longer-term solution, notably a vaccine, became available. Under the challenge, called the Pandemic Prevention Platform (P3) program, the groups were to develop technology that would generate a treatment within 60 days of a virus being identified, and have that treatment begin to confer protection within three days of it being administered [1].

New, At-Home Antibody Test for Detecting, Tracking COVID-19.

An at-home test for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) could be released commercially as early as August, according to Scanwell Health of Los Angeles. A combination of a finger-prick blood sample and a smart-phone app, the test is designed to detect the presence of antibodies to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that causes COVID-19. The company hopes to receive Emergency Use Authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) by the end of summer, and make its first commercially available tests soon after.

COVID-19 Testing: What New Mexico Did Right.

Unlike many other states across America that struggled to get enough diagnostic tests for coronavirus 2019 disease (COVID-19) this past spring, New Mexico was able to not only meet the demand for testing symptomatic patients, but was able to begin expanding its screening to asymptomatic individuals. How did this largely rural and relatively low-income state-among the bottom five states in population density [1] and median income per capita [2] -stay on top of testing when larger and wealthier states fell behind? The answer lies in both centralization and diversification.

AI-Driven COVID-19 Tools to Interpret, Quantify Lung Images.

Qualitative interpretation is a good thing when it comes to reading lung images in the fight against coronavirus 2019 disease (COVID-19), but quantitative analysis makes radiology reporting much more comprehensive. To that end, several research groups have begun looking to artificial intelligence (AI) as a tool for reading and analyzing X-rays and computed tomography (CT) scans, and helping to diagnose and monitor COVID-19.

Quick Thinking Turns out Low-Cost Ventilators.

As the number of coronavirus 2019 disease (COVID-19) cases in the United States began mounting in the early weeks of March, health care workers raised the alarm about a looming shortage of ventilators to treat patients. On March 30, 2020, Ford Motor Company announced plans to produce 50,000 ventilators in 100 days [1], and General Motors followed suit on April 8, stating that it would deliver out 6,000 ventilators by the end of May and another 24,000 by August [2].