For Asimov Press's second Issue piece, we interviewed Jake Eberts, communications director at 1Day Sooner and a passionate campaigner for participation in human challenge trials. 

We discussed the history of human challenge trials from Edward Jenner's risky first efforts with inoculation against smallpox at the close of the 18th century to Walter Reed's experiments with yellow fever at the dawn of the 20th. Jake elucidated why challenge trials are having an uptick right now, how they have contributed to recent vaccine development successes (selecting the malaria R21 adjuvant), and how they could do more to fit into biosecurity and pandemic prevention efforts. Finally, he covered ways we can improve challenge trials, from recruitment to issues surrounding distributive justice and fair compensation. 

To learn more about how human challenge trials "have a disproportionate impact on scientific advancement" please read the full article here: https://www.asimov.press/p/human-challenge-trials

We have some excellent pieces lined up: what science can learn from car manufacturers about root-cause analysis, the history of the US bioweapons program, and how AI might help scale phage therapy. 

To access these and other future Asimov Press articles, subscribe by going here: https://www.asimov.press/