News

Gladstone in the News May 29, 2022

Fever, Body Aches, Loss of Smell: New COVID Study Charts Evolution of Symptoms

San Francisco Chronicle—A study in the Mission District of San Francisco tracked how COVID-19 symptoms have changed over the course of the pandemic. Gladstone virologist Nadia Roan explains that the Omicron variant infects the upper respiratory tract and triggers a localized immune response, which may in part explain why individuals infected during the Omicron wave were less likely to experience severe illness.

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Gladstone in the News May 28, 2022

Covid Was Vanishing Last Memorial Day. Cases Are Five Times Higher Now.

Washington Post—Even as COVID restrictions are easing, case numbers are rising around the country. Melanie Ott, director of the Gladstone Institute of Virology, explains that recent research from her group shows that individuals infected with the Omicron variant have limited natural immunity, and may still be susceptible to infection with Omicron subvariants.

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Gladstone in the News May 20, 2022

Scientists Explain Why Getting Infected With Omicron Doesn’t Protect You From Other COVID Variants

ABC News—Gladstone virologists investigated the effect of the Omicron variant on the immune response. Melanie Ott describes her team’s discovery that previous infection with Omicron does not result in strong immunity to other known SARS-CoV-2 variants. However, as Nadia Roan explains, individuals who were vaccinated before becoming infected with Omicron did have a broadly protective immune response, emphasizing the importance of the vaccines in saving lives.

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Gladstone in the News May 18, 2022

UCSF Awarded $67.5 Million to Develop New Antiviral Therapies

UCSF News—Nevan Krogan, PhD, a senior investigator at Gladstone and the director of the Quantitative Biosciences Institute at UC San Francisco, leads a vast, international collaborative effort to find drugs against COVID-19 called the QBI Coronavirus Research Group (QCRG). The group recently received $67.5 million from the National Institutes of Health, the largest such award in UCSF's history, to pursue work on coronaviruses and other viruses with pandemic potential.

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Gladstone in the News May 18, 2022

It’s Happening Again: COVID-19 Cases Are Back on the Rise. There Are 3 Main Reasons Why.

USA Today—When the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 swept the country this winter, many had hoped it might help move the population closer to herd immunity. However, Director of the Gladstone Institute of Virology Melanie Ott describes her team’s research that shows that previous infection with Omicron does not provide strong protection against infection with other variants.

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Gladstone in the News May 12, 2022

Bay Area Scientists Explain the Chances of COVID Reinfections as Omicron Subvariants Spread

ABC News—COVID-19 case numbers are rising in the San Francisco Bay Area, driven by sublineages of the Omicron variant. Gladstone virologist Warner Greene explains that the new subvariants are more infectious, and can evade the antibodies produced in response to vaccination and previous infection.

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Gladstone in the News May 12, 2022

What the Current Spike in Covid-19 Cases Could Say About the Coronavirus’ Future

STAT News—COVID-19 case numbers are rising once again across the United States. Melanie Ott, director of the Gladstone Institute of Virology, explains that the virus is adapting to a new immune landscape, with variants emerging that are able to cause infection even in individuals who were previously infected.

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Gladstone in the News April 20, 2022

“Let’s Knock on Wood” the Vaccine Will Protect against New COVID-19 Variants, Says Expert

KCBS News—Although Omicron and related new variants can infect vaccinated people, Senior Investigator Warner Greene says vaccines still protect us well against severe disease, and urges people to get at least one booster shot.

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Gladstone in the News April 6, 2022

Obesity May Alter Inflammation on a Molecular Level, Throwing Current Treatments into Question

Fierce Biotech—Alexander Marson, director of the Gladstone-UCSF Institute of Genomic Immunology, and his colleagues at UC San Francisco and the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, recently showed that obese mice with atopic dermatitis had an altered immune response that made them refractory to anti-inflammatory treatment. Fierce Biotech discusses the implications of this finding for the development of drugs against inflammation and asthma.

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Gladstone in the News March 30, 2022

Virologist Says 2nd COVID Booster Shot for Everyone Could Be Advised in the Fall

ABC News—The FDA recently announced that they would authorize a second COVID-19 vaccine booster shot for people 50 and older, and those 12 and older who are immunocompromised. Senior Investigator Warner Greene explains that the second booster can protect people who don’t have vigorous immune systems from infection, and predicts that it may be more broadly recommended for all adults in the months to come.

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Gladstone in the News March 30, 2022

Obesity Can Turn a Helpful Immunotherapy into a Harmful One, Mouse Study Shows

STAT News—Alexander Marson, director of the Gladstone-UCSF Institute of Genomic Immunology, describes new research from his group showing that the immune response in a mouse model of atopic dermatitis is altered by obesity. This difference rendered first-line therapies ineffective in mice, indicating that treatments for inflammatory disorders may need to be tailored to work in individual patients, depending on their metabolic state.

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Gladstone in the News March 30, 2022

Do You Need a 4th Dose of a COVID-19 Vaccine? There’s No One-Size-Fits-All Answer

CBC—The FDA recently authorized a fourth dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for all individuals over aged 50, and for those 12 and older with immunodeficiencies. Melanie Ott, director of the Gladstone Institute of Virology, explains that whereas a fourth shot may not be urgently necessary for individuals who are young and healthy, she does encourage those eligible to ensure that they get their third shot (first booster).

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Gladstone in the News March 16, 2022

Highly-Transmissible COVID Subvariant Increasing in CA, but Expert ‘Doubts’ Lockdowns Will Be Needed

ABC News—A sub-variant of Omicron known as BA.2 is causing a spike in COVID-19 cases in Europe, and is predicted to become the globally dominant variant in the coming weeks. However, Senior Investigator Warner Greene says that vaccinated and boosted individuals are still well protected against serious illness, and spread of this new variant is unlikely to lead to new lockdowns.

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Article March 14, 2022

9 Things to Know about COVID-19 Immunity

Immunity is not as straightforward as you may think

Gladstone Experts COVID-19

Gladstone in the News March 9, 2022

Three Ways to Strengthen a Collaborative Culture

The APQC Blog—Gladstone President Deepak Srivastava, MD, President Emeritus Robert Mahley, MD, PhD, Senior Investigators Melanie Ott, MD, PhD, and Katie Pollard, PhD, explain how they and others at Gladstone create a collaborative research culture and plan to balance safety with the chance encounters that fuel creativity.

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