‘Grey’s Anatomy’: Fans Agree This Was Meredith Grey’s Worst Love Interest – Showbiz Cheat Sheet

January 24, 2020 medical

Greys Anatomyhas redefined the way we view relationships. Whether it is just a friendship, or it is something more romantic, this show made us believe in love again and gave us hope that somewhere out in the world, there is someone out there that we could call our person.

Throughout all of the fantastic relationships that this show has showcased, there has been one major relationship that fans did not like at all. The relationship happened a long time ago, however, because it involved the shows most beloved character, Meredith Grey, fans are still having a hard time getting over the disastrous couple. So, who was Meredith Greys worst love interest? Keep reading to find out.

Throughout the shows 14-year run, Meredith Grey has had several different romantic interests. However, as far as the fans are concerned, none of relationships can compare to the intensely dramatic relationship that she had with Dr. Derek Shepherd.

On the show, the two doctors had their fair share of ups and downs. At first, their on-again, off-again relationship drove fans crazy. And once they finally got together for good, fans were put on an emotional roller coaster.

They had to watch the couple deal with the heartbreak of unsuccessfully trying to have a baby, the joyous occasion when they adopted their daughter, several close calls when they each almost lost their lives, and then finally when Meredith was by Dereks sideas he passed away.

Throughout the good times and the bad, fans would faithfully tune into the show every week just to watch the charisma and magnetism that these two characters had together.

And even though Derek passed away in season 11, fans have still not been able to get over his death and many are still hoping that the writers of the show will decide to bring Derek back and write off the whole death scene as just a bad dream.

Out of all of the people Meredith Grey has been with on the show, it was her romantic relationship with her best friend, and former roommate, George OMalley, that really left fans asking why?

Since the beginning, it had been no secret that George was in love with Meredith. However, back then, Meredith only had eyes for Dr. McDreamy (Derek Shepherd).

In Season 2, when Derek Decided to try to work things out with his estranged wife, Meredith was understandably feeling very depressed and heartbroken. Instead of turning on a rom-com and eating a pint of Ben and Jerrys, Meredith decided to have a one-night stand with her roommate who was very much in love with her.

She obviously did not feel the same way about George as he did about her, which is what made their sex scene so incredibly awkward and heartbreaking. Meredith ended up crying during their intimate scene and it left George feeling horrible about the whole thing and it caused him to move out of the house.

There were some fans who thought thatGeorge and Merediths disastrous sexual encounter was an important part of the showand needed to happen in order to strengthen the plot. However, the majority of fans felt that this particular plot twist was unnecessary.

George OMalley is a fun and likable character, and there arent many fans who dispute that fact. For the most part, fans really liked George,, they just hated the fact that Meredith was ever with him romantically.

On a recentReddit post,one fan had ranked Meredith Greys love interests from best to worst. At the top of the list was Derek Shepherd. At the very bottom of the list, the fan had typed in George OMalleys name.

Another Reddit user, who had obviously agreed with the list, except for on one point, had said: George wasnt a love interest [by the way], he was a tough in the matrix.

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'Grey's Anatomy': Fans Agree This Was Meredith Grey's Worst Love Interest - Showbiz Cheat Sheet

Anatomy

VIDEO: Owen Asks Teddy to Marry Him on GREY’S ANATOMY – Broadway World

January 24, 2020 medical

Owen Hunt (Kevin McKidd) finally proposes to Teddy Altman (Kim Raver), but she's worried that he's repeating patterns of feeling trapped by obligation. He tells her he's starting a new pattern.

Watch the clip below!

Watch 'Grey's Anatomy' THURSDAY 9|8c on ABC.

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VIDEO: Owen Asks Teddy to Marry Him on GREY'S ANATOMY - Broadway World

Anatomy

Station 19 Season 3 Premiere Recap: Which of Grey’s Anatomy’s Imperiled Staffers Made It Out of Joe’s Bar Alive? – Yahoo Entertainment

January 24, 2020 medical

The line Yeah, thats not good is only uttered once during the Season 3 premiere of Station 19. But really, it couldve been repeated over and over, because a whole mess of not-good, very-bad things happened, some of which seemed to bode awfully poorly for the futures of the Greys Anatomy doctors involved in that series winter finale. Read on, and well go over them one by one

station-19-recap-season-3-episode-1-i-know-this-bar-greys-cliffhanger

TWO WEEKS AGO | Since I Know This Bar took place not only in the present (picking up at the point that Greys turned Joes into a parking lot) but also the recent past (two weeks earlier), Im going to detail the events of that not-so-ancient history first for the sake of a linear read. So 14 days ago, the Station 19 crew threw Ben and Bailey a Youre having a firehouse baby party, just before which Vic introduced new beau, Jackson, to her friends. Besides being the first that Bailey knew about Jackson and Vics relationship, the celebration also clued in Pruitt to the attraction simmering between Andy and Sullivan when the captain volunteered to join her on a routine call. While away from the station, he apologized for hurting her but maintained that they couldnt break the rules and be together. Yet they fell in love, which was also against the rules, she angrily noted. And you did nothing to discourage it!

Gray & # 39; s Anatomy & Station 19 Return with dramatic drama – Up News Info

January 24, 2020 medical

TGIF is back, baby.

Station 19 Y Grey's Anatomy He returned tonight with a double dose of disaster, starting with the Station 19 squad that deals with the car in the bar, and Gray & # 39; s take care of the injuries, along with all the regular drama.

Everyone ended up physically well in the end, although Helm suffered a serious leg injury, Parker suffered a head injury, and Schmitt has some type of broken heart syndrome, while Bailey and Ben are still recovering after a miscarriage. but even the guy Maggie thought she had killed has a heart that works again

But some things are not so good. In Station 19Andy's relationship with his father is suffering after he basically embarrassed her for a possible relationship with Sullivan, and in Gray & # 39; sIt seems that Amelia cannot admit what she now knows when her baby was conceived, while Mer might be forced to admit that Cristina's Irish pediatric gift is, in fact, quite attractive.

Here is a selection of the thoughts and questions we had during the two hours:

"Alex is in Iowa." Gray made sure to tell us that Alex is still in Iowa visiting his mother, but since Justin Chambers has already left his program and will not say goodbye, we wonder if Alex will stay in Iowa forever. . Whatever happens, it's a shame, because Jo is clearly on her way to want to start a family, and that will be difficult without her husband. And we're going to miss seeing Alex continue to grow until he becomes one of the best characters on the show.

Owen Hunt: Is it time for Owen to say goodbye to this show? After everything that made Cristina go through, and then everything that made Amelia go, she now looks at him committing to Teddi while Amelia apparently fears that she may be the father of her baby (we assume) just feels upset. We just want to support Amelia and Link! May Owen and Teddi be happy and may Amelia be happy too!

Amelia Just to reiterate, we just want Amelia to be happy. We just want the baby to be Link's baby. We just don't need this pentagon of love anymore. Thank you.

Poor Andy Herrera: Andy deserves much better than her secret work boyfriend and the way her father treated her above her secret work boyfriend. All women deserve much better than men telling them that they will be retained and that men will retain them.

Hot Irish Doctor: The "gift,quot; that Cristina sent to Meredith seems like it might be too good to be true, but we are still here for MerLuca, and DeLuca is also here for MerLuca. Meredith also worried a lot when she thought that DeLuca could have been at the bar, so maybe there is hope for these two and the Irish guy is just a distraction. He also had some moments with Jo, but we are not ready for a sudden divorce from the absent Alex. (Really, what will this show do about him?)

Exterior wall: Have you ever wanted to reach through a TV screen and hug someone so much? After making sure all of his doctors and friends were safe, he fell apart completely during the emotional day he had had, and it was the most heartbreaking thing we've ever seen. We also wish happiness for Bailey, always.

We just have to see what happens next week!

Station 19 Y Grey's Anatomy Thursdays on air starting at 8 p.m. on ABC

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Gray & # 39; s Anatomy & Station 19 Return with dramatic drama - Up News Info

Anatomy

Does Amelia Have Owen’s Baby on ‘Grey’s Anatomy’? It’s a Total Mess – Distractify

January 24, 2020 medical

Does Amelia Have Owens Baby on Greys Anatomy? Its a Total MessAcceptWe allow third parties to collect information which we use for business purposes, for more info read CCPA section in the privacy policy page.AcceptBrowsers may block some cookies by default. Click accept to allow advertising partners to use cookies and serve more relevant ads. Visit our privacy policy page for more information.Source: ABCBy Chrissy Bobic

8 hours ago

It wouldn't be another season of Grey's Anatomy without something going wrong in Amelias life. At this point, she has just been dealt a bad hand in life and, despite doing everything right by Link, her unborn baby might turn out to be Owens instead of her hunky younger boyfriends. In the Season 16 fall finale, she found out that she was further along in her pregnancy than she originally thought, which means there was some overlap in her relationship with Link and hookups with Owen.

Now, the question on everyones mind is whether or not Amelia is going to have Owens baby. At this point, the baby could be either Link or Owens, but either way, the conversations Amelia is going to have to have leading up to determining the paternity are going to be awkward at best. Hopefully things work out for her for once, but its definitely not going to be an easy road to get to that place.

Greys Anatomy is a medical drama, but in some ways, its also a primetime soap opera. Of course Amelia would decide to keep her baby, only to find out weeks later that the father of said baby might not be the man she is actively falling in love with. Because at the start of her fling with Link, she did hookup with Owen, making him a potential baby daddy in all of this.

Regardless of who the father of Amelias baby is, the entire situation is still going to be tricky. Shortly after the Season 16 premiere, Greys Anatomy showrunner Krista Vernoff spoke to Entertainment Tonight about what to expect from Amelia and Links storyline. She admitted that the dynamic between Amelia and Link would be "a complicated, complicated thing" after going from casual relationship to sharing a baby. So no matter what happens, things are about to get very real.

If Amelias baby is Owens, there is always the chance that Link will stick around. He seems to be all in when it comes to Amelia, and if that means being her babys surrogate father, he just might be the guy to take on such a role. Obviously Owen is going to have all kinds of thoughts and opinions if he is the dad, and he will probably be in the picture too. But Link isn't the type to just dip out in the face of adversity.

At the Television Critics Association winter press tour, Krista opened up about another potential Owen and Amelia love triangle. Luckily, that won't be the case yet again, but the issue of paternity is still tricky. While it doesn't sound like thats where things are headed, it could still be a big mess before the season is over.

"I don't know that we're resurrecting a love triangle," Krista said. "I also don't know that I would say that she's 100% over Owen. I don't know that those two ever, get 100% over each other. This is a little bit of a mess, and we've probably had more conversations in the writers' room this season about whose baby that is going to end up being than anything else."

For now, Amelias baby could very well be Owens on Greys Anatomy. But until he is proven to be yet another babys father, its hard not to hold out hope for Link and Amelia working things out.

Watch Greys Anatomy on Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET on ABC.

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Does Amelia Have Owen's Baby on 'Grey's Anatomy'? It's a Total Mess - Distractify

Anatomy

Primetime Ratings: ‘Grey’s’ Paces ABC to Win – Broadcasting & Cable

January 24, 2020 medical

ABC had the top score in Thursday prime, Greys Anatomy leading the Alphabets to a 1.1 in viewers 18-49, per the Nielsen overnights, and a 6 share. That easily beat Foxs 0.6/3.

On ABC, the season three premiere of Station 19 did a 1.2, 50% better than its season finale, and Greys a 1.4, 8% over its last episode in November. A Million Little Things posted a flat 0.8.

On Fox, Last Man Standing got a flat 0.8 and the series premiere of Outmatched, with Jason Biggs as a handyman father with frighteningly gifted children, a 0.7. Drama Deputy lost 17% for a 0.5.

Univision got a 0.5/3 and CBS and NBC a 0.5/2. Univision had Ringo, Amor Eterno and Ruball at 0.5. Ringo was flat, Amor Eterno went up a tenth and Rubi lost a tenth.

On CBS it was comedy reruns before The Gayle King Grammy Special at 0.3.

On NBC, Superstore posted a 0.7 and The Good Place a 0.6, both up a tenth. Will & Grace also went up a tenth to 0.5 and the Perfect Harmony finale did a flat 0.3. A Law & Order: SVU rerun closed out prime.

Telemundo scored a 0.4/2. It was 0.4s for Exatln Estados Unidos, La Doa and El Seor de los Cielos. Exatln and El Seor stayed flat and La Doa went up a tenth.

The CW rated a 0.2/1. Supernatural and Legacies both got a 0.2. Supernatural lost a tenth and Legacies was level with last week.

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Immunology

Ervaxx and Cardiff University Enter Collaboration to Develop Novel T-cell and T-cell Receptor-based Immunotherapeutics Targeting Dark Antigens – Yahoo…

January 24, 2020 medical

Collaboration also focuses on exciting research published earlier this week in Nature Immunology identifying MR1 as a target for novel anti-cancer immunotherapies

LONDON, Jan. 24, 2020 /PRNewswire/ --Ervaxx, a biotechnology company pioneering the use of Dark Antigens to developT-cell receptor (TCR)-based immunotherapies and off-the-shelf cancer vaccines, has entered a licensing and research collaboration with a leading T-cell immunology group at Cardiff University (Cardiff, UK).

The new collaboration will support a multi-year research program with Prof. Andrew Sewell's T-cell modulation group at Cardiff University focusing on the discovery and characterization of T-cells and TCRs reactive to cancer-specific antigens and ligands, including Ervaxx' proprietary Dark Antigens. Ervaxx will fund the program.

The collaboration will also advance exciting new research published earlier this week by the Cardiff University team in Nature Immunology1, where they identified a T cell clone that recognized and killed multiple different types of human cancer, while remaining inert to non-cancerous cells. The T cell clone targets MR1, an MHC class 1-related protein, via an unidentified cancer-specific ligand. These exciting findings, validated in a preclinical model, open the prospect of immunotherapies with broad utility across patients with diverse cancers. This approach into previously unexplored cell surface epitopes complements and extends Ervaxx's exploration of novel cancer-specific antigens.

Under the agreement, Ervaxx gains an exclusive license to relevant Cardiff University patents claiming T cells and TCRs reactive to cancer-specific antigens. The Company has the right to advance resulting candidate T-cell/TCR-based immunotherapeutics and cancer vaccines through development and commercialization. Cardiff University is eligible to receive milestone payments on any candidates that advance from the discovery collaboration into clinical development and royalty payments on sales of any products that reach the market.

Prof. Andrew Sewell, Head of the T-cell modulation group, Cardiff University, commented:

"Ervaxx's Dark Antigens, which are derived from the 98% of the genome that does not encode known proteins, constitute a promising and yet untapped source of targets for immunotherapies. This collaboration will use our world-class expertise in T-cell biology to identify T cells and TCRs reactive to those targets and pave the way for a new wave of treatments in cancer, and potentially other areas. This includes our most recent discovery, published in Nature Immunology, of a T-cell clone that targets MR1 to recognize and kill cancer cells, irrespective of cancer or human leukocyte antigen (HLA) type, offering opportunities for pan-cancer, pan-population cancer immunotherapies."

Kevin Pojasek, CEO of Ervaxx, said:

"We are excited to announce this collaboration with Prof. Sewell's world-class research group. We have great hope that through the combination of this expertise with our Dark Antigens and application of our EDAPT platform, we will be able to identify further targets to expand our portfolio of TCR-based therapies and cancer vaccines. We are also thrilled to contribute to the development of the group's exciting new MR1 research, which shows early but enormous potential for the treatment of cancers. This partnership, which follows those with the University of Oxford, University of Cambridge and Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, reinforces our ambition to collaborate with leading academic institutions and be at the cutting edge of the T-cell immunology field to drive the development of novel off-the-shelf cancer therapies."

Prof. Andrew Sewell is a member of Ervaxx' Scientific Advisory Board.

About Ervaxx

Ervaxx is pioneering the use of Dark Antigens to deliver targeted immunotherapies for treating and preventing cancer. Ervaxx Dark Antigens derive from vast untapped expanses of genetic 'dark matter' beyond the normal coding regions of the genome, which are generally silenced in normal tissue but can become selectively activated in cancer.

Ervaxx' powerful, proprietary EDAPT platform has been developed to discover and validate Dark Antigens providing an in-depth assessment of candidate antigens on primary tumor cells along with their immunogenic potential. The EDAPT platform has identified proprietary antigens that map to multiple solid tumor types and generate robust, antigen-specific T-cell responses. Ervaxx is advancing a pipeline of T cell receptor (TCR)-based therapies, off-the-shelf cancer vaccines and other immunotherapies leveraging these insights into the role of Dark Antigens in cancer.

Story continues

Ervaxx was co-founded by SV Health Investors and is based on pioneering research at the Francis Crick Institute (London, UK). The company has offices in London, UK and a laboratory in the Bioescalator Building at Oxford University, UK. Ervaxx also has a strategic partnership with a global pharmaceutical company.

For more information visit: http://www.ervaxx.com

Ervaxx, Dark Antigen and EDAPT are trademarks of Ervaxx Limited

About the T-cell Modulation Group, Cardiff University

Cardiff University T-cell modulation group, within the Division of Infection and Immunity, consists of 16 researchers with a diverse skill and knowledge base that covers all areas of T-cell biology including T-cell genetics, molecular biology, protein chemistry, crystallography, and cell biology. The overall goal of the T-cell modulation group is to understand the genetic, biochemical and cellular mechanisms that govern T-cell responses to human disease. Our research outputs are extremely wide ranging and include basic studies which are aimed at understanding how the T-cell immune response is regulated, through to translational studies which are aimed at developing tools, diagnostics and treatments for human diseases such as cancer, HIV, EBV, tuberculosis and many more.

For More Information

Ervaxx LimitedKevin Pojasek, CEOTel: +44-(0)-186-561-8828Email: info@ervaxx.com

Citigate Dewe RogersonMark Swallow, Frazer Hall, Nathaniel DahanTel: +44-(0)-20-7638-9571Email: ervaxx@citigatedewerogerson.com

1Crowther, M.D., Dolton, G., Legut, M. et al. Genome-wide CRISPRCas9 screening reveals ubiquitous T cell cancer targeting via the monomorphic MHC class I-related protein MR1. Nat Immunol (2020) doi:10.1038/s41590-019-0578-8

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SOURCE Ervaxx

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Immunology

Dr. Dori Borjesson named dean of the WSU College of Veterinary Medicine – WSU News

January 24, 2020 medical

Dr. Dori Borjesson

PULLMAN, Wash. Dr. Dori Borjesson, chair of the Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology at the University of California Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, has been selected as the new dean of the WSU College of Veterinary Medicine.

Borjesson was chosen following a nationwide search to replace Dr. Bryan Slinker, who had announced plans to retire before being tapped to serve as interim provost. She will assume her new responsibilities leading WSUs cutting-edge veterinary, biosciences and global health departments on July 20.

The strength of Washington State Universitys research and its potential to impact communities locally and across the globe impressed me during the interview process, as did its dynamic clinical programs and the Washington-Idaho-Montana-Utah Regional Program in Veterinary Medicine, Borjesson said.

Im looking forward to building on Dr. Slinkers tremendous tenure of leadership, she continued. The enthusiasm for WSU among the community is impressive, and I look forward to building on that momentum.

In addition to her role as a department chair and full professor at UC Davis, Borjesson works as a clinical pathologist and is actively engaged in clinical service and laboratory test development. She served as the inaugural director of the Veterinary Institute for Regenerative Cures from 2015 to 2019 and continues to direct the Clinical Regenerative Medicine Laboratory.

Dr. Borjesson brings an important combination of strengths and experience to make her the right leader for the college, Slinker said. Shes a long-serving, highly regarded, and very effective academic leader, and an excellent clinician/scientist, at an aspirational peer institution. This background, combined with her intellectual rigor, openness, and compassion make her a great fit to lead the college in its next phase of growth and development as one of the nations top veterinary colleges.

Borjesson said shes thrilled to meet with WSU students, staff and faculty, as well as meeting with college and university stakeholders in the near future.

Being from the Pacific Northwest, this feels like a homecoming, said Borjesson, who was raised in Portland, Ore. Increasing engagement and outreach across the state is a top priority for me upon taking up this new role. In addition to engagement and strategic planning, Im also eager to face some of the critical issues facing members of the veterinary profession, including student debt and enhancing the well-being of our faculty, students and staff.

Among her more notable research contributions is using large animal models of disease to study cell therapy for inflammatory diseases.

Borjesson holds two patents in the area of mesenchymal stem cells and immunomodulation and has contributed to more than 100 peer-reviewed publications, and in 2014 received the Zoetis Research Excellence Award. Alongside her own work, she has mentored more than three dozen veterinary residents and graduate students.

She and her colleague Dr. Aijun Wangs work with stem cells was highlighted in an extensive piece in the Los Angeles Times in 2018 about UC Davis Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital.

Borjesson received her undergraduate education from the Colorado College in 1988, her Master in Preventive Veterinary Medicine and Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degrees from UC Davis in 1995. She completed a residency at UC Davis in clinical pathology in 1999, followed by her PhD in comparative pathology at the Center for Comparative Medicine at UC Davis in 2002.

After completing her PhD, Borjesson accepted an assistant professorship at the University of Minnesota, where she worked for four years before returning to UC Davis as an associate professor in 2006. She became a full professor in 2012. She has led the Integrative Pathobiology Graduate Group at UC Davis and is actively engaged in veterinary and graduate student curriculum development, teaching and mentoring.

Established in 1899, the WSU College of Veterinary Medicine is proud of its distinguished past as one of the oldest veterinary colleges in the United States. It is equally proud of its contemporary leadership nationally in offering programs for student wellness, its Teaching Academy, which leads its commitment to advancing the state of the art in both health professions and STEM education, and its research and graduate education programs. The breadth of research to discover foundational knowledge and to conduct research targeted to improve animal and human health both domestically and around the world places it in the top 10% of veterinary colleges in receipt of competitive federal research funding.

Phil Weiler, vicepresident for marketing and communications, 5093351221, phil.weiler@wsu.edu

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Dr. Dori Borjesson named dean of the WSU College of Veterinary Medicine - WSU News

Immunology

How Worried Should You Be About the New Coronavirus? – Slate

January 24, 2020 medical

Travelers in Beijing taking a warranted precaution with face masks.

Nicolas Asfouri/Getty Images

The new coronavirus has infected over 900 people and killed 26. The recently-sequenced virus has spread from its point of origin, China, to Europe and the U.S., where the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has now confirmed two cases. Almost all of the cases are still concentrated in China, where prevention efforts have shut down Shanghai Disneyland, part of the Great Wall of China, and several McDonalds. The New York Times calls it a rapidly expanding outbreak which has fueled fears of a global pandemic. So how worried should you be? Weve sifted through the news and spoken with to two researchers who have studied similar kinds of viruses to find out.

Is it time to panic?

No. The important thing to remember is that while there are a lot of cases, a lot of them are not severe says Tracey Goldstein, a professor in the department of pathology, immunology and microbiology at the University of California, Davis. Im not worried right now about my personal risk. If youre going to be coming in contact with a lot of people, its prudent to wash your hands. But thats mostly because were in the middle of flu season.

But there are still concerns, right?

I think that our first concern can rightly be the people in China, says Columbia epidemiologist Simon Anthony. Both because of the virus, and because of the vigorous response, which is a hassle even if warrented: China has shut down outbound travel from Wuhan, where the virus originated. Wuhan resident Yasin Gaardo has been posting videos to Twitter, of police blocking a road, and of a supermarket running out of vegetables. Public transportation is locked up90 percent of Wuhan people are staying inside, he told CNN. I can say Im worried but Im not in panic mode right now. Perhaps as you should be.

The alarming part might be the speed at which the virus is spreading. The rapid pace is part of why it keeps making newsits an important global health story, even if most individuals are not personally at riskand the constant news fuels the feeling of panic. Im certainly more concerned now than I was a week ago, said Anthony, noting that the respiratory nature of the virus makes it relatively easy to spread from human to human. Theres also, he said, the fact that it brings back memories from SARS, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome.

What kind of memories from SARS?

SARS also spreads via the air, through coughing, and traveled around the globe causing panic. And though SARS was more severe, both are coronaviruses. A coronavirus is a kind of virus with a spiky crown-like exterior that affects the respiratory tracts and guts in mammals. There are more than 3,000 species of coronavirus, but they are most commonly found in bats, as Goldstein and Anthony describe in a study in which they tested everything from humans to shrews. Just seven species (with the addition of this new virus) are known to affect humans. One of those is actually the cause of the common cold, to which the symptoms of coronavirus in many cases are similar, though complications of this new one can include pneumonia and sepsis. Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), of which there was an outbreak in 2012, is another coronavirus. The new virus does not appear to be as deadly as MERS (34 percent mortality rate), or SARS (10 percent)its death rate is 4 percent.

Why doesnt the new coronavirus have a catchy name like MERS or SARS?

Technically speaking, its name is 2019-nCoV, short for 2019 Novel Coronavirus. Colloquially its going by a few things including Wuhan coronavirus. But as Helen Branswell points out in a piece for Stat News, the World Health Organization frowns on labeling diseases after a place or region. Its stigmatizing. It also doesnt really point out anything helpful about the virus.

Sure, but, why did it originate in Wuhan? Is that random?

Sort of! Theres quite a few things that need to align, says Goldstein, for a virus like this to make the jump to humans. Not only do humans need to come into contact with a bat (or snake), or other animal that the bat/snake has come into contact with, but the machinery of the particular species of virus needs to be able to infect humans. This coronavirus seems to have originated at market with animal meat.

OK, SARS, MERs, now this. Are these kinds of outbreaks becoming more frequent? And should we worry about that?

It does seem like theres been an uptick. There are two reasons for that, explains Goldstein. It might be that were just better at detecting and tracking the spread of viruses. But also, were moving around more; flying and interacting with more species, says Goldstein. The thing that definitely has changed is we are such a global world now.

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How Worried Should You Be About the New Coronavirus? - Slate

Immunology

Study reveals new "crosstalk" between intestinal microbes and developing thymic cells – News-Medical.net

January 24, 2020 medical

Newborns face unique immunological challenges immediately after birth. As they depart a relatively sterile fetal environment, they are abruptly exposed to a multitude of foreign antigens, the major burden of which is in the form of the microbiota newly colonizing the gastrointestinal tract.

These rapidly multiplying foreign invaders represent, by far, the biggest threat to the neonatal immune system, which has to recognize and classify these organisms as benign, commensal or pathogenic.

Research shows that effective "crosstalk" or communication between early microbes and mucosal immune cells is essential to the formation of healthy microbial communities and promotion of a well-functioning immune system.

The cells of the immune system that participate in mucosal immunity develop in an organ called the thymus located under the breastbone above the heart. Until now, it has been unclear if intestinal microbes influence the development of these cells in the thymus in early life.

Researchers at the Mucosal and Immunology Biology Research Center (MIBRC) at Massachusetts General Hospital now report that gut microbes regulate the development of specialized immune cells in the thymus that play a critical role in mucosal tolerance.

The findings of their extensive research were published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, USA this week. Nitya Jain, PhD, and colleagues focused their studies on a subset of immune cells that express the transcription factor PLZF.

These cells, collectively called innate and innate-like lymphocytes, typically function at the gut mucosal barrier interface and provide immune protection at mucosal sites.

To study the development of these immune cells in the context of gut microbes, researchers monocolonized germ-free mice with a model human commensal, Bacteroides fragilis, and demonstrated that this single species of bacteria could restore the development of PLZF+ innate and innate-like lymphocytes in the thymus of infant mice.

In further proof-of-concept studies, they showed that a mutant B. fragilis lacking expression of Polysaccharide A (PSA) was unable to do the same, suggesting that specific microbial antigens could regulate this early life developmental process.

A similar deficit in these cells was observed in mutant mice that lacked the expression of Toll like receptor 2, a receptor that recognizes bacteria and bacterial components, including B. fragilis PSA, to initiate host protective immune responses.

To understand how this microbial message was delivered to developing thymic cells, Jain's group used a novel mouse model to track the migration of cells from the colon to the thymus.

The photo-conversion strategy, developed with the help of MGH's Guillermo "Gary" Tearney's group at the Wellman Center for Photomedicine, was highlighted in the Journal of Visualized Experiments in 2018.

Researchers showed that a class of antigen-presenting cells called plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs) are imprinted by intestinal microbes and migrate from the gut to the thymus in early life to regulate the development of thymic lymphocytes.

For the first time, Jain's group has revealed "a novel communication between intestinal microbes and developing cells in the thymus," says Jain. "It shapes the immune 'repertoire' in early life and affects how the host will respond to disease throughout the lifespan."

The unbalanced development of an infant's gut microbiome is thought to play a role in disease development later in life. Disturbing the microbiota in infancy by antibiotics or diet, for example, has been linked to increased risk of allergies, asthma and autoimmune disorders including celiac disease and Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD).

Jain's group demonstrates one mechanistic basis for this observation. They show that thymic PLZF+ cells did not develop efficiently in mice treated with broad-spectrum antibiotics in early life, but mice treated in later life were spared.

Jain says there "appeared to be an early-life time window when developing immune cells in the thymus were particularly susceptible to microbial influence."

Additionally, the study shows that microbe-induced altered development of thymic innate and innate-like cells in early life persists into adulthood and leads to increased susceptibility to experimental colitis.

Importantly, disease severity could be moderated by the transfer of PLZF+ cells from mice that developed with normal microbiota in early life, says Jain.

She adds, "This has significant implications for the design of strategies to treat autoimmune disorders such as IBD. Our studies point to a previously unexplored pathway that may be developed as an adoptive cell therapy for patients."

MIBRC Director Alessio Fasano, MD notes that growing evidence shows that early development of a healthy immune state requires an ideal symbiotic relationship between developing infants and their community of microorganisms.

How we 'choose' our ideal microbiome to teach our immune system to defend us rather than harm us is still a big question mark. Nitya and her group--for the first time--have shed light on the very early mechanisms that are in charge of establishing a healthy relationship between the human host and the microbiome."

Alessio Fasano, MD, Director,MIBRC

Source:

Journal reference:

Ennamorati, M. et al. (2020) Intestinal microbes influence development of thymic lymphocytes in early life. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1915047117.

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Study reveals new "crosstalk" between intestinal microbes and developing thymic cells - News-Medical.net