Scientists at MIT’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Technion Israel Institute of Technology have for the first time recorded the entire genomic expression of both a host bacterium and an infecting virus over the eight-hour course of infection.

A father-son research team working from separate laboratory benches across the country has discovered a new use for lasers — zapping viruses out of blood. The technique, which holds promise for disinfecting blood for transfusions, uses a low-power laser beam with a pulse lasting just fractions of a second.

Viruses found in the River Cam in Cambridge, famous as a haunt of students in their punts on long, lazy summer days, could become the next generation of antibiotics, according to scientists speaking today (Monday 3 September 2007) at the Society for General Microbiology’s 161st Meeting at the University of Edinburgh, UK, which runs from 3-6 September 2007.

Researchers may be able to tinker with a single amino acid of an enzyme that helps viruses multiply to render them harmless, according to molecular biologists who say the discovery could pave the way for a fast and cheap method of making vaccines.

For Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau, Mo, securing email from harmful viruses, spam and malware is as much about protecting its nearly 1,000 email users as it is about protecting the organization and its patients. To combat the burgeoning spam epidemic and the looming threats of electronic viruses and malware, Saint Francis deployed an Email Security 500 appliance from SonicWALL.

A study of the reproductive apparatus of a model virus is bolstering the idea that broad classes of viruses - including those that cause important human diseases such as AIDS, SARS and hepatitis C - have features in common that could eventually make them vulnerable to broad-spectrum antiviral agents.

A class of proteins known as toll-like receptors are the guard dogs of the immune system, sniffing out bacteria or viruses then rousing the rest of the immune system for attack. Because of their ability to activate the body’s defenses, toll-like receptors are a darling of drug developers. New research led by Brown University immunologist Wen-Ming Chu, M.D., identifies what protein alerts toll-like receptor 9, one of the most powerful guard dogs in the pack.

The major active component of marijuana could enhance the ability of the virus that causes Kaposi’s sarcoma to infect cells and multiply, according to a team of researchers at Harvard Medical School.

In a study that could lead to new ways to prevent infection by human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and similar organisms, Purdue University researchers have been able to genetically modify a plant to halt reproduction of a related virus.

Scientists at the University of California, Santa Barbara have made a significant discovery relating to viral infections in humans.

Joint research by Dr. Leonid Brodsky, of the Institute of Evolution of the University of Haifa, and Dr. Milton Taylor, of Indiana University, led to the discovery of a mathematical method which can identify which genes in our bodies conduct the battle against the various viruses that attack us.

Viruses are notorious villains. They cause serious human diseases like AIDS, polio, and influenza, and can lead to system crashes and data loss in computers.