In an effort to continue keeping the public informed about COVID-19, the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology has launched a series of educational videos to help separate fact from myth about the virus.
The series, called Shareable Science Beyond the Blog, builds on Dr. Lamb’s Shareable Science blog, which addresses the latest life science headlines, providing a clear understanding of how these discoveries and advances will affect your everyday life and health.
The latest video in the series includes:
- Treatment and vaccines: What if a 100 year old vaccine for Tuberculosis could provide protection against COVID-19?
- Could the vaccine lead us to a COVID-19 vaccine?
The BCG vaccine against tuberculosis is a weakened but live bacteria and more than 4 billion people have been given this vaccine over the last 100 years, and has a small number of side effects. This is not currently used in the United States or Europe, but data suggests that infants given the BCG vaccine have a lower infant mortality from other types of respiratory infections: which extends to influenza and yellow fever.
While COVID-19 is a viral infection, it is thought that the BCG vaccine may help the trained immunity of macrophages be more alert for a COVID-19 infection.
Hear more about the science here.
The HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology is a nonprofit institute in Huntsville, AL dedicated to developing and applying scientific advances to health, agriculture, learning, and commercialization. The state-of-the-art facilities co-locate nonprofit scientific researchers with entrepreneurs and educators. HudsonAlpha has become a leader in genetics and genomics research and biotech education and fosters more than 40 diverse biotech companies on campus. To learn more, visit hudsonalpha.org.
