By Benjamin Crews, Postbac Fellow, RML Microscopy Unit, Research Technologies Branch, DIR, and Marc Theberge, Postbac Fellow, Virus Persistence and Dynamics Section, Immunology Laboratory, VRC
The NIAID Postbac Journal Club provides a space for postbacs to learn how to strategically read scientific literature and critically evaluate the findings while learning about the latest research advancements relevant to their research training. Additionally it gives postdocs the opportunity to gain valuable teaching experience through leading each session. Marc Theberge and Benjamin Crews provide a summary of three fall sessions in the latest edition of “In Case You Missed It.”
Thank you to the moderators: Joe Doehl, Ph.D.; Flavio Matassoli, Ph.D.; and Christine Schneider Lewis, Ph.D.
Statistics for Biologists
September 2021
By Marc Theberge, Immunology Laboratory
Joe Doehl, Ph.D. a postdoc in the Laboratory of Malaria and Vector Research, started off the fall series of the NIAID Postbac Journal Club with a controversial statement: “statistics: every biologist’s least favorite subject.” The paper Empowering statistical methods for cellular and molecular biologists was published in 2019 in Molecular Biology of the Cell and highlights important factors in the realm of statistics that biologists should always consider. Dr. Doehl described some of these factors in detail, including how to formulate a testable hypothesis, how to design experiments to properly test a hypothesis, and how to choose the correct statistical test. He also emphasized that scientists should decide how to analyze data before the data is generated. This paper provides biologists with a better understanding of basic statistics and experimental design. It’s worth checking out this paper if you’re new to designing experiments or if you just want a refresher.
Leader: Joe Doehl, Ph.D., NIAID Postdoc, Vector Molecular Biology Section, LMVR, DIR
Paper: Empowering statistical methods for cellular and molecular biologists
Critically Dissecting a Manuscript
October 2021
By Benjamin Crews, Research Technologies Branch
Christine Schneider-Lewis, Ph.D., shared both an interesting article and some helpful clues for how to critically read papers. The article noted that although the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein is well studied, little is known about how the envelope protein interacts with the immune system. The study examined the murine inflammatory response elicited when macrophages and epithelial cells were exposed to the spike and envelope antigens and found that both proteins could elicit a significant immune response. This was notable since the response was elicited by naked proteins, not virions. The authors also demonstrated that the immune responses that were elicited proceeded through different pathways. Dr. Schneider-Lewis led a robust discussion about reading this paper and its results with a critical eye. Though the paper was well written, we were able to see how various experimental design choices such as using a truncated E protein can lead to questions about the significance of the results and pose new questions for further research.
Leader: Christine Schneider Lewis, Ph.D., NIAID Postdoc, Neuroimmunology Section, LPVD, DIR
Paper: Surface Proteins of SARS-CoV-2 Drive Airway Epithelial Cells to Induce IFN-Dependent Inflammation
Immune Cell Evolution After mRNA Vaccine
November 2021
By Marc Theberge, Immunology Laboratory
Flavio Matassoli, Ph.D., summarized a timely publication on how antibodies “evolve” over time after mRNA vaccination against SARS-CoV-2. The authors of the paper, published in Nature in October, first showed that post-mRNA vaccination plasma had a higher ability to neutralize a SARS-CoV-2 pseudovirus compared to post-infection plasma. They also provided data suggesting that the quality of antibodies will increase over time after mRNA vaccination, but the overall quantity of antibodies may decrease. The final point from this paper that Dr. Matassoli pointed out is that anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies made after an infection will have more “breadth”—a greater ability to recognize variants—compared to antibodies made after mRNA vaccination. This finding stresses the importance for new types of vaccines (e.g., intranasal or pan-coronavirus vaccines) that might improve antibody “breadth” without the many dangers associated with infection.
Leader: Flavio Matassoli, Ph.D., NIAID Postdoc, Vaccine Immunology Program, VRC
Paper: Anti-SARS-CoV-2 receptor binding domain antibody evolution after mRNA vaccination