Infectious Diseases

The Conversation

Beyond COVID vaccines: What else could mRNA technology do for our health?

Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman of the Perelman School of Medicine are lauded for receiving the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discoveries in mRNA biology.

Good Housekeeping

Seven potential side effects from the updated COVID vaccine to anticipate

Judith O’Donnell of the Perelman School of Medicine explains why people who don’t have side effects from the COVID-19 vaccine can still rely on its effectiveness.

Stat

How headlines about the RSV antibody injection could cloud parents’ decision-making

In a co-written Op-Ed, Kathleen Hall Jamieson of the Annenberg Public Policy Center says that attention-grabbing headlines could conflate the new RSV antibody injection with anti-vaccine sentiment.

Associated Press

Karikó and Weissman win Nobel Prize in medicine for work that enabled mRNA vaccines against COVID-19

Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman of the Perelman School of Medicine have been awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for identifying a chemical tweak to messenger RNA that laid the foundation for COVID-19 vaccines.

Philadelphia Inquirer

Lyme disease vaccines are back, one in trials from Pfizer and another in early tests at Penn. But will people get them?

A Lyme disease vaccine is being tested at Penn using the same messenger RNA technology that worked against COVID-19 in the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.

The best way to prevent HIV is often out of reach for women and marginalized people

LDI fellows are working with local communities to increase PrEP use through improving the message about the drug, reducing stigma, and normalizing the conversation about HIV infection.

Philadelphia Inquirer

Penn biomedical scientists move into new uCity complex with 115,000 square feet of lab space

More than 50 Penn scientists and staff, including the Perelman School of Medicine’s Drew Weissman, are moving into 115,000 square feet of new lab space in the 13-story One uCity Square building.

Reuters

Who should get a COVID vaccine this year?

Paul Offit of the Perelman School of Medicine believes that the COVID boosters should be recommended annually only for high-risk groups.

Wired

COVID boosters can’t outpace new mutations. Here’s why they still work

Paul Offit of the Perelman School of Medicine explains why it doesn’t matter which variant to target when it comes to vaccine-booster development.

Jerusalem Post

Grapevine: Prestigious prize

Katalin Kariko and Drew Weissman of the Perelman School of Medicine will be honored by Technion–Israel Institute of Technology in 2024 for their role in the development of the COVID-19 vaccines.

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