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Electronic devices today are untethered and always connected, and wireless networks have enabled this free flow of information. John O’Sullivan details the developments leading up to the establishment of the wireless network standard 802.11a, which is more commonly known as Wi-Fi.

An analysis of 24,202 critical cases of COVID-19 identifies potentially druggable targets in inflammatory signalling (JAK1), monocyte–macrophage activation and endothelial permeability (PDE4A), immunometabolism (SLC2A5 and AK5), and host factors required for viral entry and replication (TMPRSS2 and RAB2A).

Questions have arisen as to whether patients with severe COVID-19 disease can generate a T cell response against SARS-CoV-2. Tao Dong and colleagues report that convalescent patients with COVID-19 harbor functional memory CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ T cells that recognize multiple epitopes that span the viral proteome. CD4⁺ T cells predominated the memory response in patients with severe disease, whereas higher proportions of CD8⁺ T cells were found in patients with mild disease.

A global network of researchers was formed to investigate the role of human genetics in SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 severity; this paper reports 13 genome-wide significant loci and potentially actionable mechanisms in response to infection.

Serological detection of antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 can help establish rates of seroconversion. Here the authors develop a red cell agglutination test to detect antibodies against the receptor binding domain for distribution free of charge to qualified research groups.

In some HIV-1-infected individuals, viraemia remains undetectable after antiretroviral treatment, but which of these patients will experience viral rebound is difficult to predict. Here the authors show that T cell exhaustion markers before treatment are predictive of shorter time to viral rebound.

Understanding the immune response to SARS-CoV-2 is dependent on being able to distinguish COVID-19 immune responses from cross-reactive immune responses to other coronaviruses. Here the authors show that choice of antigens and whether an ICS, ELISPOT or T cell proliferation assay is used has a major effect on this discriminatory ability.

Whole-genome sequencing, transcriptome-wide association and fine-mapping analyses in over 7,000 individuals with critical COVID-19 are used to identify 16 independent variants that are associated with severe illness in COVID-19.

Clinical trials testing efficacy of novel HIV treatments rely on analytical treatment interruption (ATI). Using data from 24 prospective studies, the authors here show that the virus becomes detectable after around 16 days of ATI and that only 4% of individuals have sustained control of HIV, providing information for future clinical trial design.

The degree of plasticity in the epigenetic landscape of exhausted T cells has been unclear. Sen and colleagues find that exhausted CD8⁺ T cells demonstrate a stable core epigenetic exhaustion signature that persists independent of inflammation or viral antigen.

It remains unclear whether exotic and native species are functionally different. Using a global grassland experiment, Seabloomet al. show that native and exotic species respond differently to two globally pervasive environmental changes, addition of mineral nutrients and alteration of herbivore density.

Vitamin D is a precursor of the steroid hormone 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3, and its deficiency is associated with many adverse health outcomes. Here, Revez et al. perform a genome-wide association study for circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D in 417,580 individuals and test for potential causal relationships with other traits using Mendelian randomization.

Understanding the effect of vaccination on emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern is of increasing importance. Here, James et al. report that two doses of vaccination with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine induce more robust immune responses to the B.1.1.7 and B.1.351 SARS-CoV-2 lineages than does natural infection.

It is important to understand the correlates of protection against SARS-CoV-2 and its variants for future vaccine design. Here, the authors show that the complement system enhances the antibody-mediated neutralisation of SARS-CoV-2 via increased inhibition of virus-host interactions.

Jonathan Carlson and colleagues report that pre-adaptation of HIV to a recipient's major histocompatibility complex class I alleles impairs immune control of the virus.

The engagement of immunological memory is a key component to the protective anti-SARS-CoV-2 B and T cell responses. Here the authors assess the B and T cells of a cohort of UK healthcare workers in response to infection and longitudinally track the compartment showing distinct trajectories following early priming.

Two doses of the coronavirus disease 2019 vaccine ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 boost antibody responses and functions in phase 1/2 trial participants.

Serological analysis and infection outcomes of participants in the multi-center, prospectively enrolled OCTAVE cohort, comprising 2,686 participants with immune-suppressive diseases who recieved two COVID-19 vaccines, reveals specific clinical phenotypes that might benefit from specific COVID-19 therapeutic strategies.

Various host factors may impact within-host pathogen evolution. Here, the authors develop a Bayesian approach for identifying host-pathogen interactions using large data sets of pathogen diversity, and apply it to investigate HLA-induced selection in the HIV-1 genome.

Matthew Walter and colleagues report the whole-genome sequencing of a secondary acute myeloid leukemia sample and a matched normal tissue sample. Further analysis of additional subjects identified recurrent mutations in U2AF1 in 13/150 (8.7%) individuals with myelodysplastic syndrome.

This paper traces the adaptation of HIV to HLA alleles in 2,500 HIV-infected subjects and demonstrates a strong correlation between the prevalence of escape mutations within well characterized epitopes and the prevalence of the respective HLA alleles, thereby providing evidence that the virus is indeed adapting to effective immune responses.

An adult infected with HIV-1 who underwent allogeneic haematopoietic stem-cell transplantation for Hodgkin’s lymphoma using cells from a CCR5Δ32/Δ32 donor achieved full remission of HIV-1 for 18 months after transplantation and 16 months after cessation of antiretroviral therapy.

A single dose of the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine elicits antibodies and cytokine-producing T cells that might help control or prevent SARS-CoV-2 infection.

This Review discusses the evidence for pre-existing cross-reactive immune responses to SARS-CoV-2, which are mainly due to infections with common cold coronaviruses, and how such cross-reactivity affects adaptive immune responses. Furthermore, it explores cross-reactivity in the context of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern and its implications for vaccine development.