A team of UCLA researchers has developed a new method to build programmable artificial organelles inside living cells using RNA as both the material and the blueprint. The approach enables researchers to design droplet-like cellular compartments that assemble in predictable ways and can be controlled in how and where they form, as well as what molecules they recruit. 

Scientists at La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI) have discovered that the influenza vaccine FluMist can stimulate immunity in the upper airways of adults. This is the first time researchers have tracked how immune cells in the upper airways respond to an intranasal vaccine (given via a spray in the nose). The new study gives scientists a guide for measuring the effectiveness of new intranasal vaccines against RSV, COVID-19, and other respiratory diseases.