Genes decide the willow warbler’s migration routes

Peer-Reviewed Publication

LUND UNIVERSITY

Since antiquity, humans have been fascinated by birds’ intercontinental migratory journeys. A new study from Lund University in Sweden shows that two areas in their genome decide whether a willow warbler flies across the Iberian Peninsula to western Africa, or across the Balkans to eastern and southern Africa.

Researchers have long known that the behaviour that causes songbirds to migrate in a specific direction towards a remote winter location is something they are born with. The recent study aims to further understanding of the genetics behind this behaviour. With the help of modern technology, and 20 years of research into the genetics of songbirds and their migration routes, the researchers managed to identify which parts of the genome that determine the songbirds’ routes.

“The songbirds’ direction of travel is determined by two areas in the genome. Genes from the southern subspecies take the bird towards the southwest, across the Iberian peninsula to their wintering grounds in western Africa. Genes belonging to the northern subspecies instead lead the willow warblers towards the southeast, over the Balkans, to locations in eastern and southern Africa,” says Staffan Bensch, biology researcher at Lund University.

Researchers have previously assumed that interbreeding between subspecies that move in different directions would result in offspring that migrate in a direction in between these two. For willow warblers, this would mean a route straight over the Mediterranean and the Sahara, with probable higher mortality than if they flew west or east of that route. Instead, researchers discovered that crosses between northern and southern willow warblers usually migrate like one or other of the subspecies. The price of interbreeding, then, is lower than researchers previously believed.

“Many of us struggle to find our way back to the car after a short mushroom-picking walk in the forest. That makes it almost impossible to understand how a small bird weighing less than ten grams can fly from Sweden to a specific place in Africa with no prior experience,” says Staffan Bensch.

Researchers are surprised that such complex behaviour as variations in migratory patterns can to such a large extent be explained by just two genetic areas.

“Knowledge of the willow warbler’s behaviour also helps us to understand how different species’ spectacular migratory patterns have developed through evolution. Climate change means that many species are being forced to alter their routes when the habitats they are adapted to change. The more we know about the genetics of migration, the better understanding we will gain of the birds’ capacity to adapt their migration patterns in response to climate change,” concludes Staffan Bensch.

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JOURNAL

Nature Communications

DOI

10.1038/s41467-023-35788-7 

ARTICLE TITLE

Migration direction in a songbird explained by two loci

 Study offers new approach to conduct large-scale protection assessments of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs)

ProtectedSeas Navigator offers new approach for international marine protected area assessments

Peer-Reviewed Publication

MAR COMMUNICATIONS

 

IMAGE: LEVELS OF PROTECTION IN CALIFORNIA USING THE PROTECTEDSEAS NAVIGATOR LEVEL OF FISHING PROTECTION SCORING SYSTEM. view more 

CREDIT: PROTECTEDSEAS

A new study offers a science-based method to assess marine protected areas (MPAs) protection levels when information on regulated human activities is limited. The study, recently published in the journal Marine Policy, provides a new technique to inform progress towards international conservation goals, including protecting 30 percent of marine areas by 2030, which was adopted in Dec. 2022 at the UN Biodiversity Conference in Montreal, Canada, known as COP15.

Marine protected areas are an important tool to conserve marine biodiversity but oftentimes assessing the level of protection for MPAs can be difficult due to limited regulatory information on human activity. 

The analysis, based on real-world scenarios using MPAs and other managed areas in California, showed that the ProtectedSeas Navigator’s Level of Fishing Protection (LFP) score can help guide assumptions about whether specific fishing methods required for assessments are likely allowed or prohibited when those methods are not mentioned in management plans.

The LFP guidance reliably identified areas that scored highly or fully protected under a full analysis when combined with assuming unknown non-fishing  activities such as aquaculture and bottom exploitation, to be ‘prohibited’ while unknown activities such as boating, anchoring, and fishing activities to be ‘allowed.’ 

“This case study illustrates how Navigator is a valuable resource to estimate progress towards 30x30. These findings show that Navigator can accelerate MPA review and help guide assessment decisions even when information is incomplete,” said ProtectedSeas Director Virgil Zetterlind, a coauthor of the study.

In the first set of scenarios in this analysis, information available in direct management plans was applied to the Regulations Based Classification System (RBCS). Ninety-nine and 100 percent correct classification of fully and highly protected areas under the RBCS, were obtained when unknown activities such as aquaculture, bottom exploitation, and bottom extraction were assumed ‘prohibited’ while unknown and boating, anchoring, and fishing activities were assumed as ‘allowed.’

In the second set of scenarios, the researchers used only information available in the ProtectedSeas Navigator that matched those in the RBCS with no additional research. They found that the accuracy remained high, with 92 and 94 percent of fully and highly protected areas classified correctly when using assumptions for fishing activities assisted by the Navigator’s Level of Fishing Protection score.

The RBCS predicts MPA effectiveness based on the types of human activities allowed and their relative impacts on the marine environment. While comprehensive, these assessments are resource intensive as they require significant knowledge about a wide range of fishing methods and human activities that are often managed by different authorities. 

ProtectedSeas Navigator captures more than 50 individual attributes of protected areas including the allowed or prohibited status of eight different fishing gear and 10 other human activities.  Navigator’s LFP scoring system uses an easy-to-follow decision tree that does not require a complete set of fishing and activity restrictions to assess a 1 to 5 score. 

ProtectedSeas’ Navigator is the most comprehensive database of marine life protections and their boundaries available. Navigator provides a free, interactive map of regulatory information for MPAs and marine managed areas (MMAs) in over 22,000 marine areas for coastal and island countries and the high seas and the complete set of Navigator data is available in many formats and channels to support assessment, planning, and analysis.

“Using standardized, scientifically validated methods to assess global progress towards the UN 30x30 target is critical to ensuring effective conservation and not just creating more paper parks” said Zetterlind. Navigator can help the marine conservation community understand where they need to go to create protections.” 

# # #

ProtectedSeas is the curator of a growing and open dataset of boundaries and regulations for marine protected areas (MPAs) and marine managed areas (MMAs) globally. Learn more at: https://protectedseas.net. Follow us on Facebook @ProtectedSeas

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JOURNAL

Marine Policy

DOI

10.1016/j.marpol.2022.105441 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Case study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Guidance on marine protected area protection level assignments when faced with unknown regulatory information

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

1-Feb-2023

Harmful bacteria can elude predators when in mixed colonies

Harnessing natural killers to treat infections may fail when bacterial species interact

Peer-Reviewed Publication

DARTMOUTH COLLEGE

 

IMAGE: COLONIES OF THE BACTERIUM V. CHOLERAE (PURPLE) INSULATE E. COLI (YELLOW) FROM ITS NATURAL PREDATOR. view more 

CREDIT: JAMES WINANS

Efforts to fight disease-causing bacteria by harnessing their natural predators could be undermined when multiple species occupy the same space, according to a study by Dartmouth College researchers.

When growing in mixed colonies, some harmful bacteria may be able to withstand attacks from the bacteria and viruses that target them by finding protection inside groups of rival species, according to a report published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

The researchers found that the intestinal bacterium Escherichia coli became surrounded by tightly packed colonies of Vibrio cholerae — which causes the deadly disease cholera — when the species were grown together. These clusters protected E. coli from the bacteria Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus that preys on both species individually, but in the study could only kill the outer layer of V. cholerae. This left the unscathed cells of E. coli and V. cholerae insulated within the colonies free to multiply.

The findings add a new layer of complication to the development of biological antimicrobials, wherein bacteria-killing bacteria or viruses — known as bacteriophages — are deployed to fight infections, said corresponding author Carey Nadell, an assistant professor of biological sciences at Dartmouth College. These organisms can be more effective than antibiotics at penetrating bacterial colonies, or biofilms, and have emerged as a possible supplement or alternative to antibiotics. Bacteria worldwide have become more resistant to antibiotics due to the drugs’ overuse.

Most research on predatory bacteria and phages, however, has focused on liquid cultures or single-species biofilms, Nadell said. The Dartmouth study shows that the interactions between multiple bacterial species — which are more common in real life — can be difficult to predict from studying species in isolation. , Nadell and coauthors Benjamin Wucher and James Winans, Ph.D. candidates in biological sciences at Dartmouth,In a related study published in the journal PLoS Biology in December found that E. coli also could avoid the bacteriophage T7 when embedded in groups of V. cholerae.

“There were certain elements of our experiments that are closer to real life — a lot of infections are caused by bacteria living with other bacteria in a biofilm. They’re like a forest — they’re little ecosystems,” Nadell said.

“For E. coli, if it grew with V. cholerae, it could do better than on its own, but V. cholerae did worse. It’s fascinating that growing together had opposite effects on each species’ chances of survival,” he said. “Our research shows that the way prey populations can resist or not resist predators can be very different in multispecies conditions. The efficacy of bacteriophages and predatory bacteria to kill off harmful bacteria might depend on the other species their prey are living with, and on the biofilm structures they produce alone versus together.”

In the PNAS study, the protection afforded E. coli depended on how close the two bacteria were when they began growing. When sparsely populated, V. cholerae had ample room to form into tightly packed colonies that would encase E. coli, which does not grow as densely.

But when both species started out close together, E. coli prevented V. cholerae from producing its normal group structure. This disruption caused both species to become more vulnerable to death by B. bacteriovorus.

“When we put these species together, we observed biofilm properties we could not really predict from each alone that would have direct implications on the use of phages and predatory bacteria to kill them,” Nadell said. “Our work highlights the importance of studying other examples of multispecies biofilm structures. We feel confident that what we saw will apply to other cases, but it’s a question of when and to what extent.”

The paper, “Breakdown of Clonal Cooperative Architecture in Multispecies Biofilms and the Spatial Ecology of Predation,” was published online by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences DATE. The work was supported by the National Science Foundation (IOS 2017879 and MCB 1817352), the Simons Foundation (826672), the Human Frontier Science Program (RGY0077/2020), and a Gillman Fellowship and GAANN Fellowship from the Dartmouth College Department of Biological Sciences.

Unprotected E. coli (yellow) are killed by predatory bacteria (blue) as others are safely surround by dense colonies of V. cholerae (red).

CREDIT

Benjamin Wucher

JOURNAL

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

DOI

10.1073/pnas.2212650120 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Cells

ARTICLE TITLE

Breakdown of clonal cooperative architecture in multispecies biofilms and the spatial ecology of predation

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

2-Feb-2023

Illinois Tech assistant professor publishes paper in Science on novel chemistry behind ultra-high power density batteries

Mohammad Asadi’s insights will let him further optimize battery design, with the potential to transform electrifying transportation

Peer-Reviewed Publication

ILLINOIS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

 

IMAGE: ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING MOHAMMAD ASADI view more 

CREDIT: ILLINOIS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

CHICAGO—February 2, 2023—Mohammad Asadi, assistant professor of chemical engineering at Illinois Institute of Technology, has published a paper in the journal Science describing the chemistry behind his novel lithium-air battery design. The insights will allow him to further optimize the battery design, with the potential for reaching ultra-high power densities far beyond current lithium-ion technology. 

The battery design has the potential to store one kilowatt-hour per kilogram or higher—four times greater than lithium-ion battery technology, which would be transformative for electrifying transportation, especially heavy-duty vehicles such as airplanes, trains, and submarines.

Asadi aimed to make a battery with a solid electrolyte, which provides safety and energy benefits compared to liquid electrolyte batteries, and sought an option that would be compatible with the cathode and anode technologies that he has been developing for use in lithium-air batteries. He chose a mix of polymer and ceramic, which are the two most common solid electrolytes but both of which have downsides. By combining them,  Asadi found that he could take advantage of ceramic’s high ionic conductivity and the high stability and high interfacial connection of the polymer.

The result allows for the critical reversible reaction that enables the battery to function—lithium-dioxide formation and decomposition—to occur at high rates at room temperature, the first demonstration of this in a lithium-air battery.

As described in the Science paper, Asadi has conducted a range of experiments that demonstrate the science behind how this reaction occurs.

“We found that that solid-state electrolyte contributes around 75 percent of the total energy density. That tells us there is a lot of room for improvement because we believe we can minimize that thickness without compromising performance, and that would allow us to achieve a very, very high energy density,” says Asadi. 

These experiments were conducted in collaboration with University of Illinois Chicago and Argonne National Laboratory. Asadi says he plans to work with industry partners as he now moves toward optimizing the battery design and engineering it for manufacturing.  

“The technology is a breakthrough, and it has opened up a big window of possibility for taking these technologies to the market,” says Asadi. 

Disclaimer: “Research reported in this publication was supported by the United States Department of Energy under Award Number DE-AC02-06CH11357. This content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the U.S. Department of Energy.”

Image: Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering Mohammad Asadi

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JOURNAL

Science

DOI

10.1126/science.abq1347 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

A room temperature rechargeable Li2O-based lithium-air battery enabled by a solid electrolyte

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

2-Feb-2023

US neighborhood walkability influences physical activity, BMI levels

A new study led by Boston University School of Public Health found that people in highly walkable neighborhoods were more likely to engage in adequate physical activity

Peer-Reviewed Publication

BOSTON UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

For the first time, a study examined perceived neighborhood walkability, physical activity, and obesity indicators on a national level, finding that people who lived in walkable neighborhoods were more likely to be physically active and have lower BMIs—but this association differed among Black, Hispanic, and Asian populations.   

Three out of four adults do not meet the recommended levels of physical activity, which the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines as at least 150 minutes of moderate activity or 75 minutes of vigorous activity each week. As obesity and related chronic conditions such as cardiovascular disease, and diabetes continue to rise in the US, a new study led by a Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH) researcher is examining how neighborhood walkability may influence physical activity and obesity rates.

Published in the journal Obesity, the study examined perceived neighborhood walkability, physical activity, and obesity among adults in the US and found that people in highly walkable neighborhoods were more likely to engage in adequate physical activity, walk near their home, and have a lower body mass index (BMI)—an established indicator of obesity—compared to people in low-walkability neighborhoods. Previous studies have linked walkability with increased physical activity and lower obesity rates, but this study is the first to examine this relationship on a national level.

Notably, the findings revealed that the link between perceived walkability and physical activity differed by race and ethnicity. Black, Hispanic, and Asian residents were less likely to engage in physical activity or walk near their home, despite a greater proportion of residents of color living in high-walkability neighborhoods, compared to White residents.

These racial inequities in physical activity reflect persistent inequitable neighborhood conditions borne from systemic racism and policies that have created barriers for many communities of color to embrace health-protective behaviors, the researchers say.

“In cities and counties across the US, the legacy of racial residential segregation and policies like redlining resulted in poorer built physical activity environments, characterized by decreased walkability, street connectivity, and green space, and increased pollution that disproportionately impact communities of color,” says study lead author Dr. Monica Wang, associate professor of community health sciences at BUSPH. “We’re continuing to see the effects of structural racism on physical activity and obesity risk in the data today.”

For the study, Wang and colleagues utilized demographic and health-related data from a nationally representative survey that gathers information on illness, disability, chronic impairments, health insurance, healthcare access, and health services use in 2020, among US adults ages 18 and older.

They found that adults who live in walkable neighborhoods were 1.5 times more likely to engage in adequate levels of physical activity, and 0.76 times less likely to have obesity, compared to adults living in neighborhoods with low walkability.

However, the team found that the association between perceived walkability and BMI levels differed among certain racial/ethnic groups. Among White, Black, Hispanic, and Asian participants, BMI levels decreased as their perception of their neighborhood walkability increased. But among American Indian/Alaska Native and multiracial/other-race adults, BMI levels increased as perceptions of neighborhood walkability increased.

“While individuals may perceive their neighborhoods to be walkable, it may not be safe, desirable, or normative to walk in these communities,” Dr. Wang says. “This is particularly relevant for communities who have been displaced, whether historically by force or through gentrification. This suggests that a combination of approaches—such as improving pedestrian and public transit infrastructure, implementing policies that slow traffic, enhancing park quality, and community programming—are needed to promote walkability and well-being.”

The study's corresponding author is Marie-Rachelle Narcisse, assistant professor and senior data analyst at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. The senior author is Pearl McElfish, director of research at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences-Northwest.

**

About Boston University School of Public Health

Founded in 1976, Boston University School of Public Health is one of the top five ranked private schools of public health in the world. It offers master's- and doctoral-level education in public health. The faculty in six departments conduct policy-changing public health research around the world, with the mission of improving the health of populations—especially the disadvantaged, underserved, and vulnerable—locally and globally.

 

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JOURNAL

Obesity

DOI

10.1002/oby.23634 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Survey

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Higher walkability associated with increased physical activity and reduced obesity among United States adults

Researchers find a link between traffic noise and tinnitus

There is a correlation between traffic noise and risk of developing tinnitus, researchers from the University of Southern Denmark have found. They point to a vicious cycle involving stress reactions and sleep disturbance as a potential cause.

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN DENMARK FACULTY OF HEALTH SCIENCES

 If you live near a busy road, it may increase your stress levels and affect your sleep. When we are under stress and sleep poorly, we may be at a higher risk of developing tinnitus.

 In a new study with data from 3.5 million Danes, researchers from the Department of Clinical Research and the Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Institute at the University of Southern Denmark (SDU) have found that the more traffic noise Danish residents are exposed to in their homes, the more they are at risk of developing tinnitus.

Tinnitus is most clearly manifested by annoying whistling tones in the ears, which are disturbing for many.

Risk increases with noise levels

It is the first time that researchers have found a link between residential traffic noise exposure and hearing-related outcomes.

-In our data, we have found more than 40,000 cases of tinnitus and can see that for every ten decibels more noise in people’s home, the risk of developing tinnitus increases by six percent, says Manuella Lech Cantuaria, PhD., Assistant Professor at the Mærsk Mc-Kinney-Møller Institute and affiliated to the the Department of Clinical Research at SDU.

She and her colleague Jesper Hvass Schmidt, Associate Professor at the Department of Clinical Research   and Chief Physician at Odense University Hospital (OUH) are concerned about the many health problems that traffic noise seems to cause. In 2021, they found a correlation between traffic noise and dementia (read here: https://www.sdu.dk/en/nyheder/forskningsnyheder/trafikstoej-demens ).

-There is a need for more focus on the importance of traffic noise for health. It is alarming that noise seems to increase the risk of tinnitus, cardiovascular diseases and dementia, among other diseases, says Jesper Hvass Schmidt.

Tip of the iceberg

It is at hearing clinics, such as the one at OUH, where Jesper Hvass Schmidt works, that patients can get the diagnosis of tinnitus. But only the worst cases are referred from their own doctor or an otorhinolaryngologist . The high number of reported cases of tinnitus are probably only the tip of the iceberg, he believes.

-In general, about ten percent of the population experience tinnitus from time to time. It is associated with stress and poor sleep, which can be worsened by traffic noise, and here we have a potential cycle.

More studies are needed so that researchers can be sure that traffic noise causes tinnitus, and how this happens.

-But we know that traffic noise can make us stressed and affect our sleep. And that tinnitus can get worse when we live under stressful situations and we do not sleep well, Jesper Hvass Schmidt says.

Noise at night is worse

The researchers believe that noise at nighttime can be even worse for health

 - It affects our sleep, which is so important for restoring both our physical and mental health. Therefore, it is worth considering whether you can do something to improve your sleep if you live next to a busy road, Manuella Lech Cantuaria says.

What to do

In the study, higher associations were found when noise was measured at the quiet side of their houses, that is, the side facing away from the road. This is where most people would place their bedroom whenever possible, therefore researchers believe this is a better indicator of noise during sleep.

-There are different things one can do to reduce noise in their homes, for example by sleeping in a room that does not face the road or by installing soundproof windows.

But not everyone has those options.

-It is therefore necessary that traffic noise is considered a health risk that must be taken into account in urban planning and political decisions, says Manuella Lech Cantuaria.

 

Facts about traffic noise:

 The Danish guidance level for harmful traffic noise is 58 decibels. It is estimated that 1.4 million Danes are exposed to noise over 58 decibels in their homes. You can see the noise level for your place of residence here: dingeo.dk

It is a myth that replacing fuel cars by electric cars can significantly reduce traffic noise exposure at people’s houses. The noise comes mainly from the contact between the tires and the road.

In Germany, speed limits have been lowered in some places at night, in order to minimize the disturbance of sleep for residents near roads.

Another way to reduce traffic noise is by placing noise barriers along the road or changing the road surface to one that dampens the tire noise.

Facts on tinnitus:
Tinnitus is a subjective experience of sound that does not come from an external source. It can be described as a ringing, buzzing, humming or other form of sound in the ears or in the head. Tinnitus can be a symptom of an underlying disease or injury, but can also be idiopathic, which means the cause is not known. Very often tinnitus occurs in connection with hearing loss. Tinnitus can have a negative impact on quality of life as it can cause sleep problems, difficulty concentrating, and depression. There are several possibilities to reduce tinnitus symptoms, including psychological treatment and hearing aids.

 

Read the article in Environmental Health Perspectives here: https://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/EHP11248

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JOURNAL

Environmental Health Perspectives

DOI

10.1289/EHP11248 

ARTICLE TITLE

Transportation Noise and Risk of Tinnitus: A Nationwide Cohort Study from Denmark

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

1-Feb-2023

Probing researchers strike gold to stop the trots in pigs

New detection tool a saviour for swine industry

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA

Gold nanorod probes combined with an optical microscope can now be used to detect signs of a highly contagious and lethal virus that poses a major threat to the swine industry worldwide.

The state-of-the-art technology has been developed by Chinese and Australian biomedical scientists to diagnose porcine epidemic diarrhoea virus (PEDV), a disease that has wreaked economic havoc on piggeries in recent years.

Researchers from Yangzhou University and the University of South Australia say the gold nanoparticle probe, designed for use on site, could replace existing PEDV detection techniques that are costly, time consuming and undertaken in laboratories.

PEDV is a devastating disease, causing severe diarrhoea and/or vomiting, dehydration, and high death rates among suckling piglets. Outbreaks in the US in 2014 and in China in 2016-2017 cost local producers millions of dollars, exacerbated by the lack of an effective vaccine and slow diagnosis.

UniSA bioengineer Dr Chih-Tsung Yang, senior author of a recent paper describing the technology, says early diagnosis is critical to preventing future PEDV outbreaks.

“The current gold standard diagnostic test involves extracting samples from pigs and taking them to a lab, which is expensive and tedious, albeit accurate,” Dr Yang says.

“Our method uses a biofunctionalised chip and gold nanorod probe to capture and label PEDV pathogens. Under a dark field microscope, PEDV can be identified by counting software. It can be undertaken on site in rural areas at minimal cost, making it accessible, highly sensitive, and giving results within the hour.

“We envisage this technology will be invaluable for biosecurity systems, helping to limit the spread of the virus in Australia and other countries, ensuring the health of pigs and protecting the industry from economic losses. There are no effective vaccines for PEDV so early diagnosis is crucial.”

The research has been published in the latest issue of Biosensors.

Notes for editors

PEDV is a single-stranded RNA virus belonging to the Coronavirus family. The disease was discovered in 1971 in England and Belgium and has since caused severe economic losses in China, East Asia, and North America. Initial vaccines provided sufficient immunity but a new wave of PEDV swept across China in 2020, rendering existing vaccines ineffective.

Dr Chih-Tsung Yang is a bioengineer and Mid-Career Fellow funded by The Hospital Research Foundation Group and based at UniSA’s Future Industries Institute. His research interest includes bio-diagnostics and organ-on-chip.

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JOURNAL

Biosensors

DOI

10.3390/bios12121146 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Data/statistical analysis

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animal tissue samples

Experimental NIH Sudan virus vaccine protects macaques

New inoculation based on Ebola VSV vaccine concept

Peer-Reviewed Publication

NIH/NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASE

 

IMAGE: THIS IMAGE SHOWS EBOLA VIRUS ISOLATED IN NOVEMBER 2014 FROM PATIENT BLOOD SAMPLES OBTAINED IN MALI. THE VIRUS WAS ISOLATED ON VERO CELLS. view more 

CREDIT: NIAID

WHAT:
A National Institutes of Health research group with extensive experience studying ebolavirus countermeasures has successfully developed a vaccine against Sudan virus (SUDV) based on the licensed Ebola virus (EBOV) vaccine. SUDV, identified in 1976, is one of the four viruses known to cause human Ebolavirus disease. The new vaccine, VSV-SUDV, completely protected cynomolgus macaques against a lethal SUDV challenge. The findings were published in the journal The Lancet Microbe.

SUDV is distinct from and less common than EBOV, but similarly deadly. A recent four-month SUDV outbreak in Uganda that ended on Jan. 11, 2023, caused 142 confirmed cases and 55 deaths. No treatment or vaccine for SUDV disease is licensed, although candidates are in clinical and preclinical trials. One of these candidates is VSV-SUDV, developed and tested by scientists at NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in Hamilton, Montana.

The live attenuated vector vaccine uses genetically engineered vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV), an animal virus that primarily affects cattle, to express a SUDV protein as a single-dose vaccine. The researchers developed VSV-SUDV using techniques that led to Ervebo, the VSV-EBOV vaccine that the European Medicines Agency and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved in 2019 as the first vaccine for the prevention of Ebola virus disease. In the current studies, the investigators replaced the key EBOV protein in Ervebo with the comparable protein from SUDV.

Next, the researchers tested the safety and efficacy of VSV-SUDV in macaques. The study involved 11 animals, each of which had previously received the EBOV vaccine and then rested for nine months. Six macaques were vaccinated with VSV-SUDV and five control animals were vaccinated with VSV-MARV, a vaccine candidate in development for Marburg virus. After 28 days, during which no animals showed adverse effects from the vaccines, they were challenged with a lethal dose of SUDV. None of the animals vaccinated with VSV-SUDV showed any signs of disease, but four of the five control animals developed clinical signs of Sudan virus disease. The surviving control animal, which responded similarly to the vaccinated animals, surprised the scientists, and they plan additional studies of possible cross-protective immune responses.

The fact that four control animals got sick demonstrates that pre-existing immunity to EBOV and VSV-EBOV has limited effect on protection from SUDV. The investigators anticipate that giving people VSV-SUDV in a dosage similar to that of VSV-EBOV (Ervebo) would provide rapid protective immunity to SUDV.

ARTICLE:
A Marzi et al. Species-specific immunogenicity and protective efficacy of a VSV-based Sudan virus vaccine: a challenge study in macaques. The Lancet Microbe DOI: 10.1016/S2666-5247(23)00001-0 (2023).

WHO:
Andrea Marzi, Ph.D., chief of the Immunobiology and Molecular Virology Unit in NIAID’s Laboratory of Virology, is available to discuss this study.

CONTACT:
To schedule interviews, please contact Ken Pekoc, (301) 402-1663, kpekoc@niaid.nih.gov.

NIAID conducts and supports research—at NIH, throughout the United States, and worldwide—to study the causes of infectious and immune-mediated diseases, and to develop better means of preventing, diagnosing and treating these illnesses. News releases, fact sheets and other NIAID-related materials are available on the NIAID website.  

About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit https://www.nih.gov/. 

NIH...Turning Discovery Into Health®

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JOURNAL

The Lancet Microbe

DOI

10.1016/S2666-5247(23)00001-0 

Scientists develop new device to detect brain tumors using urine

Peer-Reviewed Publication

NAGOYA UNIVERSITY

 

IMAGE: MICROSCOPIC IMAGE OF NANOWIRES view more 

CREDIT: DR TAKAO YASUI

Researchers at Nagoya University in Japan have used a new device to identify a key membrane protein in urine that indicates whether the patient has a brain tumor. Their protein could be used to detect brain cancer, avoiding the need for invasive tests, and increasing the likelihood of tumors being detected early enough for surgery. This research could also have potential implications for detecting other types of cancer. The research was published in ACS Nano. 

Although early detection of many types of cancer has contributed to the recent increases in cancer survival rates, the survival rate for brain tumors has remained almost unchanged for over 20 years. Partly this is due to their late detection. Physicians often discover brain tumors only after the onset of neurological symptoms, such as loss of movement or speech, by which time the tumor has reached a considerable size. Detecting the tumor when it is still small, and starting treatment as soon as possible. should help to save lives. 

One possible sign that a person has a brain tumor is the presence of tumor-related extracellular vesicles (EVs) in their urine. EVs are nano-sized vesicles involved in a variety of functions, including cell-to-cell communication. Because those found in brain cancer patients have specific types of RNA and membrane proteins, they could be used to detect the presence of cancer and its progression.  

Although they are excreted far from the brain, many EVs from cancer cells exist stably and are excreted in the urine without breaking down.  Urine testing has many advantages, explains Associate Professor Takao Yasui of Nagoya University Graduate School of Engineering. “Liquid biopsy can be performed using many body fluids, but blood tests are invasive,” he said. “Urine tests are an effective, simple, and non-invasive method because the urine contains many informative biomolecules that can be traced back to identify the disease.” 

A research group led by Yasui and Professor Yoshinobu Baba of Nagoya University’s Graduate School of Engineering, in collaboration with Nagoya University’s Institute of Innovation for Future Society and the University of Tokyo, has developed a new analysis platform for brain tumor EVs using nanowires at the bottom of a well plate. Using this device, they identified two specific types of EV membrane proteins, known as CD31/CD63, from urine samples of brain tumor patients. Looking for these tell-tale proteins could enable doctors to identify tumor patients before they develop symptoms.  

“Currently, EV isolation and detection methods require more than two instruments and an assay to isolate and then detect EVs,” said Yasui. “The all-in-one nanowire assay can isolate and detect EVs using one simple procedure. In the future, users can run samples through our assay and change the detection part, by selectively modifying it to detect specific membrane proteins or miRNAs inside EVs to detect other types of cancer. Using this platform, we expect to advance the analysis of the expression levels of specific membrane proteins in patients’ urinary EVs, which will enable the early detection of different types of cancer.” 

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JOURNAL

ACS Nano

DOI

10.1021/acsnano.2c08526 

ARTICLE TITLE

All-in-one nanowire assay system for capture and analysis of extracellular vesicles from an ex vivo brain tumor model