Increasing use of asset building programs could lead to increase in wealth for low income families

New research from Boston Medical Center found that increasing the use of underutilized asset building programs could be part of the solution to help build wealth for low income families. Published in Pediatrics, the study showed that a novel approach–incorporating wealth-building programs into healthcare–may make them more accessible to families in need.

Researchers reveal why viruses like SARS-CoV-2 can reinfect hosts, evade the immune response

The human body is capable of creating a vast, diverse repertoire of antibodies—the Y-shaped sniffer dogs of the immune system that can find and flag foreign invaders. Despite our ability to create a range of antibodies to target viruses, humans create antibodies that target the same viral regions again and again, according to a new study led by investigators from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a founding member of the Mass General Brigham healthcare system, and Harvard Medical School. These “public epitopes” mean that the generation of new antibodies is far from random and that a virus may be able to mutate a single amino acid to reinfect a population of previously immune hosts. The team’s findings, which have implications for our understanding of immunity and public health, are published in Science.

Cancer researchers identify protein with novel anti-tumoral activities

Understanding how cancer develops is critical for designing effective, personalized cancer therapies. Researchers have known for years that cancer begins with mutations in certain types of genes. One of these types of cancer genes are so-called “tumor suppressors.” When functioning normally, tumor suppressor genes can stop malignant cells from undergoing uncontrolled cell proliferation and initiate a process of cell elimination called apoptosis, a form of cell death.