Public health experts enlist the molecular biology tools that create genetically modified organisms – as well as the GMOs themselves – in the fight against emerging infectious diseases.
A few cancers vanish without any medical treatment. Researchers are studying these ‘spontaneous regressions’ to see if they can lead to new cancer treatments.
Every year hundreds of thousands of children die from vaccine-preventable diseases. Africa leaders could change this if they improved vaccination efforts.
Nobel Laureate Barry Marshal discovered that bacteria called Helicobacter pylori caused peptic ulcers. He is using the same bacteria to create probiotics and edible vaccines.
Bats can carry some of the deadliest diseases known to affect humans and yet they don’t seem to get sick. So what can we learn from a bat’s immune system?
Lynn Morris, University of the Witwatersrand; Nono Mkhize, National Institute for Communicable Diseases; Penny Moore, University of the Witwatersrand et Zanele Ditse, National Institute for Communicable Diseases
Two major clinical trials will be conducted in South Africa in 2016 to test ways of preventing new HIV infections.
Researchers are piloting a smartphone app to collect better information about who is getting vaccinated and to design better incentives for health workers on vaccination drives.
Recent polio outbreaks in Ukraine and Mali, caused by a vaccine-derived form of poliovirus, don’t mean the vaccine isn’t working. On the contrary, they are a reminder to keep up vaccination rates.
Dean Faculty of Health Sciences and Professor of Vaccinology at University of the Witwatersrand; and Director of the SAMRC Vaccines and Infectious Diseases Analytics Research Unit, University of the Witwatersrand