Virus News and Research

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A virus is a microscopic infectious agent that can reproduce only inside a host cell. Viruses infect all types of organisms: from animals and plants, to bacteria and archaea. Since the initial discovery of tobacco mosaic virus by Martinus Beijerinck in 1898, more than 5,000 types of virus have been described in detail, although most types of virus remain undiscovered. Viruses are ubiquitous, as they are found in almost every ecosystem on Earth, and are the most abundant type of biological entity on the planet. The study of viruses is known as virology, and is a branch of microbiology.

Dairy Cattle Become Hosts for Avian Flu Transmission

A new study reveals evidence that avian influenza has spilled over from birds to dairy cattle across several U.S. states, resulting in mammal-to-mammal transmission between cows and from cows to cats and a raccoon.

25 Jul 2024

New Assay Fast-Tracks Virucidal Testing

An innovative technique that can quickly ascertain whether a virus is contagious or not has the potential to completely transform how humans respond to pandemics in the future.

24 Jul 2024

Decoding Dengue: The Use of Less Efficient Codons for Viral Advantage

Mosquito-borne viral infections once confined to tropical regions are spreading. Dengue virus infects up to 400 million people worldwide each year according to World Health Organization estimates, and no available treatments exist for this disease.

24 Jul 2024

UNC Charlotte Study: SARS-CoV-2 Variants BA.2.86 and JN.1 Show Minimal Immune Evasion

New research from UNC Charlotte's Center for Computational Intelligence to Predict Health and Environmental Risks (CIPHER) has found that the two recent and prevalent strains of the virus that cause COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2 variants BA.2.86 and JN.1, are not significantly better than their predecessor Omicron at evading immune responses and causing infections despite having a high number of mutations compared to Omicron.

22 Jul 2024

Flu Virus Exploits Immune System Weakness to Infect Cells

The majority of influenza viruses enter animal or human cells through particular surface-based pathways. It has recently been found by researchers at the University of Zurich that some influenza viruses, both human and avian, can also enter cells through a second entry point that involves an immune system protein complex.

18 Jul 2024

Reawakened Endogenous Retroviruses can Play a Critical Role in Helping Cancer Survive

Peek inside the human genome and, among the 20,000 or so genes that serve as building blocks of life, you'll also find flecks of DNA left behind by viruses that infected primate ancestors tens of millions of years ago.

18 Jul 2024

Revolutionizing Biological Drug Delivery with Cell's Transit System

Each cell in the body has its own unique delivery system that scientists are working on harnessing to move revolutionary biological drugs -; molecules like proteins, RNA and combinations of the two -; to specific diseased parts of the body.

17 Jul 2024

The Protein STAT3 Helps the Immune System Fight Leukemia

Study at the Karl Landsteiner University of Health Sciences uncovers unknown interaction between leukemic cells and immune cells. Potential biomarkers for future immunotherapies found.

From Karl Landsteiner University of Health Sciences 17 Jul 2024

Surface Plasmon Resonance Sensors: Transforming Drug Development and Clinical Diagnostics

The latest developments in SPR-based biosensors and their applications in drug discovery.

15 Jul 2024

Liver Blood Vessels Trigger 'Sleep Timer' to Inactivate Immune Cells in Chronic Hepatitis B

In chronic hepatitis B, the liver contains immune cells that could destroy hepatitis B virus infected cells but are inactive.

11 Jul 2024

New Pipeline Studies Viruses in Humans and Coral Reefs

Tens of millions of still-unknown or poorly understood viruses have the potential to cause diseases, including new pandemics, and impact the health of valuable terrestrial and marine environments.

10 Jul 2024

Unveiling the Power of mRNA and LNPs in Modern Medicine

Consider a situation in which an expert hacker has to upload vital software to update a central server and stop a potentially fatal virus from causing havoc on a sizable computer network.

10 Jul 2024

Scientists develop first fully functional human immune system in mouse model

Researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio have produced a mouse model that is humanized, complete with a human immune system and a gut microbiome that resembles that of a human being and is able to elicit particular antibody responses.

8 Jul 2024

Selfish No More: Genetic Elements Give Phages a Competitive Edge

Curious bits of DNA tucked inside genomes across all kingdoms of life historically have been disregarded since they don't seem to have a role to play in the competition for survival.

7 Jul 2024

Pasteurization Effectively Eliminates H5N1 Virus from Milk

In March 2024, dairy cows in Texas were found to be infected with highly pathogenic avian flu, or H5N1 bird flu, in the first known case of the virus spreading to cattle.

4 Jul 2024

TATSI Technology Enhances Crop Genome Editing with Transposase-Assisted Integration

With the goal of reducing the time and cost it takes to bring an improved crop to the marketplace, research conducted in the laboratory of Keith Slotkin, PhD, and his colleagues in the Plant Transformation Facility at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, was recently published in the scientific journal.

1 Jul 2024

Novel Epigenetic Tool CHARM Offers Hope for Prion Disease Treatment

In a new study in mice, researchers introduce "CHARM," a compact and versatile epigenetic editor that can be used to silence prion protein throughout the brain.

28 Jun 2024

Primerdesign Launches Real-Time PCR Workflow for Onsite Detection of Norovirus in Oysters

Primerdesign (part of the Novacyt Group), a company focussed on the design, manufacture, validation and supply of real-time PCR kits and reagents, today launched the genesig® Easy_oys Detection Kit for Norovirus in oysters.

From Primerdesign 26 Jun 2024

Study Reveals Immune Factors Behind COVID-19 Resistance in Some Individuals

As part of the first-ever COVID-19 human challenge study, researchers from the Wellcome Sanger Institute, University College London (UCL), Imperial College London, the Netherlands Cancer Institute, and their collaborators examined immune responses against SARS-CoV-2 infection in healthy adult volunteers using single-cell sequencing.

20 Jun 2024

Scientists Discover Impact of Mycoviral Infection on Fungicide Sensitivity in Oomycete Pathogens

As detrimental as viruses may sound, they can be helping hands for farmers when it comes to dealing with plant pathogens.