Grown Ups Are Back ... really good news.

[Botany]

https://gumc.georgetown.edu/news-release/shutting-down-covid-19-viruss-destructive-proteins-with-aerosolized-molecules/

Shutting Down COVID-19 Virus’s Destructive Proteins with Aerosolized Molecules - Georgetown University Medical Center

WASHINGTON (November 13, 2020) — Researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center have successfully used molecules comprised of small strands of RNA to shut down the production of destructive proteins generated by the COVID-19 virus. Additionally, the researchers are working to aerosolize the RNA molecules so that they could be incorporated in an inhalable drug that would mitigate viral chaos. The finding appears online today in Gene Therapy.

A key to the Georgetown research efforts was the use of either microRNA (miRNA) or silencing RNA (siRNA, also known as small interfering RNA), both of which are RNA molecules. These molecules can guide the ultimate expression of how protein production occurs in a virus. And it is the proteins produced by SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) that wreak havoc in people.

SARS-CoV-2 bears biological similarities to other respiratory viruses, such as the seasonal flu. The use of Tamiflu® (oseltamivir) to treat and prevent infection from the flu has proved to be helpful in lessening flu symptoms and its lethality in some people.

“We believe that our approach suppresses viral protein production and could be used against virtually any respiratory virus,” says G. Ian Gallicano, PhD, associate professor in the Department Biochemistry and Molecular and Cellular Biology at Georgetown University Medical Center. “Because of our results, Georgetown University has filed a patent application on on the siRNA sequences that were shown to have the best effect on viral protein suppression.”

*****

The leaders of Biden’s C-19 team

Dr Vivek Murthy...
Murthy completed his Internal Medicine residency at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts where he also led and managed medical care teams as a faculty .

Dr. David S Kessler...
Kessler studied medicine at Harvard University, graduating with an M.D. degree in 1979. While at Harvard, Kessler obtained a J.D. degree in 1977 from the University of Chicago Law School.[1] While serving his residency in pediatrics at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, he worked as a consultant to Republican senator Orrin Hatch from Utah, particularly on issues relating to the safety of food additives, and on the regulation of cigarettes and tobacco.

Marcella Nunez-Smith...
Nunez-Smith obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree in Biological Anthropology and Psychology from Swarthmore College in 1996. She attended medical school at Jefferson Medical College, graduating in 2001. Nunez-Smith was a resident in Internal Medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School. She completed her Master of Health Science at Yale University in 2006.

Ezekiel Emanuel...
Emanuel received his M.Sc. from Exeter College, Oxford in Biochemistry. He simultaneously studied for an M.D. and a Ph.D. in Political Philosophy from Harvard University, receiving the degrees in 1988 and 1989, respectively.He was a member of the first cohort of Faculty Fellows at the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard from 1987–88. Emanuel completed an internship and residency at Beth Israel Hospital in internal medicine. Subsequently, he undertook fellowships in medicine and medical oncology at the Dana–Farber Cancer Institute, and is a breast oncologist.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. This is great news, PLUS I'm loving having the grownups back in charge! n/t

[Botany]

2. FYI Vivek Murthy was blocked by the GOP and the NRA from becoming the head of the CDC (I think)

... by the NRA because he said that to study children's health in America we have to look at
gun violence too.

[JudyM]

3. Here comes the cavalry.