Capsid News and Research

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HIV capsid protein plays crucial role in the virus' life cycle

HIV, or human immunodeficiency virus, is the retrovirus that leads to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome or AIDS. Globally, about 35 million people are living with HIV, which constantly adapts and mutates creating challenges for researchers. Now, scientists at the University of Missouri are gaining a clearer idea of what a key protein in HIV looks like, which will help explain its vital role in the virus' life cycle.

2 Jul 2015

New study reveals key part of Ebola virus life cycle at higher resolution than ever before

A new study led by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) reveals a key part of the Ebola virus life cycle at a higher resolution than ever before. The research sheds light on how Ebola virus assembles—and how researchers might stop the often-fatal infection.

26 Jun 2015

Trio of Andor EMCCD cameras chosen to unravel the inner structure of Herpes simplex virus

Although super-resolution light microscopy has broken new ground in our understanding of subcellular structures and the movement of individual molecules within cells, its use to investigate virus particles is in its infancy...

From Andor Technology Ltd. 14 Apr 2015

Norovirus vaccine may be available in the future

A multivalent candidate vaccine elicits broad antibody responses to a range of norovirus strains, including strains not included in the vaccine or previously encountered by participants, according to a new study published this week in PLOS Medicine.

25 Mar 2015

Modelling the biological mesoscale: an interview with Professor Art Olson

The biological mesoscale range includes biological structures that range from 10 to 100 nanometers (billionths of a meter). Structures in this size range include viruses, cellular organelles, large molecular complexes, and any other internal cellular environments within that range.

18 Jan 2015

Study provides evidence for presence of enterovirus in pancreatic islets of type 1 diabetic patients

Norwegian scientists with European partners have found evidence for the presence of Enterovirus in pancreatic islets of type 1 diabetic patients. This provides evidence consistent with the theory that a low grade Enteroviral infection in the pancreatic islets contribute to disease progression in humans.

16 Dec 2014

NeuroPhage engineers series of molecules with potential to treat most neurodegenerative diseases

Researchers from NeuroPhage Pharmaceuticals, Inc. have engineered a series of molecules with the potential to treat most neurodegenerative diseases that are characterized by misfolded proteins, such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Huntington's diseases.

23 Apr 2014

Assembly Pharmaceuticals, BioCrossroads develop novel drugs that have potential to treat chronic HBV infection

Assembly Pharmaceuticals and BioCrossroads today announced that the BioCrossroads Indiana Seed Fund II has made an investment in Assembly Pharmaceuticals. Assembly is developing novel drugs for the treatment and potential cure of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection.

10 Apr 2014

Researchers provide new insights into how common cold virus infects

On average, each of us catches a cold two to three times a year. However, how the common cold virus actually infects us is only partly understood. Researchers from the Max F. Perutz Laboratories of the Medical University of Vienna and the University of Vienna, in collaboration with two Spanish groups, have now provided new insights into this process.

30 Dec 2013

Scientists explore mechanisms of viruses' shells

Viruses are like small vessels containing an active component, the genetic material, that can infect a host cell. The vessel, called capsid or vector, is basically a shell that changes its shape when it penetrates a cell to infect it, and may even break into pieces.

12 Dec 2013

Human Treg responses allow sustained recombinant adeno-associated virus-mediated transgene expression

Successful gene therapy is based on the effective delivery and maintained expression of healthy copies of a gene into tissues of individuals with a disease-associated genetic mutation.

16 Nov 2013

Rice researchers frame rules to design viral capsid proteins for gene therapy

Rice University researchers are making strides toward a set of rules to custom-design Lego-like viral capsid proteins for gene therapy.

13 Aug 2013

Discovery of pressure-driven infection mechanism opens door to new treatments for viral infections

The virus that causes those painful lip blisters known as cold sores has an internal pressure eight times higher than a car tire, and uses it to literally blast its infectious DNA into human cells, scientists are reporting in a new study.

25 Jul 2013

CHOP-led research increases numbers of patients who could be treated with gene therapy

Gene therapy researchers have produced a bioengineered decoy that fools the immune system and prevents it from mistakenly defeating the benefits delivered by a corrective gene.

18 Jul 2013

Researchers determine precise chemical structure of HIV capsid

Researchers have determined the precise chemical structure of the HIV capsid, a protein shell that protects the virus's genetic material and is a key to its ability to infect and debilitate the human body's defense mechanism.

1 Jun 2013

Scientists move closer to understanding HIV-1 infection

Scientists have long been unable to fully explain how infections attack the body, but now a team of researchers, including one from the University of Central Florida, has taken a step closer to understanding how the process works in HIV-1. The results mean that one day that knowledge may prevent infection.

31 May 2013

Newly characterized adenoviruses can cause severe human infections

The ongoing dance between a virus and its host distinctly shapes how the virus evolves. While human adenoviruses typically cause mild infections, recent reports have described newly characterized adenoviruses that can cause severe, sometime fatal, human infections.

12 Apr 2013

Researchers develop new approach for HIV vaccine development

Decades of research and three large-scale clinical trials have so far failed to yield an effective HIV vaccine, in large part because the virus evolves so rapidly that it can evade any vaccine-induced immune response.

22 Mar 2013

Findings provide structural basis for development of drugs to fight enterovirus 71 infection

New research findings may help scientists design drugs to treat a virus infection that causes potentially fatal brain swelling and paralysis in children.