Scientists in the Department of Nutritional Sciences and Toxicology (NST) have created a new COVID-19 therapeutic that could one day make treating SARS-CoV-2 infections as easy as using a nasal spray for allergies.

The therapeutic uses short snippets of synthetic DNA to gum up the genetic machinery that allows SARS-CoV-2 to replicate within the body.

In a study published in the journal Nature Communications in August, the team shows that these short snippets, called antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs), are highly effective at preventing the virus from replicating in human cells. When administered in the nose, these ASOs are also effective at preventing and treating COVID-19 infection in mice and hamsters.

“Vaccines are making a huge difference, but vaccines are not universal, and there is still a tremendous need for other approaches,” said Anders Näär, an NST professor of metabolic biology and senior author of the paper. “A nasal spray that is cheaply available everywhere and that could prevent someone from getting infected or prevent serious disease could be immensely helpful.”

Because the ASO treatment targets a portion of the viral genome that is highly conserved among different variants, it is effective against all SARS-CoV-2 “variants of concern” in human cells and in animal models. It is also chemically stable and relatively inexpensive to produce at large scale, making it ideal for treating COVID-19 infections in areas of the world that do not have access to electricity or refrigeration.

If the treatment proves to be safe and effective in humans, the ASO technology could be readily modified to target other RNA viruses. The research team is already searching for a way to use this to disrupt influenza viruses, which also have pandemic potential.

— Kara Manke

Watch NST graduate student Justin Lee explain how the new treatment works in a presentation that won the spring 2022 UC Grad Slam. 

There’s a well-known and long-standing issue in science: with English as the dominant language, non-native speakers can face major obstacles communicating their science or comprehending the work of others in scientific publications.

Machine learning has dramatically increased translation accuracy in recent years, but while tourists may be able to communicate sufficiently using Google Translate, even the best online services provide woefully inadequate translations of technical, scientific writing.

A UC Berkeley class taught by Rebecca Tarvin, an assistant professor of integrative biology, is tackling the issue head on. While participating in a translation working group hosted by Berkeley’s Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, Tarvin and colleagues envisioned the course—called Breaking Language Barriers in Evolution and Ecology—as an “opportunity to teach students skills in translation literacy, as well as encourage students to be activists in this realm of structural change,” said Tarvin.

Together with Emma Steigerwald, a graduate student in environmental science, policy, and management who chaired the working group, as well as integrative biology graduate students Débora Brandt and Valeria Ramírez Castañeda, Tarvin and colleagues from Canada, Israel, and Hungary collaborated on a scientific paper they hope will motivate scientists to translate their own research. The paper, which evaluates the advantages and limitations of machine translation tools, was published in the journal BioScience in August, with accompanying translations into Spanish, French, Portuguese, and Hungarian.

“Language can be a barrier, as well as a fantastic tool, to bring people together,” emphasized Steigerwald, who is first author of the paper. “It’s a barrier that we can surmount using this new technology.”

The authors also assert that writing scientific papers in plain English—something nonscientists have encouraged for a long time—benefits both English and non-English speakers. In addition to being easier for anyone to read, Steigerwald said, plain language is easier for machine learning tools to accurately translate. “This is kind of future-proofing your writing, so that if someone wants to translate it into a million languages, they’ll have a much easier time when it’s written in that way,” she said.

— Adapted from an article by Robert Sanders

A new research forest in Shasta County has increased UC Berkeley’s forest research station lands to nearly 10,000 acres. Transferred in September by Pacific Gas and Electric Company in collaboration with the Shasta Land Trust, the 3,244 acres will be stewarded by Berkeley Forests, the center that manages a network of UC Berkeley forests for research and outreach objectives.

The property will be Berkeley Forests’ first in the Cascade Mountain range, creating opportunities for novel research in forest types and ecosystems not currently part of UC’s network.

Overseen by Research Stations Manager Ariel Roughton, key focus areas for the forest include research on the effects of climate change in forested ecosystems and expanded experimentation with management techniques to mitigate climate impacts. Berkeley Forests also plans to partner with community members and local landowners. “Through this research forest we can contribute to all pillars of our mission—research, education, service, and diversity—in a way that has far-reaching impact while also serving local stakeholders,” said Berkeley Forests Co-Director Rob York.