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Post by TKennedy on Nov 30, 2020 10:48:42 GMT -5
I was talking to my son in Denver Thanksgiving. He and his wife are biochemistry profs at the University Of Colorado Medical Center and their labs have been collaborating on some of the processes used to make the Pfizer vaccine. I had not read much about how it worked assuming it was probably an attenuated virus or a segment of viral protein but it is actually a piece of synthetic messenger RNA that is picked up by the muscle cells after injection and instructs the cellular machinery to manufacture the viral spike protein which is released into the circulation and stimulates the production of antibodies by the host’s immune system. This is just mind boggling. They are actually able to fookin synthesize a segment of fookin mRNA that does that. We tend to trivialize everything nowadays (perhaps to make us feel smarter) but the unbelievable amount of work and the almost incomprehensible technology and intelligence that goes into something like this is just astonishing. Makes orthopedic surgery look like caveman stuff. Chapeau to the much maligned intellectual elite that save our asses every day! www.sciencealert.com/the-pfizer-and-moderna-vaccines-are-a-breakthrough-here-s-how-they-work |
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Post by majorminor on Nov 30, 2020 10:59:36 GMT -5
Once this method is perfected it also sounds like a boiler plate to spin up other vaccines quickly as well?
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Post by t-bob on Nov 30, 2020 10:59:55 GMT -5
I was talking to my son in Denver Thanksgiving. He and his wife are biochemistry profs at the University Of Colorado Medical Center and their labs have been collaborating on some of the processes used to make the Pfizer vaccine. I had not read much about how it worked assuming it was probably an attenuated virus or a segment of viral protein but it is actually a piece of synthetic messenger RNA that is picked up by the muscle cells after injection and instructs the cellular machinery to manufacture the viral spike protein which is released into the circulation and stimulates the production of antibodies by the host’s immune system. This is just mind boggling. They are actually able to fookin synthesize a segment of fookin mRNA that does that. We tend to trivialize everything nowadays (perhaps to make us feel smarter) but the unbelievable amount of work and the almost incomprehensible technology and intelligence that goes into something like this is just astonishing. Makes orthopedic surgery look like caveman stuff. Chapeau to the much maligned intellectual elite that save our asses every day! www.sciencealert.com/the-pfizer-and-moderna-vaccines-are-a-breakthrough-here-s-how-they-workTerry I read the entire article. It sounds exciting. It sounds like the flu19 is going to be gone a few months. But obviously I’m not a doctor or a medical person. But I still sound excited |
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Post by coachdoc on Nov 30, 2020 11:41:08 GMT -5
mRNA is not far from reproducible synthetic life.
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Post by theevan on Nov 30, 2020 11:57:30 GMT -5
mRNA is not far from reproducible synthetic life. But that last wee bit is a zillion miles wide. That said, if they ever succeed at it, we are in trouble. |
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Post by coachdoc on Nov 30, 2020 12:04:58 GMT -5
mRNA is not far from reproducible synthetic life. But that last wee bit is a zillion miles wide. That said, if they ever succeed at it, we are in trouble. For now. |
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Post by Cornflake on Nov 30, 2020 12:08:07 GMT -5
That's terrific news. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
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Post by epaul on Nov 30, 2020 12:14:40 GMT -5
In times of war ...
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Post by Cornflake on Nov 30, 2020 12:25:09 GMT -5
And yes, thanks for the people who actually know something.
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Post by RickW on Nov 30, 2020 14:29:43 GMT -5
mRNA is not far from reproducible synthetic life. But that last wee bit is a zillion miles wide. That said, if they ever succeed at it, we are in trouble. I’m ready for our synthetic overlords! As long as they’re hot, and provide decent pension plans. |
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Post by dradtke on Nov 30, 2020 16:04:34 GMT -5
Ya-but, there's this guy on facebook, see, who knows a guy who says somethin diffrent. So.
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Post by Cornflake on Nov 30, 2020 21:11:32 GMT -5
Speaking of people who know something, I read a Facebook post yesterday in which someone vehemently asserted that the US was dealing with the pandemic by printing money and that we were headed towards the same catastrophe, due to runaway inflation, as Weimar Germany. I emailed our financial guy and asked if there were any sight of inflationary or deflationary trends. The answer was: no, not really, although we're always watching for it.
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Post by epaul on Nov 30, 2020 23:28:39 GMT -5
I wouldn't mind a bit of inflation. Interest rates are too low. Commodity prices are too low. Things are screwy and out of whack.
.65% for a five-year CD? .65%? That is nuts. That is scary. Something is really fucked up.
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Post by Russell Letson on Nov 30, 2020 23:40:11 GMT -5
We may be printing money, but I don't see a lot of it trickling down to our level. Must be a blocked drain somewhere in the printing plant.
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Post by RickW on Dec 1, 2020 0:13:40 GMT -5
I wouldn't mind a bit of inflation. Interest rates are too low. Commodity prices are too low. Things are screwy and out of whack. .65% for a five-year CD? .65%? That is nuts. That is scary. Something is really fucked up. Yeah, I know. I mean, damn, last year it was a raging 1.5 percent, right? |
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