Brown Corporation elects three new fellows, seven trustees
Brown’s governing body elected each new member based on their commitment to the University and its mission of education and research.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] During its annual spring meeting in May, the Corporation of Brown University elected three new members to its Board of Fellows and seven new members to its Board of Trustees. Each was invited to serve on Brown’s governing body based on their commitment to the University and its mission of education and research.
John C. Atwater, a 1983 Brown graduate and a trustee since 2015, Pamela R. Reeves, a 1987 Brown graduate and a trustee since 2016, and Nancy G. Zimmerman, a 1985 Brown graduate and trustee since 2019 and from 2010 to 2016, were elected to the Board of Fellows. Members of the Board of Fellows customarily serve 11-year terms.
SUMMARY
Vaccination elicits immune responses capable of potently neutralizing SARS-CoV-2. However, ongoing surveillance has revealed the emergence of variants harboring mutations in spike, the main target of neutralizing antibodies. To understand the impact of these variants, we evaluated the neutralization potency of 99 individuals that received one or two doses of either BNT162b2 or mRNA-1273 vaccines against pseudoviruses representing 10 globally circulating strains of SARS-CoV-2. Five of the 10 pseudoviruses, harboring receptor-binding domain mutations, including K417N/T, E484K, and N501Y, were highly resistant to neutralization. Cross-neutralization of B.1.351 variants was comparable to SARS-CoV and bat-derived WIV1-CoV, suggesting that a relatively small number of mutations can mediate potent escape from vaccine responses. While the clinical impact of neutralization resistance remains uncertain, these results highlight the potential for variants to escape from neutralizing hum