Related Research Articles
The human microbiome is the aggregate of all microbiota that reside on or within human tissues and biofluids along with the corresponding anatomical sites in which they reside, including the gastrointestinal tract, skin, mammary glands, seminal fluid, uterus, ovarian follicles, lung, saliva, oral mucosa, conjunctiva, and the biliary tract. Types of human microbiota include bacteria, archaea, fungi, protists, and viruses. Though micro-animals can also live on the human body, they are typically excluded from this definition. In the context of genomics, the term human microbiome is sometimes used to refer to the collective genomes of resident microorganisms; however, the term human metagenome has the same meaning.
Marco A. Marra is a Distinguished Scientist and Director of Canada's Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre at the BC Cancer Research Centre and Professor of Medical Genetics at the University of British Columbia (UBC). He also serves as UBC Canada Research Chair in Genome Science for the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and is an inductee in the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame. Marra has been instrumental in bringing genome science to Canada by demonstrating the pivotal role that genomics can play in human health and disease research.
In immunology, seroconversion is the development of specific antibodies in the blood serum as a result of infection or immunization, including vaccination. During infection or immunization, antigens enter the blood, and the immune system begins to produce antibodies in response. Before seroconversion, the antigen itself may or may not be detectable, but the antibody is absent. During seroconversion, the antibody is present but not yet detectable. After seroconversion, the antibody is detectable by standard techniques and remains detectable unless the individual seroreverts, in a phenomenon called seroreversion, or loss of antibody detectability, which can occur due to weakening of the immune system or decreasing antibody concentrations over time. Seroconversion refers the production of specific antibodies against specific antigens, meaning that a single infection could cause multiple waves of seroconversion against different antigens. Similarly, a single antigen could cause multiple waves of seroconversion with different classes of antibodies. For example, most antigens prompt seroconversion for the IgM class of antibodies first, and subsequently the IgG class.
Serology is the scientific study of serum and other body fluids. In practice, the term usually refers to the diagnostic identification of antibodies in the serum. Such antibodies are typically formed in response to an infection, against other foreign proteins, or to one's own proteins. In either case, the procedure is simple.
Professor John Grange died 10 October 2016 was an English immunologist, epidemiologist, researcher, and academic, and was one of Europe's leading tuberculosis specialists.
The Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies was founded in 1991 and is the senior research institute at the University of British Columbia. It supports basic research through collaborative, interdisciplinary initiatives. The institute brings together UBC scholars with researchers from around the world "to work together on innovative research, develop new thinking that is beyond disciplinary boundaries, and engage in intellectual risk-taking." The institute has a varied program of scholars in residence, visiting scholars, distinguished professorship, multiple speaker series, and major special events.
Walter Ian Lipkin is the John Snow Professor of Epidemiology at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University and a professor of Neurology and Pathology at the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University. He is also director of the Center for Infection and Immunity, an academic laboratory for microbe hunting in acute and chronic diseases. Lipkin is internationally recognized for his work with West Nile virus, SARS and COVID-19.
Mel Krajden is a Canadian physician who is a professor of pathology and ;aboratory medicine at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, British Columbia. He is the medical director of the BCCDC Public Health Laboratory. Krajden obtained his BSc, MD, and FRCPC at McGill University, followed by a fellowship in Infectious Diseases at Stanford University. He is also the medical director of the Public Health Laboratory at the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control. His research focuses on the prevention and care of hepatitis, human papillomavirus, and human immunodeficiency virus.
Clostridioides difficile is a bacterium known for causing serious diarrheal infections, and may also cause colon cancer. It is known also as C. difficile, or C. diff, and is a Gram-positive species of spore-forming bacteria. Clostridioides spp. are anaerobic, motile bacteria, ubiquitous in nature and especially prevalent in soil. Its vegetative cells are rod-shaped, pleomorphic, and occur in pairs or short chains. Under the microscope, they appear as long, irregular cells with a bulge at their terminal ends. Under Gram staining, C. difficile cells are Gram-positive and show optimum growth on blood agar at human body temperatures in the absence of oxygen. C. difficile is catalase- and superoxide dismutase-negative, and produces up to three types of toxins: enterotoxin A, cytotoxin B and Clostridioides difficile transferase. Under stress conditions, the bacteria produce spores that are able to tolerate extreme conditions that the active bacteria cannot tolerate.
B. Brett Finlay, is a Canadian microbiologist well known for his contributions to understanding how microbes cause disease in people and developing new tools for fighting infections, as well as the role the microbiota plays in human health and disease. Science.ca describes him as one of the world's foremost experts on the molecular understanding of the ways bacteria infect their hosts. He also led the SARS Accelerated Vaccine Initiative (SAVI) and developed vaccines to SARS and a bovine vaccine to E. coli O157:H7. His current research interests focus on pathogenic E. coli and Salmonella pathogenicity, and the role of the microbiota in infections, asthma, and malnutrition. He is currently the UBC Peter Wall Distinguished Professor and a Professor in the Michael Smith Laboratories, Microbiology and Immunology, and Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and Co-director and Senior Fellow for the CIFAR Humans and Microbes program. He is also co-author of the book Let Them Eat Dirt: Saving Your Child from an Oversanitized World and The Whole-Body Microbiome: How to Harness Microbes - Inside and Out - For Lifelong Health. Finlay is the author of over 500 publications in peer-reviewed journals and served as editor of several professional publications for many years.
Laura Wegener Parfrey is a Canadian bioscientist, focusing on microbial ecology. As of 2014, she is a Canada Research Chair in Protist Ecology at the University of British Columbia.
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. Most scientists believe the SARS-CoV-2 virus entered into human populations through natural zoonosis, similar to the SARS-CoV-1 and MERS-CoV outbreaks, and consistent with other pandemics in human history. Social and environmental factors including climate change, natural ecosystem destruction and wildlife trade increased the likelihood of such zoonotic spillover. The disease quickly spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic.
Natalie Anne Prystajecky a Canadian biologist and the Environmental Microbiology program at the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control Public Health Laboratory. She holds a Clinical Assistant Professor position at the University of British Columbia. During the COVID-19 pandemic Prystajecky was involved with the development COVID-19 testing capabilities.
This article contains statistics about the COVID-19 pandemic in India. COVID-19 cases, deaths, recoveries, and other statistics are shown in nationwide and regional maps and graphs.
Scott Halstead is an American physician-scientist, virologist and epidemiologist known for his work in the fields of tropical medicine and vaccine development. He is considered one of the world's foremost authorities on viruses transmitted by mosquitoes, including Dengue, Japanese encephalitis, chikungunya and Zika. He was one of the first researchers to identify the phenomenon known as antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE), where the antibodies generated from a first dengue infection can sometimes worsen the symptoms from a second infection.
Deborah McColl Money is a Canadian obstetric and gynaecological infectious disease specialist. As a professor at the University of British Columbia, she was the first non-US President of the Infectious Diseases Society for Obstetrics and Gynecology from 2010 until 2012.
Soberana 02 or Soberana 2, technical name FINLAY-FR-2, is a COVID-19 vaccine produced by the Finlay Institute, a Cuban epidemiological research institute. The vaccine is known as PastoCovac in Iran, where it has been developed in collaboration with the Pasteur Institute of Iran.
Agatha Jassem is a Canadian clinical microbiologist and the program head of the Virology Lab at the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control Public Health Laboratory, and a clinical associate professor in the Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Robert Conrad Brunham is a Canadian infectious disease specialist. He is the former Director of the UBC Centre for Disease Control and executive director and Scientific Director of the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control.
Lesley Hoyles is a Welsh microbiologist who is Professor of Microbiome and Systems Biology at Nottingham Trent University. She combines in vivo and in vitro microbiology and bioinformatics research to better understand how the gut microbiota influences health and disease.
References
- 1 2 "Inna Sekirov". bccdc.ca . Retrieved 2021-10-21.
- 1 2 3 "Inna Sekirov". Pathology. Retrieved 2021-10-21.
- ↑ Sekirov, Inna; Russell, Shannon L.; Antunes, L. Caetano M.; Finlay, B. Brett (2010). "Gut Microbiota in Health and Disease". Physiological Reviews. 90 (3): 859–904. doi:10.1152/physrev.00045.2009. ISSN 0031-9333.
- ↑ "Inna Sekirov – Health Research BC". healthresearchbc.ca. Retrieved 2024-09-16.
- ↑ "Prognostication of ACE II Receptor (PACEiiR) | COVID-19 Research". covid19.research.ubc.ca. Retrieved 2021-10-21.
- ↑ "Characterizing Antibody Response to Emerging COVID-19 Virus (CARE COVID-19) | COVID-19 Research". covid19.research.ubc.ca. Retrieved 2021-10-21.
- ↑ "Accelerating SARS-CoV-2 SEroprevalence SurveyS Through Dried Blood Spots (ASSESS-DBS) | COVID-19 Research". covid19.research.ubc.ca. Retrieved 2021-10-21.