James Hindley, Ph.D, explains how his company is developing a new T cell test during the COVID-19 pandemic. He also reveals why this test is a much-needed tool for those designing new vaccines and studying immune responses to the new corona virus.
Since the Covid-19 pandemic began, scientists across disciplines and geographical locations have collaborated in unprecedented ways.
The speed at which diagnostic tests went from conception to reality was astounding, as were the global efforts to test new and repurposed drugs to find treatments for those with the disease.
However, effective treatments are only tentatively emerging. Diagnostic testing capabilities have been slow to ramp up to the scales needed to keep the pandemic at bay.
Many questions remain about how the virus causes catastrophic deterioration in some but leaves many others relatively unscathed.
These are an undoubtedly important part of our memory immune response to viruses. However, another critical component of our immune response to viruses is the T cell. These also provide memory immune responses and may even be more sensitive than antibodies. The challenge with T cells is that, unlike antibodies, measuring them is not simple.
As such, there is a need for a simple T cell test, that could enable testing for virus-specific T cells to be done routinely.
Life expectancy data underscore the importance of state policies. “This gap in life expectancy between the U.S. and other countries emerged in the 1980s and has grown ever since. Since that time, gaps in life expectancy between U.S. states also expanded,” she adds.
The study that Prof. Montez helmed has found that people who live in “blue states” live longer than those in “red states,” due to differences in state policies.
In blue states, voters primarily opt for Democratic Party candidates, while red states are mainly home to Republican Party voters.
During the 1980s and after 2010, changes to state policies have had a negative impact on life expectancy in the U.S., the study authors report, and these changes have had the most profound effect on women.
The authors of the study looked at 18 topics of state policy, 10 of which strongly predict life expectancy.
Overall, liberal policies were associated with longer lives and conservative policies with shorter lives.
The difference was especially striking in terms of policy concerning tobacco use, immigration, civil rights, the environment, and labor issues — such as right-to-work laws and the minimum wage.
Minimum wage levels, earned income tax credits, abortion laws, and Medicaid availability particularly affect the life expectancy of women, the researchers found.
