Family of Eagles: FGCU volleyball star graduates with Master’s DegreeLCSO: Man shot by car owner protecting property
Family of Eagles: FGCU volleyball star graduates with Master’s Degree Saturday marked a special day for Florida Gulf Coast University as more than 1,800 students graduated. For one student-athlete, graduating from FGCU runs in the family.
lehigh acres LCSO: Man shot by car owner protecting property The Lee County Sheriff’s Office responded to a shooting in Lehigh Acres early Saturday morning.
NORTH FORT MYERS Lee County residents wait hours for D-SNAP assistance The supplemental nutrition assistance program (SNAP) is at the Lee Civic Center all weekend, ready to help southwest Florida.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA First eaglet hatches in famous SWFL eagle nest Welcome E24! The third eaglet from the nest of M15 and F23 has hatched according to the Southwest Florida eagle camera.
Rock for Equality: SWFL non-profit hosts benefit concert for Palestine A Southwest Florida non-profit hosted a benefit concert on Friday night to help with humanitarian aid in Palestine.
Warm, breezy Saturday with a few showers possible The Weather Authority is forecasting a breezy, warm weekend in store across Southwest Florida, with the chance of a few showers, particularly on Saturday.
CAPE CORAL Active investigation underway in South Cape Coral Cape Coral police are investigating at a home on Southwest 49th Terrace in South Cape Coral early Saturday morning.
16 transported after 2 airboats crash in Collier County According to the Collier County Sheriff’s Office, two airboats crashed south of U.S. 41 east between mile markers 74 and 75, leaving well over a dozen people injured.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA New bill filed: Auto shop and law enforcement must work together to solve hit-and-run crashes There could be new detectives on the block, located in your nearest auto shop. A new state bill aims at trying to stop hit-and-run drivers from getting away.
CAPE CORAL New leash on life; Cape Coral shelter dog beats cancer with drug being tested for humans A drug now being studied in human trials to kill cancerous tumors, is already approved and helping animals.
CAPE CORAL City of Cape Coral planning a new interchange with I-75 The city of Cape Coral is in the early stages of planning a new interchange with I-75, an idea that has been discussed for more than a decade.
Tracking invasive species after hurricanes Hurricanes Helene and Milton didn’t just bring wind and rain, they brought new threats to southwest Florida’s ecosystem.
PUNTA GORDA Woman in Punta Gorda shooting charged with 2nd degree murder A woman in a homicide investigation on Nasturtium Drive in Punta Gorda has been charged with 2nd-degree murder.
Lee County mother continuing fight to get children a bus stop The school district already told her she lives too close to the school to qualify for a bus route but she has not given up.
NORTH NAPLES Grant Thornton Invitational returns to Tiburon Golf Club Stars on the PGA and LPGA Tours are back in Southwest Florida for the Grant Thornton Invitational at Tiburon Golf Club.
Family of Eagles: FGCU volleyball star graduates with Master’s Degree Saturday marked a special day for Florida Gulf Coast University as more than 1,800 students graduated. For one student-athlete, graduating from FGCU runs in the family.
lehigh acres LCSO: Man shot by car owner protecting property The Lee County Sheriff’s Office responded to a shooting in Lehigh Acres early Saturday morning.
NORTH FORT MYERS Lee County residents wait hours for D-SNAP assistance The supplemental nutrition assistance program (SNAP) is at the Lee Civic Center all weekend, ready to help southwest Florida.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA First eaglet hatches in famous SWFL eagle nest Welcome E24! The third eaglet from the nest of M15 and F23 has hatched according to the Southwest Florida eagle camera.
Rock for Equality: SWFL non-profit hosts benefit concert for Palestine A Southwest Florida non-profit hosted a benefit concert on Friday night to help with humanitarian aid in Palestine.
Warm, breezy Saturday with a few showers possible The Weather Authority is forecasting a breezy, warm weekend in store across Southwest Florida, with the chance of a few showers, particularly on Saturday.
CAPE CORAL Active investigation underway in South Cape Coral Cape Coral police are investigating at a home on Southwest 49th Terrace in South Cape Coral early Saturday morning.
16 transported after 2 airboats crash in Collier County According to the Collier County Sheriff’s Office, two airboats crashed south of U.S. 41 east between mile markers 74 and 75, leaving well over a dozen people injured.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA New bill filed: Auto shop and law enforcement must work together to solve hit-and-run crashes There could be new detectives on the block, located in your nearest auto shop. A new state bill aims at trying to stop hit-and-run drivers from getting away.
CAPE CORAL New leash on life; Cape Coral shelter dog beats cancer with drug being tested for humans A drug now being studied in human trials to kill cancerous tumors, is already approved and helping animals.
CAPE CORAL City of Cape Coral planning a new interchange with I-75 The city of Cape Coral is in the early stages of planning a new interchange with I-75, an idea that has been discussed for more than a decade.
Tracking invasive species after hurricanes Hurricanes Helene and Milton didn’t just bring wind and rain, they brought new threats to southwest Florida’s ecosystem.
PUNTA GORDA Woman in Punta Gorda shooting charged with 2nd degree murder A woman in a homicide investigation on Nasturtium Drive in Punta Gorda has been charged with 2nd-degree murder.
Lee County mother continuing fight to get children a bus stop The school district already told her she lives too close to the school to qualify for a bus route but she has not given up.
NORTH NAPLES Grant Thornton Invitational returns to Tiburon Golf Club Stars on the PGA and LPGA Tours are back in Southwest Florida for the Grant Thornton Invitational at Tiburon Golf Club.
Moderna vaccine doses stored in a refrigerator. Credit: WINK News Back in January, just one month after Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine was authorized for emergency use, fears about a contagious variant strain began to grip the nation – and scientists at Moderna immediately realized this could be a threat. “We didn’t think we had time to wait,” said Dr. Stephen Hoge, president of the company. “We thought, ‘If we don’t start now, then by the time we get to the fall, we won’t have an updated vaccine in case those variants really become a significant concern and start reinfecting people.” As millions of doses rolled off the manufacturing line at their facility in Norwood, Mass., Hoge’s team got to work to re-tool the vaccine. National Public Radio correspondent Allison Aubrey asked, “And within a week, you had designed a new vaccine?” “We designed that vaccine really overnight, and started manufacturing, and had it, and moved it into clinical trials within a month,” he replied. It can take years to make a new vaccine, so this was a breakthrough. “How is that possible?” Aubrey asked. “Well, it has to do with our technology,” said Hoge. “We use something called messenger RNA, or mRNA for short. It’s really just an instruction molecule, kind of like a software program for your cells. It just sends instructions about what the virus looks like to your immune system. So just like a software program, or a Word document, we can simply edit something, change it, and then manufacture it very, very quickly.” He makes it sound so easy, but it’s taken more than a decade of research, and many technological hurdles. Now, the company has some big plans. “We’ve had an incredible year using messenger RNA to fight a pandemic,” Hoge said. “But we think we’re just starting in the infectious disease space, And so, there’s a large number of other vaccines we’re bringing forward.” Moderna’s research pipeline includes everything from an HIV vaccine, to heart disease treatments, to vaccines for different kinds of cancer, including lymphoma and melanoma. Connie Franciosi is already participating in one clinical trial. Diagnosed with melanoma in May 2020, she’s a two-time cancer survivor. And after surgery to remove the melanoma, her doctor had some troubling news: “He did indicate that they had found melanoma cells in my lymph nodes, which meant that I would need to have further treatment,” Franciosi said. “So, you were at high risk of relapse?” Aubrey asked. “Yes. I was considered high risk for melanoma again.” She started on a cancer-fighting immunotherapy drug – and she was offered the chance to get the experimental mRNA vaccine designed to prevent a relapse. Franciosi said, “When you weigh the possible benefits from something like this, I just had to go for it.” Dr. Ryan Sullivan, of Massachusetts General Hospital, is treating Franciosi. He said the idea is that the vaccine can help generate the right mix of cancer-fighting immune cells: “It’s definitely too soon to say I’m optimistic, but the jury’s still out. The best-case scenario is that a combination of an mRNA vaccine plus a standard immunotherapy is shown to reduce the risk of relapse. And if we see that happen, it will change the way we treat patients in the future.” It will take several years to determine this. In the meantime, Moderna’s CEO Stephane Bancel thinks mRNA technology can revolutionize a shot millions of us already get each year: the flu shot. Currently, flu vaccines take months to produce. “Everything is wrong about it. The very process of making it makes no sense,” Bancel said. To make the shots, Scientists actually inject flu virus into eggs. It’s a decades-old approach, and, Bancel said, it’s part of the reason they’re not always effective: “You have to start very early on, so you have to guess which strain will be in the U.S. next year.” So, his plan is to change this. Moderna aims to start a clinical trial later this year, and if it turns out COVID boosters are needed, Moderna wants to combine its coronavirus vaccines with a new flu shot. “So, we’re gonna just throw everything out the window and give you a good, high-efficacy vaccine every winter,” Bancel said. “And then we’re gonna combine it with a COVID vaccine booster, so you can have a nice winter.” That’s his vision for the future. It’s not clear how this will turn out, but what is clear is that Moderna (which grew from a tiny startup to a household name over the course of a year) is betting on the speed and versatility of mRNA technology. Aubrey asked Hoge, “So basically, you have developed a delivery system for all kinds of different medications or therapies?” “That’s really the promise of the technology,” he replied. “It really is the same system every time. Just like we updated our vaccine in January for the new variants of concern in SARS-CoV-2, we can actually update it to go after all of the other viruses that we’re looking at just as quickly. And that really allows us to advance medicines across a wide range of diseases, both in cancer and in vaccines.” Meanwhile, Connie Franciosi says she’s back to living a busy life, and back into her garden. Aubrey said, “It seems like you have a lot to live for.” “I do. There are certain things I can’t change – can’t change my age, can’t change my DNA, or the fact that I’ve had cancer. But I can change my attitude toward it, the opportunities that have been presented to me to do everything I can to avoid having a recurrence.” And participating in the mRNA research trial also makes her feel she’s giving back. “I feel very fortunate,” Franciosi said. “I feel very fortunate indeed to have this opportunity because you’re helping humanity, you’re helping people down the road, people you’ll never meet.” For more info: Moderna Dr. Ryan Sullivan, Massachusetts General Hospital, Cambridge, Mass.