viruses

Midge-hunting scientists tackle spread of devastating bluetongue virus

harminka — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 03:31:11 -0500

Scientists at the BBSRC-funded Institute for Animal Health (IAH) are stepping up the battle against the devastating and economically damaging bluetongue virus. By combining ingenious ways to trap and monitor midges with cutting edge computer modelling and weather predictions the IAH team are gaining an understanding of how the insects spread the disease so that they can improve surveillance methods and advise farmers how and when to protect their animals.

A viral cloaking device

harminka — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 02:58:43 -0500

Viruses achieve their definition of success when they can thrive without killing their host. Now, biologists Pamela Bjorkman and Zhiru Yang of the California Institute of Technology have uncovered how one such virus, prevalent in humans, evolved over time to hide from the immune system.

UGA research may lead to safer, more effective gene therapy

harminka — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 06:32:34 -0500

The potential of gene therapy has long been hampered by the risks associated with using viruses as vectors to deliver healthy genes, but a new University of Georgia study helps bring scientists closer to a safe and efficient gene delivery method that doesn’t involve viruses.

New route for combating viruses

harminka — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 08:38:52 -0500

A unique technique for analyzing the function of microRNAs developed by a Hebrew University of Jerusalem doctoral student has led to the discovery of a new mechanism by which viruses evade the human immune system. This discovery has important implications for human intervention in the battle between viruses and humans.

New cost-effective means to reconstruct virus populations

harminka — Fri, 09 May 2008 07:36:01 -0500

Researchers from the United States and Switzerland have developed mathematical and statistical tools for reconstructing viral populations using pyrosequencing, a novel and effective technique for sequencing DNA. They describe their findings in an article published May 9th in the open-access journal PLoS Computational Biology.

Virus mimics human protein to hijack cell division machinery

harminka — Fri, 09 May 2008 04:56:26 -0500

Viruses are masters of deception, duping their host's cells into helping them grow and spread. A new study has found that human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) can mimic a common regulatory protein to hijack normal cell growth machinery, disrupting a cell's primary anti-cancer mechanism.

Trojan horse of viruses revealed

harminka — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 02:47:46 -0500

The vaccinia virus has a problem: it is a giant among viruses and needs a special strategy in order to infiltrate a cell and reproduce. Professor Ari Helenius and Postdoc Jason Mercer from ETH Zurich’s Institute for Biochemistry have now discovered what this strategy is.

Pathogen virulence proteins suppress plant immunity

harminka — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 12:35:36 -0500

Researchers from the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute (VBI) at Virginia Tech and their colleagues have identified a key function of a large family of virulence proteins that play an important role in the production of infectious disease by the plant pathogen Phytophthora sojae.

Molecular evolution of influenza A viruses circulated in Fujian Province, China

harminka — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 12:49:57 -0500

Fujian Center for Disease Control & Prevention, China, reported the molecular evolution of influenza A (H3N2) viruses in Fujian Province, south of China during the period 1996ЁD2004 and demonstrated some key codons responsible for antigenic drift. The study is reported in Issue 51 (April, 2008) of the Science in China Series C: Life Science because of its significant impact.

Chips could speed up detection of livestock viruses

harminka — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 01:36:15 -0500

Some of the worst threats to farm workers and farm animals such as bird flu, foot-and-mouth disease and other emerging viruses could soon be quickly identified by using a simple screening chip developed by scientists from the Institute for Animal Health, scientists will hear today at the Society for General Microbiology’s 162nd meeting being held this week at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre.

Modern microbialites may be endemic remnants of ancient ecosystems

harminka — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 14:37:27 -0500

Viruses and bacterial viruses (known as phages) are among the most abundant life forms on the planet.

New insight into microbial activities

harminka — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 13:08:54 -0500

Scientists may gain a new insight into the relationship between viruses and their environments thanks to a new computational technology developed by researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory. This technology has already been used to identify subtle differences in the metabolic processes of microbial communities.