Month: April 2020

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Necessity is the mother of invention……..

louiseissy

Plato is quoted as saying that necessity is the mother of invention. The current world pandemic has forced medical scientists into a desperate search for a vaccine against the coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2.

In the past vaccines have been one of 3 types:

  1. Dead vaccine – the pathogen is rendered non-infectious but is still able to elicit an immune response thereby conferring immunity.

  2. Attenuated vaccine – the pathogen is changed to make it unable to induce symptomatic disease but is still able in infect the host. The immune system mounts a response conferring immunity against the original pathogen as well as the altered pathogen.

  3. Sub-unit vaccine – part of the pathogen (e.g. an external protein or ‘spike’) often with an adjuvant (a substance that stimulates the immune system) which elicits an immune response thereby conferring immunity.

Today I watched a documentary on the search for a vaccine for SARS-CoV-2 that is similar to type 3 but differs in one crucial aspect. Back in January Chinese scientists sequenced the genome of SARS-CoV-2 and scientists in the UK have identified the sequence that encodes the protein spike of the virus. They are now using bacteria to create multiple copies of the genetic code (RNA in this case) for this spike. It is hoped that when injected into muscle tissue the muscle cells will take up this genetic material and begin making copies of the virus spike; in effect creating their own subunit vaccine. The scientists are currently doing trials on macaque monkeys and if successful, human trials will follow. If this methodology works and a vaccine is developed it will fundamentally change vaccine research in the future especially against viruses. This technique may not have ever been considered if it was not for the current pandemic hence the quote from Plato.

As for me I’m coping quite well at the moment. It’s been nice having my husband and daughter for company the last few days due to the bank holiday. I have lined up a couple of craft projects to keep me occupied in the coming weeks.

EDIT: I need to add a correction. The team at Oxford are not solely using the RNA sequence for the spike protein as a vaccine. They are cloning it on to a cold virus which is then injected. The principle is the same with the hosts own cells making the spike protein to elicit the desired immune response to confer immunity to SARS-CoV-2.

Depression

Isolation Day #13……..

louiseissy

Like most of the worlds population we have been in lockdown and social distancing for almost 2 weeks and it has taken me this long to adjust emotionally. Like most autistic people I don’t like change and find it difficult. It’s quite weird because my day to day life isn’t that different as I’m not one for going out a lot. What has changed is my weekly routine. I’m used to my Mum coming over for dinner 3 times a week and going to Slimming World on Fridays. I’m used to being able to pop to the local supermarket and getting anything I need whenever I want. I didn’t stockpile anything when the panic buying began and became very anxious when I couldn’t get any pasta (why?).

I am not anxious about the current world situation because thanks to my education in molecular and cellular biology I understand everything that is going on. I’m not a fan of our current government but I cannot fault their response (ok maybe the schools should have closed a week earlier) to this pandemic. They have listened to the scientific experts and responded accordingly. Until a vaccine is available the world is going to face several waves of this pandemic and will have to have periods of lockdown to curtail the spread of the virus. At the moment we do not know if the coronavirus mutates enough to enable the reinfection of a previously immune host. If the virus does mutate in this way any vaccine created will be rendered ineffective and the worlds scientists will be forever playing catch up.

The changes in routine have led to a resurgence in my depression which has a knock on effect in the other areas of my life. I managed to stick to my eating plan until day 8 and then had 4 days of terrible eating. I have since given myself a talking to and devised a way to cope. Each day I am giving myself a list of tasks to do and I’m making sure I go out for a short walk. It’s only when I’ve done these two things that I allow myself to relax and do my hobbies. Without this structure I was watching YouTube videos all day and not achieving anything at all.

As I find writing therapeutic I’m going to be blogging a bit more. These posts will be primarily for me just to record my thoughts so I won’t be linking to them from my other social media. I need to create a new routine to maintain normal brain function.