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Latest News Releases

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 8-Nov-2025 14:11 ET (8-Nov-2025 19:11 GMT/UTC)

Newly discovered host mechanism in coronaviruses

Ruhr-University Bochum
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A research team at Ruhr University Bochum, Germany, has identified a previously unknown cellular mechanism crucial to the replication of coronaviruses: c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) is activated during infection with human coronavirus HCoV-229E and mediates the phosphorylation of the viral nucleocapsid (N) protein, an integral step in the virus cycle. These results aid in better understanding virus-host interactions and may open new approaches to exploring antiviral strategies in the long term. The team led by Dr. Yannick Brüggemann and Professor Eike Steinmann reports its findings in the journal npj Viruses from September 18, 2025.

Journal: npj Viruses
Funder: The project originated in the LAC Young Scientist Imaging Assay Jumpstarter Contest. The team in Bochum was given access to state-of-the-art live-cell microscopy and was thus able to conduct the critical experiments.

COVID-19 vaccination lowers long COVID risk in adolescents

Columbia University Irving Medical Center
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Vaccination against COVID-19 helps reduce long COVID risk in adolescents after their first SARS-CoV-2 infection, a new study finds.

Journal: Vaccine
Funder: NIH/National Institutes of Health

COVID-19 vaccination linked to reduced infections in children with eczema

American College of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology
Reports and Proceedings

Children with atopic dermatitis (AD), commonly known as eczema, may experience fewer infections and allergic complications if they receive the COVID-19 vaccine, according to new research being presented at the 2025 American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI) Annual Scientific Meeting.

Journal: Annals of Allergy Asthma & Immunology
Meeting: 2025 ACAAI Annual Scientific Meeting

New study shows invasive Group A Streptococcus outcomes shaped by treatment strategies, not species lineage

Journal of Intensive Medicine
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A 15-year retrospective study in adults admitted to the intensive care department at Donostia University Hospital has revealed crucial insights into invasive Streptococcus pyogenes (iGAS) infections. While the prevalence of the toxic M1uk strain has grown in Western Europe since the COVID-19 pandemic, mortality rates due to M1uk were not significantly higher. Timely treatment with clindamycin significantly reduced mortality rates, underscoring its importance in containing iGAS.

Journal: Journal of Intensive Medicine

SPRTA: a smarter way to measure evolution uncertainty

European Molecular Biology Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Summary

Researchers at EMBL-EBI and collaborators have developed SPRTA, a new way to measure confidence in evolutionary family trees at a pandemic scale.

SPRTA allows scientists to quickly identify which parts of these trees are reliable, where uncertainty remains, and what could be alternative evolutionary histories.

By helping to track how pathogens spread and evolve, SPRTA could improve responses to future pandemics.

Journal: Nature

Not just a common cold: Singapore studies show RSV’s severity and impact on long-term health

SingHealth
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Often confused for a common cold, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) can in fact be serious and should be studied more closely. In studies led by Singapore General Hospital (SGH), researchers collaborating under the Programme for Research in Epidemic Preparedness And REsponse (PREPARE)[1] found that the illness could be of comparable severity to other more well-known respiratory viral infections (RVIs) – such as influenza and COVID-19

Journal: Clinical Microbiology and Infection

Research finds higher rare risk of heart complications in children after COVID-19 infection than after vaccination

Health Data Research UK
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new study shows children and young people faced long-lasting and higher risks of rare heart and inflammatory complications after COVID-19 infection, compared to before or without an infection. Meanwhile COVID-19 vaccination was only linked to a short-term higher risk of myocarditis and pericarditis.

Journal: The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health
Funder: Health Data Research UK

Study identifies that the sequence of previous diseases may help predict the risk of long COVID

Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute
Peer-Reviewed Publication

The study provides a new perspective: what matters is not only which previous diseases a person has, but also the order in which they appeared and how they interact. This approach makes it possible to identify risk profiles for long COVID that had not been detected until now. The research was conducted within the framework of the COVICAT study, coordinated in collaboration with ISGlobal.

Journal: BMC Medicine

COVID-19 during pregnancy linked to higher risk of neurodevelopmental disorders in children

Mass General Brigham
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Children born to mothers who had COVID-19 while pregnant face an elevated risk of developmental disorders by the time they turn 3 years old, including speech delays, autism, motor disorders, and other developmental delays, according to new research by investigators at Mass General Brigham. The findings are published in Obstetrics & Gynecology.

Journal: Obstetrics and Gynecology

Scripps Research scientists launch new digital clinical trial to test repurposed drug for long COVID symptom relief

Scripps Research Institute
Business Announcement

Scientists at the Scripps Research Translational Institute invite people with long COVID across the U.S. to join a remote clinical trial that is testing whether an existing FDA-approved therapy, tirzepatide, can provide relief from long COVID symptoms.

Schizophrenia, bipolar, or major depressive disorder and postacute sequelae of COVID-19

JAMA Network
Peer-Reviewed Publication

In this cohort study of patients infected with COVID-19, patients with serious mental illness (schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or recurrent major depressive disorder) compared with those without serious mental illness were at increased risk of postacute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 (PASC), underscoring the need for coordinated mental health and COVID-19 care strategies. PASC is defined as ongoing, relapsing, or new symptoms or other health effects occurring after the acute phase of SARS-CoV-2 infection (i.e., that present 4 weeks or more after the acute infection).

Journal: JAMA Network Open

In analysis of US emergency departments, pediatric access to high-readiness hospitals declined modestly

Carnegie Mellon University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

In a new study, researchers analyzed access to emergency departments (EDs) with high levels of pediatric readiness in the United States, examining not only changes in overall access but also how the changes varied by state and region. They found that pediatric access to high-readiness EDs declined modestly between 2013 and 2021, though some areas improved.

Journal: The Journal of Pediatrics
Funder: NIH/National Institutes of Health

COVID may increase risk of dangerous blood clots after panniculectomy

Wolters Kluwer Health
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Among patients undergoing panniculectomy to remove excess abdominal skin, those with previous COVID may be at higher risk of serious blood clot-related complications called venous thromboembolism (VTE), reports a study in the November issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery®, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS). The journal is published in the Lippincott portfolio by Wolters Kluwer.

Journal: Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery

Some acute and chronic viral infections may increase the risk of cardiovascular disease

American Heart Association
Peer-Reviewed Publication

In the weeks following a bout of influenza or COVID, the risk of heart attack or stroke may rise dramatically, and chronic infections such as HIV may increase the long-term risk of serious cardiovascular disease events, according to new, independent research published today in the Journal of the American Heart Association, an open access, peer-reviewed journal of the American Heart Association.

Journal: Journal of the American Heart Association

Algorithm-based strategy shows promise in reducing urban poverty

Rutgers University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, aid organizations worldwide struggled to identify vulnerable households quickly and fairly. Many people who needed help were left behind.

Woojin Jung, an assistant professor at the Rutgers School of Social Work, said she has found a better strategy. Her team has developed a method that blends sociodemographic data and household surveys with community perceptions and satellite imagery to predict urban poverty – and to put people at the center of aid targeting.

Journal: Sustainable Cities and Society

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