Virology
TWiV 52: Scott Hammer, MD on AIDS vaccines
By Vincent Racaniello
Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Scott Hammer, MD On episode #52 of the podcast "This Week in Virology", Vincent and Dr. Scott Hammer talk about different types of AIDS vaccines and how they are tested in clinical trials. [powerpress url="http://traffic.libsyn.com/twiv/TWiV052.mp3"] Click the arrow above to play, or right-click to download TWiV ...
Seasonal influenza vaccine
By Vincent Racaniello
Here at Columbia University Medical Center, all employees and students may receive, at no charge, influenza vaccine every year. I just went to the lobby of the Milstein Hospital, showed my ID, and received the seasonal influenza vaccine. Here is the proof: As I've written before, vaccine records provide interesting ...
C1q and the collectins
By Vincent Racaniello
The classical complement pathway begins when the initiator protein C1q binds directly to the surface of a pathogen, or to an antibody that is bound to a microbe. There is a binding site for C1q on the Fc portion of antibody molecules. C1q can also recognize molecular patterns characteristic of pathogens, much like ...
Viruses and journalism
By Vincent Racaniello
During the more than 30 years that I have studied viruses, I have had many opportunities to speak with journalists of different kinds. For the most part, the print journalists have done a good job at accurately presenting the science, but I cannot say the same for my experience on ...
The complement system
By Vincent Racaniello
The complement system is a collection of blood and cell surface proteins that is a major primary defense and a clearance component of innate and adaptive immune responses. At least 30 different complement proteins act sequentially to produce a wide ranges of activities, from cell lysis to augmentation of the ...