Science - 14 08 2020

2020·39.63 MB·English

CONTENTS
14 AUGUST 2020 • VOLUME 369 • ISSUE 6505
756
NEWS 758 Don’t crush that ant—it could 770 Marine food webs destabilized
plant a wildflower A combination of warming and
New findings show how ants choose and acidification threaten marine biomass
protect the seeds they disperse and productivity By S. L. Chown
IN BRIEF By E. Pennisi REPORT p. 829
750 News at a glance
771 An early start to Huntington’s disease
FEATURES
The huntingtin gene mutation interferes
IN DEPTH 760 Lucky strike
with neurogenesis in human fetal cortex
752 Antibodies may curb pandemic Last year, an unusual meteorite crashed in a
By M. DiFiglia
before vaccines Costa Rican rainforest. Rich in the building
RESEARCH ARTICLE p. 787
Now in efficacy trials, monoclonal antibodies blocks of life, it has captivated collectors and
promise to both prevent and treat disease researchers By J. Sokol 773 Designing a wider superelastic window
By J. Cohen
Adding chromium to an iron alloy enables
753 For science in Latin America, INSIGHTS shape recovery over a wide temperature range
‘a fascinating challenge’ By P. La Roca and M. Sade
Pandemic shows benefits of investments in REPORT p. 855
research but also poses grave threats
774 The importins of pain
By R. Pérez Ortega and L. Wessel POLICY FORUM
A nuclear protein importer modulates gene
766 Distorting science,
755 Looking for the light in Haiti expression to control the persistence of
putting water at risk
For physician Marie Marcelle Deschamps, neuropathic pain By M. S. Yousuf and T. J. Price
A recent rule is inconsistent with science
COVID-19 is just the latest challenge By R. Bazell REPORT p. 842
and will compromise the integrity
756 Africa’s pandemic puzzle: why so of U.S. waters By S. M. P. Sullivan et al. 775 A coexistence that CuO2
few cases and deaths? planes can see
Antibody surveys tell a different story than PERSPECTIVES Antiferromagnetism and superconductivity GA
N
official tolls By L. Nordling 769 Can playing together help are not at odds in a quintuple-layer cuprate GA
N
us live together? By I. Vishik N I
A
757 Fed-up archaeologists aim to fix field A field experiment in Iraq shows that REPORT p. 833 BRI
schools’ party culture having Muslim teammates reduced OTO/
Drinking and harassment spur experiments, Christian soccer players’ prejudice 777 Michael Soulé (1936–2020) P PH
A
including local projects and student stipends, By E. L. Paluck and C. S. Clark Founder of conservation biology O:
for core training course By L. Wade REPORT p. 866 By D. W. Inouye and P. R. Ehrlich PHOT
744 14 AUGUST 2020 • VOL 369 ISSUE 6505 sciencemag.org SCIENCE
Published by AAAS
BOOKS ET AL. RESEARCH ARTICLES 846 Coronavirus
778 How it all ends 787 Neurodevelopment A mathematical model reveals the influence
of population heterogeneity on herd
A light-hearted exploration of the death of the Huntington’s disease alters human
Universe serves as an effective antidote for neurodevelopment M. Barnat et al. immunity to SARS-CoV-2 T. Britton et al.
everyday worries By P. Halpern PERSPECTIVE p. 771
850 Electrochemistry
779 Science meets politics 793 Structural biology A molecular mediator for reductive
A passion for promoting the public good Binding mechanisms of therapeutic concerted proton-electron transfers
guided geneticist J. B. S. Haldane’s antibodies to human CD20 via electrocatalysis M. J. Chalkley et al.
scholarship By P. W. Hughes A. Kumar et al.
855 Metallurgy
LETTERS 799 Organic chemistry Iron-based superelastic alloys with
near-constant critical stress temperature
Divergent synthesis of complex
780 Retraction
diterpenes through a hybrid dependence J. Xia et al.
By S. Licht et al.
oxidative approach X. Zhang et al. PERSPECTIVE p. 773
780 Controlling the COVID-19 narrative 858 Neurodevelopment
Coronavirus
By N. Bharti Mitochondrial dynamics in postmitotic
806 DNA vaccine protection against
cells regulate neurogenesis R. Iwata et al.
780 Dismantling systemic racism SARS-CoV-2 in rhesus macaques
in science J. Yu et al. 863 Paleoanthropology
By E. A. Odekunle 812 SARS-CoV-2 infection protects Fire and grass-bedding construction
against rechallenge in rhesus macaques 200 thousand years ago at Border Cave,
781 Untapped resources for
A. Chandrashekar et al. South Africa L. Wadley et al.
medical research
REPORT p. 818
By O. A. Pérez-Escobar et al. 866 Intergroup relations
REPORTS Building social cohesion between
RESEARCH 818 Coronavirus Christians and Muslims through soccer
in post-ISIS Iraq S. Mousa
Primary exposure to SARS-CoV-2 protects
against reinfection in rhesus macaques PERSPECTIVE p.769; PODCAST
W. Deng et al.
IN BRIEF RESEARCH ARTICLES pp. 806 & 812
DEPARTMENTS
783 From Science and other journals
823 Immunology 749 Editorial
BAF restricts cGAS on nuclear DNA to prevent Vaccine nationalism’s politics
REVIEW
innate immune activation B. Guey et al. By David P. Fidler
786 Catalysis
Using nature’s blueprint to expand catalysis 829 Trophic resilience 874 Working Life
with Earth-abundant metals R. M. Bullock et al. Trophic pyramids reorganize when Interrupted—again By Kathy Gillen
REVIEW SUMMARY; FOR FULL TEXT: food web architecture fails to adjust to
DX.DOI.ORG/10.1126/SCIENCE.ABC3183 ocean change I. Nagelkerken et al.
ON THE COVER
PERSPECTIVE p. 770
771 & 787 A soccer game at Khazir
833 Superconductivity refugee camp outside
Observation of small Fermi Erbil, northern Iraq.
pockets protected by clean CuO sheets A randomized study
2
of a high-T superconductor assigned displaced
c
S. Kunisada et al. Christians to a soccer
team with displaced
PERSPECTIVE p. 775
Muslims or to an all-
838 Tropical forest Christian team. Playing
on a mixed team improved Christians’ behaviors
Active restoration accelerates
toward Muslim peers, but not toward Muslims
the carbon recovery of human-modified
more broadly. The results highlight the potential
tropical forests C. D. Philipson et al.
and limitations of intergroup contact after war.
See pages 769 and 866. Photo: Associated Press
842 Neuroscience
Importin a3 regulates chronic
pain pathways in peripheral sensory
Science Staff ..............................................746
neurons L. Marvaldi et al. New Products .............................................871
PERSPECTIVE p. 774 Science Careers .........................................872
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746 14 AUGUST 2020 • VOL 369 ISSUE 6505 sciencemag.org SCIENCE
Published by AAAS
EDITORIAL
Vaccine nationalism’s politics
B
efore coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) struck, With COVID-19, history is repeating itself. Countries
cooperation on global health—especially for pan- with the resources to obtain vaccines have not subordi-
demic preparedness and response—would, we nated their needs and capacities to the objective of global,
told ourselves, enhance national security, support equitable access. And the worldwide spread of the coro-
economic wealth, protect human rights, and facil- navirus eliminates leverage that viral sovereignty might
itate humanitarian assistance around the world. have provided countries without such means. Interna-
However, the politics of the coronavirus catastro- tional and nongovernmental organizations launched
phe do not reflect such national interests or international an ad hoc effort—the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access
David P. Fidler
solidarity. “Vaccine nationalism” is more evidence that ef- (COVAX) Facility—to achieve equitable access. But with
is an adjunct senior
forts to elevate health cooperation—and the sciences that no serious participation by major states so far, COVAX
fellow at the Council
inform it—have produced more rhetoric than political lacks game-changing support. In keeping with the long-
on Foreign Relations,
roots within countries and the international community. standing pattern of political behavior during pandemics,
Washington, DC,
Concerns about vaccine nationalism were escalating vaccines will eventually reach most populations, but only
USA. [email protected]
even before the United States announced on 31 July its after powerful countries have protected themselves.
largest deal to date with pharmaceutical companies to Further, changes in domestic and global politics
secure COVID-19 vaccines. Other countries—including have made matters worse. Domestically, the extent to
China, India, the United Kingdom, which governments have ignored
and members of the European science, denigrated health experts,
Union—are pursuing similar strat- “…access supported quack remedies and
egies. To critics, this scramble to policies, peddled disinformation,
secure vaccine supplies is one of and botched social distancing and
to coronavirus
many decisions by governments other nonpharmaceutical interven-
that have failed to control spread tions has been astonishing. This
vaccines
of the virus, destroyed economic travesty flows from the traction
activity, and damaged international that populist, nationalist, antiglo-
has become
cooperation. Ineffective national- balist, and authoritarian attitudes
istic policies appear to create a have gained around the world.
a priority in power
gap between science and politics Globally, balance-of-power poli-
that makes the pandemic worse tics has returned to world affairs.
politics…”
and undermines what science and Geopolitical calculations have
health diplomacy could achieve. In shaped national responses to CO-
fact, vaccine nationalism reflects VID-19, with the United States and
“business as usual” in global health. China treating the pandemic as
Historically, health diplomacy has struggled with another front in their rivalry for power and influence.
global, equitable access to drugs and vaccines during seri- National access to coronavirus vaccines has become a
ous disease events. Countries did not achieve this goal, priority in power politics, especially as a means to re-
for example, during the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic. cover from the economic damage at home, in export
International access typically happened only after devel- markets, and within regions of strategic importance in
oped countries secured pharmaceuticals for use at home, the balance of power.
as happened with vaccines for smallpox and polio and These changes in politics have generated ferocious
drugs for HIV/AIDS. Developing countries, such as China headwinds against global, equitable vaccine access—an
and India, tried to break out of this pattern by building objective only approached with great difficulty when
their own pharmaceutical innovation and production political waters were less turbulent. Reorienting health
capabilities. More recently, developing countries have policy and diplomacy will require root-and-branch re-
asserted sovereignty over pathogenic samples. This ap- construction of political interests on infectious diseases.
proach conditions access to samples on the source coun- Perhaps the mounting desperation for scientists to de-
try receiving benefits from research and development, liver a vaccine against COVID-19 will provide an incen-
including drugs and vaccines. This “viral sovereignty” tive for leaders to rebuild health policies sufficiently so
RSITY sintr athteeg yW porroldd uHceeadl tthh eO rvgiraunsi-zaantido-nb’es nPeafintd sehmaircin Ign frleugeinmzae tzhenats, wwihlle bne t lhees sn leikxte lpya tnod derminick hthites ,h pyodlriotixcyicahnlso aronqdu cinitei-.
VE
NI Preparedness Framework in 2011. –David P. Fidler
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IN BRIEF
Edited byJeffrey Brainard
Fishermen use a hose
(left) to suck up netted
menhaden into a ship
in Virginia’s portion of
the Chesapeake Bay.
CONSERVATION
New fisheries regulation considers predators’ needs
W hen fisheries regulators decide how many fish as prey for Atlantic striped bass, a species especially prized by
humans can kill, they rarely consider whether the recreational fishers. The move—one of the first like it in the
quota affects other predators. But last week manag- world—is “a major step forward for management of marine
ers overseeing fisheries off the U.S. east coast took resources and conservation science,” the Pew Charitable Trusts
that broader view in deciding how they will set said in a statement. The decision should also help other fish,
catch limits for menhaden, a small, oily fish that is whales, and birds that feed heavily on menhaden, the commis-
the basis for the second largest fishery in the United States by sion said. Conservationists had long pushed for the change, ar-
weight harvested. Ending a yearslong conservation battle, guing that menhaden, which are mostly sold for animal feed,
the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission unanimously fish oil pills, and bait, play a key role in marine food webs and
voted to set new menhaden limits designed to leave enough needed to be managed more sustainably.
GES
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issued a “registration certificate” for be used widely until 1 January 2021, but N
a COVID-19 vaccine—even though it does not explain the rationale. Vaccine DRUG DEVELOPMENT | Companies, O-REY
R
hcearst ibfieceant et easltloedw sin t hoen lvya c7c6i npee,o mplaed. Te hbey the rimesmeaerdcihaetresly a dnedn pouubnlcice dh ethaelt hce srptiefciciaaltiisotns atoc amdeamkei am, aonndo cgloovnearln amnetinbtos dsiheos ualgda winosrtk BALLE
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Gamaleya Research Institute in Moscow, as premature and inappropriate because many diseases more widely available W
to be used by “a small number of citizens the vaccine has yet to complete an efficacy to people across the globe, a report DRE
N
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from vulnerable groups,” including medical trial that convincingly shows it is safe and says. Antibody treatments have had an O:
staff and older people, according to a effective in a large group of people. Critics immense impact on treating several HOT
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types of cancer as well as autoimmune signaled major shifts in vegetation. When Committee. In Nature Genetics, it
diseases and are increasingly used to the last ice age ended roughly 11,000 years published revised naming guidelines that
fight infectious diseases like Ebola and ago, forests and grasslands regrew across call for, among other updates, tweaking
HIV. But people in low- and middle- North America, creating a landscape that symbols known to autoconvert to dates.
income countries hardly have any access remained largely stable for thousands of For example, DEC1, an abbreviation for
to these expensive drugs, according to years. But recently, humans have changed “deleted in esophageal cancer 1,” was
the report by the International AIDS the landscape even more than melting renamed DELEC1; SEPT1 is now SEPTIN1.
Vaccine Initiative, a nonprofit research glaciers, she reported, lending further The committee, which considers such
organization, and the Wellcome Trust, one support for the notion of a new epoch changes case by case, has altered 27 such
of the world’s biggest research funders. in geological history, the Anthropocene, symbols this year, reported The Verge, a
Academic researchers and governments defined by human activity. news website.
can improve access, the report says, by
Number of abrupt ecosystem changes per every
supporting new technologies to make HIV-positive to join vaccine trials
250 years for every 100 sites studied
antibody treatments cheaper and clarify-
ing and harmonizing regulations so that 15 10 20 CLINICAL TRIALS | In response to lob-
more countries can register the therapies. bying by AIDS activists and scientists,
The report’s authors also tout the poten- 13,000 to 11,000 11,000 years 1700 C.E. companies running two large clinical
tial for monoclonal antibodies to treat years ago ago to to studies of COVID-19 vaccines have agreed
COVID-19 (see p. 752). (glacial shifts) 1700 C.E. 1950 C.E. to include people with HIV. Vaccine trials
often exclude HIV-positive people because
Pollen reveals human footprint Gene renaming eases headaches of concerns their infection would impair
their responses to immunization. But the
ECOLOGY | Agriculture and other human DATA MANAGEMENT | It was driving Infectious Diseases Society of America
activities have caused abrupt changes in geneticists mad: When they entered the and AIDS activists argued that most HIV-
North America’s ecosystems more often standardized symbols of certain human infected people on antiviral treatment
in the past 250 years than the previ- genes, such as MARCH1, into Microsoft don’t have suppressed immune systems
ous 11,000—more even than during a Excel, the software program automatically and that leaving this group out would be
relatively short period of glacial advance converted them into dates, such as 1-Mar. wrong. Moderna and Pfizer, which each
and retreat from 13,000 to 11,000 years Scientists could reformat columns to launched a 30,000-person U.S. phase III
ago. At last week’s virtual annual meet- avoid the common problem, but many trial in late July, both announced last
ing of the Ecological Society of America, didn’t, allowing errors to propagate in week that they plan to amend their pro-
Stanford University paleoecologist M. data sets and scholarly papers based on tocols to include people with stable HIV.
Allison Stegner described her team’s them. Last week, a fix was announced Lynda Dee of AIDS Action Baltimore says
analysis of fossil pollen in 400 well-dated by an international group that manages AstraZeneca plans to include HIV-positive
mud cores sampled from lakes across the symbols, the Human Genome people when it begins enrollment in a
North America. Big shifts in pollen types Organization’s Gene Nomenclature phase III vaccine trial at U.S. sites; a
company spokesperson declined to con-
firm this.
ASTRONOMY
Neuroscience meeting axed
The Milky Way’s distant cousin
A stronomers were surprised to find that a COMMUNITY | Organizers of one of
the world’s largest scientific meetings
galaxy formed just 1.4 billion years after
announced last week it will not take place
the big bang looks remarkably like our
online or in person this year because of
well-ordered, disk-shaped Milky Way—
COVID-19. Many scientific organizations
a challenge to the conventional
have replaced in-person meetings with
view that galaxies in the early universe
virtual ones this year, but the Society for
were chaotic and unstructured.
Neuroscience (SFN) canceled its meeting
In Nature this week, a team of
altogether, citing risks and restrictions from
astronomers describes processing
the pandemic. About 30,000 neuroscientists
archival data from Chile’s Atacama
had once planned to convene in Washington,
Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array
D.C., in October. Some scientists criticized
of the distant galaxy SPT0418–47;
SFN’s decision. “So you have $70M [mil-
O ET AL. o12b sbeilrlivoant iyoenasr csa apgtou,r wedh eitn i nth ites u ynoiuvethrs e ltieollnin] gsi tutsin tgh aint cyaonu’tr obragnakn aizcec oaunn atm anazdi nygo u’re
RIZZ was just 10% of its current age. The virtual meeting with 6+ months notice?”
O); gravity of another galaxy between Earth
A computational neuroscientist Gunnar
R
N and SPT0418–47 focused its rays, creating
AOJ/ a circular image (right). But subsequent Blohm of Queen’s University in Kingston,
N Canada, wrote on Twitter. Others, including
A (ESO/ cdoismk pauntde cr emnotrdael lbinuglg ree,v feeaalteudr eas r othtaotuinghg t to neuroscientist Kay Tye of the Salk Institute
M for Biological Studies, said it was the right
O: AL form much later in galactic evolution. call. “It would have been a pretty sad virtual
OT
H experience,” she tweeted.
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COVID-19 hopes are riding on antibodies
IN DEPTH that bind to a key surface protein of the new
coronavirus (orange in an artist’s concept).
COVID-19
Antibodies may curb pandemic before vaccines
Now in efficacy trials, monoclonal antibodies promise to both prevent and treat disease
By Jon Cohen lines of B cells that make the proteins, rais- in three large-scale, placebo-controlled tri-
ing concerns they could be scarce and expen- als. A prevention trial run in coordination
W hile the world is transfixed by sive. On 15 July, Lilly, AbCellera, AstraZeneca, with NIAID’s COVID-19 Prevention Trials
the high-stakes race to develop a GlaxoSmithKline, Genentech, and Amgen Network (CoVPN), an arm of the Trump ad-
COVID-19 vaccine, an equally cru- jointly asked the U.S. Department of Justice ministration’s Operation Warp Speed, will
cial competition is heating up to (DOJ) whether they could share informa- recruit 2000 people who live in a house with
produce targeted antibodies that tion about manufacturing their monoclonals a confirmed COVID-19 case. One treatment
could provide an instant immune without violating antitrust laws “to expand study run by the company aims to enroll
boost against the virus. Clinical trials of these and expedite production.” nearly 2600 hospitalized people with severe
monoclonal antibodies, which may both pre- Soon after the pandemic began, research- COVID-19, whereas another, about half that
vent and treat the disease, are already under- ers in industry and academia began to iden- size, will test the antibodies in infected people
way and could produce signs of efficacy in the tify, design, tweak, and conduct with mild or moderate symptoms.
next few months, perhaps ahead of vaccine lab tests of monoclonal antibodies Lilly has launched its own trials,
trials. “If you were going to put your money against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that Science’s including a phase III, placebo-
down, you would bet that you get the answer causes COVID-19. Most bind to COVID-19 controlled study in 2400 residents
with the monoclonal before you get the an- and “neutralize” the viral surface reporting is or staff of long-term care facilities,
supported by the
swer with a vaccine,” says Anthony Fauci, protein, or spike, that initiates an run with the help of CoVPN.
Pulitzer Center
head of the National Institute of Allergy and infection. On 29 May, Lilly, work- “We should be able to see an effi-
and the
Infectious Diseases (NIAID). ing with AbCellera, launched the Heising-Simons cacy signal very quickly” from these
“Antibodies have the potential to be an im- first human study of a monoclonal Foundation. trials, says Amy Jenkins, who heads
portant bridge until the vaccine is available,” antibody—a phase I trial testing the Pandemic Prevention Platform
says Ajay Nirula, a vice president at Eli Lilly, its safety and tolerability in hospitalized (P3) program at the Defense Advanced Re-
one of several large companies investing in COVID-19 patients. Other safety trials fol- search Projects Agency, which for 2 years RCE
U
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them. Likely to be more effective than rem- lowed, from Lilly’s Chinese partner Junshi has invested in speeding the development CE S
desivir and dexamethasone, the repurposed Biosciences and Regeneron, which devel- of monoclonal antibodies. Although Jenkins N
CIE
drugs shown to help against COVID-19, anti- oped a cocktail of three monoclonals that hesitates to make a firm prediction, she says R/S
bodies could protect the highest risk health works against Ebola. the November-December time frame is “real- NE
RT
care workers from becoming infected while Regeneron is now testing the efficacy of its istic and conservative.” That is likely earlier AE
G
also lessening the severity of the disease in COVID-19 cocktail, which combines a spike than any vaccine will prove safe and effective, N
A
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hospitalized patients. But producing mono- antibody from a person who recovered and researchers predict. “I would be reluctant to GE: J
clonals involves using bioreactors to grow one from a mouse given the spike protein, say [that] would be any earlier than the end MA
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NEWS
of the year,” Fauci said at a press conference next year for prevention and treatment. COVID 19
about the launch of NIAID’s first COVID-19 “Unlike with vaccines, it is hard to project
For science in
efficacy vaccine trial on 27 July. the number of treatment courses that will
Regeneron’s Christos Kyratsous notes be available,” Woodcock says. Prevention,
that vaccine trials must wait a few weeks which would be a single intramuscular Latin America,
for a person’s immune system to develop shot, requires less product than the intra-
appropriate responses to shots and further venous infusions used in treatment, she
weeks for “the event”—a chance exposure notes, but the amount needed depends on ‘a fascinating
to SARS-CoV-2. This means those trials re- a person’s weight.
quire time and many people. In contrast, for Although how to prioritize vaccine dis-
the antibody treatment trials, “your event tribution has already sparked extensive challenge’
has already happened,” Kyratsous says. And debate, no such discussion has yet taken
in the prevention studies, the household place about monoclonal antibodies. But
contacts of COVID-19 cases will be much DOJ acknowledged the supply concerns on Pandemic shows benefits
more likely to be exposed than people who 23 July, giving the six companies that had
of investments in research
typically join a vaccine efficacy study. petitioned it the green light to share pro-
Immunologist Dennis Burton, whose duction information. but also poses grave threats
group at Scripps Research has isolated Regeneron is not part of that group, yet
highly potent monoclonal antibodies Kyratsous is optimistic about meeting the
against SARS-CoV-2 that it hopes to move need. “The good thing with some of these By Rodrigo Pérez Ortega and Lindzi Wessel
into human studies (Science, 15 June, DOI: biologics is you can ramp up production
10.1126/science.abc8511), says he is opti- fairly fast,” he says. Nirula agrees. “If we A s the COVID-19 pandemic surged
mistic that monoclonals will have success in these clinical across the United States and Europe
protect people from infection trials, we will have a lot of drug in February, scientists at Mexico’s
“Antibodies
for months with a single shot. available,” he says. Center for Research and Advanced
“It’s much easier to take care have the The cost of monoclonals, Studies (Cinvestav) sprang into ac-
of a few incoming virus par- especially for the higher doses tion. They quickly converted one of
ticles than to try and resolve potential to be needed for treatment, could their research labs into a diagnostic clinic,
or cure an ongoing infection.” split the world into the haves and by mid-March, as cases began to mount
an important
The same logic holds for treat- and have-nots. “It’s unlikely in Mexico, they had launched seven other
ment. “Hit the virus hard and bridge until that that treatment will get COVID-19–related projects.
early,” Burton says. down to a price point in the Then a second crisis hit. On 2 April,
Kyratsous says even if the vaccine is near future that it would be Mexican President Andrés Manuel López
monoclonal antibodies don’t easily affordable globally,” Obrador ordered the termination of pub-
available.”
beat vaccines to the finish line, says Seth Berkley, who leads lic trust funds, which pay for special and
they still might have a role to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, long-term projects at Cinvestav—a public
Ajay Nirula, Eli Lilly
play against COVID-19. “We’re and heads an international institute with nine campuses that employs
going to need both approaches COVID-19 vaccine effort. 7500 people—and other institutions. Three
in the long run,” Kyratsous suggests. Vac- Jenkins says a key aim of the P3 proj- weeks later, he announced a 75% cut for
cines are rarely 100% effective, and many ect, which has provided four groups with some federal institutions’ operating bud-
people may decline a vaccine or skip im- $96 million in seed money, has been to de- gets, including Cinvestav’s, that would have
munization for other reasons. What’s more, velop monoclonal antibodies that can be forced the institute to shut down, says Cin-
he notes, the elderly or people who are im- made by the body itself, instead of in large vestav Director José Mustre de León.
mune compromised may not mount robust fermentation tanks. The idea, which has not Another blow followed on 14 May, when
immune responses after being vaccinated. yet been tested in humans for COVID-19, is the National Council of Science and Tech-
Supplies of monoclonal antibodies may to inject people with DNA or messenger nology (Conacyt) asked scientists to donate
be limited, however, in part because of RNA that encodes a desired antibody, al- their monthly federal supplement, a typi-
modest investment. Operation Warp Speed, lowing their own cells to make it. “We think cal part of Mexican researchers’ income,
for example, has committed $8 billion to we can bring down the cost of monoclonal to the nation’s health system to support
six different COVID-19 vaccines; for mono- antibodies,” Jenkins says. the COVID-19 response. “Not only would
clonals, the government has invested about Regardless of cost, evidence that mono- we not have any money, but we’ll have to
$750 million, much of it in Regeneron, clonals work as preventives could benefit take money out of our own pockets,” says
which will produce somewhere between everyone by giving vaccinemakers a clear Gabriela Olmedo, a genetic engineer and di-
70,000 and 300,000 doses before it even sign that antibodies against the surface pro- rector of Cinvestav’s Irapuato campus.
has efficacy data. Lilly says it will have tein of SARS-CoV-2 are enough to protect a Mexican scientists aren’t alone in feeling
100,000 doses by the end of the year. person. This, in turn, could provide a strong conflicting pressures from the pandemic.
But no one knows how far those doses indicator for evaluating the worth of a can- Across Latin America, researchers have
would stretch, says Janet Woodcock, who is didate vaccine short of actual efficacy data. raced to contribute their expertise to the
on leave from the Food and Drug Admin- “It will be earthshaking to the vaccine field worst public health crisis in a century and
istration to lead Warp Speed’s therapeutic in a positive way,” says Myron Cohen of the demonstrate that several decades of invest-
effort. If the antibodies work, a study from University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, ment in research—including the capacity to
the Duke University Margolis Center for who leads testing of monoclonal antibodies run large clinical trials—has paid off. “We
Health Policy estimates the United States for CoVPN. “It provides a thousand oppor- basically showed that we have knowledge
alone could require nearly 40 million doses tunities to move forward faster.” j in the country that can be put to work for
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Technological Innovation (CONCYTEC). This
year, the government paused certain funding
programs; by July’s close, CONCYTEC had
spent just 16% of its 2020 budget.
In neighboring Ecuador, new threats of
cuts to higher education and the economic
crisis have led scientists to ramp up efforts
to secure funding by collaborating with re-
searchers from the United States and the
European Union, says Diego Quiroga, dean of
research at San Francisco de Quito University.
“If we don’t look abroad for funding, we’ll
have nothing,” says Quiroga, who predicts
the pandemic will cause an exodus of young
scientists. As Mustre de León puts it: “We’re
losing an entire generation of scientists.”
In Mexico, after an outcry from research-
ers, students, and the media, the president
ordered Conacyt officials to drop their plea
for donations. Cinvestav was allowed to keep
its public trust funds for now and is negoti-
Students protest against a cut in the education budget at the Central University of Ecuador on 5 May. ating a smaller budget cut. But other federal
institutions will still see cuts, and the epi-
the benefit of the society as a whole,” says In Argentina and Chile, science’s political sode left scientists shaken and worried. “If
Aisén Etcheverry, who heads Chile’s National standing has risen in the crisis. Argentine we hadn’t had this budget cut environment,
Agency for Research and Development. At President Alberto Fernández, elected in we could have done much more,” Mustre de
the same time, the pandemic has created 2019, was already taking a science-friendly León says. And the pandemic has worsened
deep economic and financial problems for approach, generally heeding his science ad- an already-tense relationship between the
the region, which faces a projected 5.3% con- visers and promising more funding—a shift scientific community and Conacyt Director
traction in gross domestic product this year. from his predecessor, who implemented and developmental biologist María Elena
The resulting cuts are hitting science hard devastating budget cuts and demoted the Álvarez-Buylla Roces, whose response to the
and threatening hard-won gains. science ministry to a subsection of the Min- pandemic they have criticized.
Latin America comprises less than 10% istry of Education. Now, the public sees Elsewhere, too, the pandemic has deep-
of the global population yet accounts for that prioritizing science helps Argentina re- ened rifts between scientists and politi-
nearly one-third of reported COVID-19 spond to the pandemic, argues Juan Pablo cians. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro
deaths. In deaths and case counts, Brazil Paz, secretary of scientific and technological has repeatedly called into question scientific
ranks second only to the United States; Co- coordination. “I think science will remain in expertise, downplaying the severity of the
lombia, Chile, Peru, and Mexico have been a stronger position than before.” pandemic and promoting treatments lack-
hard hit as well. The fallout could push an In Chile, Etcheverry redirected her ing evidence. In Venezuela, scientists’ alarms
additional 16 million residents of the region agency—part of a new science ministry prompted threats from high-level govern-
into extreme poverty, according to a report and only 3 months old when the pandemic ment officials. And in Colombia, seven sena-
from the United Nations. struck—to provide COVID-19 testing and tors sent President Iván Duque Márquez a
Latin America’s growth in basic research, other aid to the pandemic response and letter on 27 July complaining about a lack
achieved through decades of investment in made money available to track societal im- of leadership during the pandemic by Mabel
many countries, has put the region in a bet- pacts of the crisis, such as increases in do- Torres Torres, who leads the new Ministry
ter position to fight back, says Hernando mestic violence. Showing that science could of Science, Technology and Innovation and
García Martínez, director of the Alexander help “generated a conversation inside the was previously engulfed in scandals over her
von Humboldt Biological Resources Re- government that never had happened be- promotion of an untested cancer treatment.
search Institute in Bogotá, Colombia. “We fore,” Etcheverry says. “It’s definitely a turn- “It’s an absent ministry,” says immunologist
wouldn’t have had the capacity to respond ing point on how the sector is perceived.” Gabriela Delgado Murcia of the National
to such a direct and real problem for society Still, the economic crisis has not spared University of Colombia, Bogotá. “We feel
as COVID-19,” says García Martínez, who de- Chilean science. Becas Chile, a scholarship desolate.” Two days later, the Ministry of Fi-
scribes the crisis as a “fascinating challenge.” program that funds international study for nance proposed a 35% cut for the country’s
In early April, Colombian researchers aspiring researchers and has boosted growth 2021 science budget.
were among the first to start a clinical trial of many scientific fields in Chile, has been Despite the challenges that the pandemic GES
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Researchers in Brazil, Mexico, and Argen- one,” says César Fuentes, an astronomer at these days. “We are very adaptive.” j UE
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tina have joined the race to develop their the University of Chile. O
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own vaccines and are partners in phase The picture is darker in Peru, says Gisella Rodrigo Pérez Ortega is a science journalist DRI
O
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II and III trials of international vaccine Orjeda, former president of the country’s in Washington, D.C. Lindzi Wessel is a journalist O:
front-runners. National Council of Science, Technology and in the San Francisco Bay Area. HOT
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