By Tom Leslie and Mason Wakley For the past year the Oxford vaccine has been making headlines as one of our most important tools in the fight against COVID-19. This has been especially true in the last few months, over which the vaccine has been authorised for clinical use in the UK, India, and recently…
At the time of writing, a search for Covid-19 in the medical publications database PubMed returns over 16,000 papers. There has been an exponential increase in scientific study of the novel coronavirus, and its associated disease Covid-19, since the start of the outbreak. And with it, a surge in appearance of scientists on our television…
Pandemics have shaken civilizations throughout history. Although these bouts of infections have had devastating effects on society, our survival has also allowed humanity to evolve and reshape its socio-economic and technological focuses. Medical research has most often managed to overcome the pandemics through significant progress. It might seem incredible but substantial medical achievements have been…
I am very aware that we all can’t move for news stories about the coronavirus at the moment. But in a time where things seem a bit bleak, I’d like to take a moment to appreciate all science has done and is doing to fight this pandemic. So here’s my 2p. First, a quick recap….
Tuberculosis is currently the most deadly infectious disease worldwide, killing an estimated 1.7 million people in 2016. The only licensed vaccine currently available is BCG, which is only 70% effective. While most vaccines work by inducing antibodies, mycobacterium tuberculosis (or Mtb for short) hides inside cells, preventing antibodies from reaching it. T cells, which help…
