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Tracking HIV

May 20, 2008

Research out of the University of Alabama at Birmingham put a mathematical model of random viral evolution and phylogenetic tree construction to test to analyze how the HIV-1 envelope glycoprotein affects viral transmission. The work was published in PNAS this week and hopes to aid in developing more effective HIV vaccines. Looking at over 3,400 env sequences from 102 subjects with acute HIV-1 (clade B) infection, they found that 78 subjects had been infected by a single virus, while 24 by a minimum of two to five viruses.

Breaking News
The Scan

Booster for At-Risk

The New York Times reports that the US Food and Drug Administration has authorized a third dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech SARS-CoV-2 vaccine for people over 65 or at increased risk.

Preprints OK to Mention Again

Nature News reports the Australian Research Council has changed its new policy and now allows preprints to be cited in grant applications.

Hundreds of Millions More to Share

The US plans to purchase and donate 500 million additional SARS-CoV-2 vaccine doses, according to the Washington Post.

Nature Papers Examine Molecular Program Differences Influencing Neural Cells, Population History of Polynesia

In Nature this week: changes in molecular program during embryonic development leads to different neural cell types, and more.