Infectious Diseases

The antibodies may have clinical benefit as antiviral drugs to treat potentially life-threatening infections in elderly and immunosuppressed patients.

The findings reported in the journal Immunity support the development of a monoclonal antibody for prevention and treatment of influenza B — and will help guide efforts to develop a universal influenza vaccine.

When found and treated early with antibiotics, syphilis is curable. Untreated syphilis can cause deafness, blindness and irreversible heart and brain damage.

The approach, which combines high-performance computing, simulation, machine learning and experimental validation, will help keep antibody drugs up to date in the future against highly variable viruses.

Vanderbilt's Scott Smith, MD, PhD, has been awarded a five-year, $3.5 million grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, to study the human immune response to tick bites and its role in preventing tick-borne illnesses.

Infectious diseases researcher H. Keipp Talbot, MD, MPH, has been appointed chair of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Using a technique developed at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, researchers identified antibodies that are excellent leads as potential therapies for human parainfluenza virus 3, a leading cause of acute and potentially fatal respiratory illness.