UCLA researchers discovered that a lesser-known SARS-CoV-2 protein called nucleocapsid can amplify inflammatory signals in macrophages, immune cells that help detect viruses and coordinate the body’s early response.

A research team led by Professor Hitoshi Yamamoto of Rissho University analyzed five years of longitudinal panel survey data collected between 2020 and 2024 and examined how vaccine-related conspiracy beliefs were associated with media skepticism during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study's results appeared in Scientific Reports on August 8, 2026.

Low levels of the amino acid arginine are associated with a number of diseases, including colon cancer. Building on earlier work, researchers have discovered that an arginine-deficient diet stalls the production of the MHC-1 protein, which alerts the immune system to dangers such as a mutating cell or an invading virus. However, increasing arginine levels through diet boosts the number of MHC-I proteins, which suppresses colorectal tumors and enhances immunity to the flu and Covid.

Extreme fatigue, a racing pulse, shortness of breath, brain fog, aching joints—the symptoms of long COVID can vary widely, change unpredictably, and be difficult to even recognize as signs of the condition. Long COVID also remains difficult to treat, as no standard treatments yet exist. To develop better care for long COVID, scientists need to understand what drives it. But its complex landscape of symptoms arises from equally complex biological mechanisms that may differ considerably from patient to patient. At Gladstone Institutes, new tools and discoveries are rapidly filling in the blanks. Most recently, researchers in the lab of Nadia Roan, PhD, found evidence that people with long COVID have distinctive changes in immune cells specialized to protect against the virus that causes long COVID, alongside similar changes in cells that protect against two herpesviruses. The findings appear in Cell Reports Medicine.

Monitoring COVID-19 NAbs dynamics remains dissolved as the lack of analytical strategies deployable in most practice, as stably remaining protein activity seems particularly difficult. We engineer selenium nanoparticles for LFIA that preserves protein activity and enhances stability. NAbs levels decrease with age and over time after infection, and they drop sharply with neurological and hematological diseases according to 1,328 samples. Our work provides a reliable and universally platform for next-generation point-of-care immunity monitoring and vaccine evaluation.

An unexpected observation by a University of Queensland researcher could lead to a new treatment for deadly infectious diseases including COVID‑19, pneumonia in infants and children, or viral infections caused by Ebola and hantavirus. 

UQ neuroscientist and biochemist Dr Merja Joensuu, said the idea came while working on unrelated research. 

In a discovery that could redefine the future of cancer immunotherapy, scientists from Celloram Inc., University Hospitals and Case Western Reserve University have developed a novel cancer vaccine platform that transforms the impact of the largest immunological event in modern history – a synchronized mass immune memory generated through SARS-CoV-2 infection and vaccination – into a powerful ally against cancer.

Published today in Nature Communications, the study introduces PROTEXI, an innovative dendritic cell vaccine platform designed to harness pre-existing antiviral immune memory to amplify the body's natural ability to recognize and destroy tumors.