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.
The potential of CAR T-cell therapy for the treatment of solid tumors was unlocked in a preclinical trial by researchers at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital who discovered a molecular mechanism. The findings were released in the journal Nature.
Around 59,000 individuals are shockingly killed by the rabies virus each year, and several of them are children. Some victims, particularly children, discover they have been exposed after it is too late.
By now, most Americans have felt the effects of global crises on their grocery bills. Recent research published in the journal Nature Food has found this to be a worldwide phenomenon.
The identification of pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) by pattern-recognition receptors (PRRs) is the first step in initiating an immune response to viral infection.
The three types of rotavirus that cause gastroenteritis in individuals, known as groups A, B, and C, are the most well-known and afflict predominantly youngsters.
At the Nagoya University in Japan, scientists have come up with a new chemical-only process that might signify an essential discovery in making tailored mRNA vaccines for a range of diseases and enable the low-cost making of mRNA in large quantities.
CRISPR has made headlines in recent years for its potential to help patients with conditions as diverse as blindness and sickle cell disease. However, bacteria were already using CRISPR as an immune system to combat viruses long before humans adopted it to combat genetic disorders.
Cas7-11, the first CRISPR enzyme that can make precise, directed cuts to strands of RNA without hurting cells, was identified and described last year by researchers at MIT’s McGovern Institute for Brain Research.
A hazardous strain of the deformed wing virus is spreading over the world. Honeybees are infected with the virus, which causes their wings to atrophy and the animals to die. The new form of the virus, which has already displaced the original strain in Europe, is expanding to other parts of the globe and destroying entire bee colonies.
To combat viruses, one of humankind's oldest threats, researchers are studying predators with the oldest adaptive immune system in the animal kingdom: sharks.
The probability of blood clots in the lungs of very sick COVID-19 patients is influenced by a gene variant in the natural immune system. This is demonstrated in a new study published in Nature Immunology by researchers from Uppsala University and Karolinska Institutet.
Scientists from Kumamoto University used next-generation sequencing to analyze human endogenous retrovirus (HERV) integration sites and found that these primitive retroviruses can retrotranspose (DNA sequence insertion with RNA mediation) into iPS cells.
CRISPR has marked the beginning of a new era in genomic medicine. The popular CRISPR-Cas9 has generated plenty of potent methods for curing genetic diseases.
According to a new study, the cornea creates a sensitive and restricted immune response to combat infections without causing visual damage.
Hypomethylating agents (HMA) are currently used as a first-line treatment for patients with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) - a group of disorders where there is insufficient production of healthy mature blood cells in the bone marrow - and increasingly in other diseases, but their mechanism of action remains unclear.
An immunological problem has been addressed by scientists at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Despite being genetically identical, a CD8+ T cell can divide and produce two functionally different daughter cells.
DNA "fingerprints" left behind by sea turtles offer scientists a simple, powerful way of tracking the health and whereabouts of these endangered animals, a key step forward in their conservation.
Worldwide research on Fusarium oxysporum discovered that the lack of a certain type of enzyme boosts the incidence of infection, paving the way for new ways to limit its infection.
Researchers at McMaster University have discovered not only how specific viral infections potentially cause tissue damage, but also how to prevent it.
Removing not only a diseased grapevine but the two vines on either side of it can reduce the incidence of leafroll disease, a long-standing bane of vineyards around the world, Cornell University researchers have found.