UNC > duke
08.02.2026 01:47
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Very important to highlight that changes to the recommended childhood vaccine schedule are **NOT** the result of new research or findings.
Several vaccine preventable diseases are, in fact, increasing in the U.S.
The before (smoked prime rib)
Folks in New England: "nice and snugly Christmas Eve weathah!"
Me: "Hmm, looks like good BBQ weather!"
Why it matters? Bird flu/avian influenza represents one of the greatest threats of pandemic potential pathogens. Establishing highly effective vaccination programs and understanding correlates of protection **before** a large-scale human outbreak can limit disease burden. (4/4)
In the lower respiratory tract, neutralizing and non-neutralizing antibodies against H5 coordinated the protective network. IgA appeared to play a larger role in protection at the mucosa. Importantly, delivering the vaccine to the mucosa stimulated IgA and T cell responses on-site. (3/4)
What we found: vaccination intramuscularly or with an Adeno-based vaccine delivered to the mucosa protects against lethal bird flu challenge. This protection against the highly pathogenic and pandemic-potential pathogen was through antibodies forming compartmentalized protection networks. (2/4)
Happy to share our latest collaborative effort: "An intramuscular prime and mucosal boost vaccine regimen protects against lethal clade 2.3.4.4b H5N1 challenge in cynomolgus macaques". It is open-access, so anyone can access it anywhere on any device. (1/4)
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
That's fantastic! Congratulations!
Chicken wings smoking while writing some papers.
Not sure who needs to hear this, but you can’t have an effective “biothreat radar system” (pathogen early warning system aka biosurveillance) if you decimate the CDC (capacity for detection, data analysis/dissemination, and response).
Sincerely,
a biosurveillance nerd/epi
To those claiming that scientists are part of some conspiracy for group think and agreement on issues...
Have y'all ever tried writing a paper with a just a few co-authors?
Wait, where is this epic Stop-n-Shop?
This decision is objectively pro-disease.
The mRNA vaccine platform allows for rapid deployment and continuous updates. The development of the COVID-19 vaccines, several of which were mRNA-based, saved millions of lives and many more hospitalizations.
www.nbcnews.com/health/healt...
Our results show that a single dose vaccine against RSV can stimulate strongly activating antibody responses in those at enhanced risk of RSV-associated pneumonia. #RSV #vaccine #pneumonia
A booster dose at 1 year did not significantly bolster these antibody responses against RSV. This is in alignment with other studies showing that RSV vaccines can elicit durable antibody responses, but subsequent booster doses often yield low responses.
These antibody responses funneled to neutrophil phagocytosis signaling and were stronger for RSV-A. The overall antibody profile remained strongly linked 1 year after a single dose of the Ad + soluble F vaccine.
Our latest open access manuscript has been published! In this article, we find that a single-dose, combinatorial Adenovector + soluble RSV Fusion Glycoprotein vaccination approach yields a persistent, functional antibody response against RSV-A and RSV-B in adults > 60 years.
This publication was a collaborative effort between D. Barouch's lab at Beth-Israel Deaconess Medical Center/Harvard Medical School, Pfizer Pharmaceuticals, Bioqual Laboratories, and my lab. #vaccine #influenza #PublicHealth
We also find that correlates of flu protection work as networks & are shaped by the anatomical site. In the upper respiratory tract, NAb play a protective role against viral loads, but they do not act alone. They are part of a broader network linked to other antibody functions mostly via IgG & IgA
We find that changing the influenza vaccine platform and delivering the vaccine directly into the lower respiratory tract bolsters protection against viral loads in non-human primates. This virus replication control was in both upper and lower respiratory tracts.
Our latest collaborative effort has been published. It's open-access, so anyone can read it anytime on any device.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Check out our latest study, led by grad student Ryan McCool @rmccool.bsky.social, in collaboration with Vaccine Company. We were able to stabilize EBV gB in the prefusion conformation, determine its cryo-EM structure to 3.1 A, and assess its immunogenicity in mice. www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...
These auto-reactive antibodies were elevated in individuals who carried an allele linked to higher risk of multiple sclerosis (MS). The antibodies were potently complement fixing.
Our work adds to the growing body of evidence linking EBV to MS through immune dysregulation.
We show that young adults who had acute infectious mononucleosis developed antibodies against the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) protein EBNA-1 that were strongly cross-reactive with self proteins. This was through a peptide region on EBNA-1 that shares similarities with the human protein CRYAB.
Happy to share our latest publication "Acute infectious mononucleosis generates persistent, functional EBNA-1 antibodies with high cross-reactivity to alpha-crystalline beta" in @cp-cellreports.bsky.social. It's open-access!
www.cell.com/cell-reports...
Our department chair, Dr. Sarah Fortune, and her lab are at the forefront of life-saving research on tuberculosis. Read the latest article featuring #SarahFortune, along with links to her insightful recent interviews: hsph.harvard.edu/news/tubercu....
The McNamara Lab website is up! Many thanks to @harvard-iid.bsky.social!
We will continue prioritizing publishing in open-access journals, and links are on the website. Lots of work on ongoing!
Always love going to the finish line the weekend before the race.
#BostonStrong 💪
