Virology News and Research RSS Feed - Virology News and Research

Virology is the study of viruses and virus-like agents: their structure, classification and evolution, their ways to infect and exploit cells for virus reproduction, the diseases they cause, the techniques to isolate and culture them, and their use in research and therapy.

Study provides additional data on why RV144 vaccine failed to protect more people

Continuing analysis of an HIV vaccine trial undertaken in Thailand is yielding additional information about how immune responses were triggered and why the vaccine did not protect more people. [More]
Scientists warn of H7N9 risks as number of cases, deaths continue to rise

Scientists warn of H7N9 risks as number of cases, deaths continue to rise

"A new strain of bird flu that is causing a deadly outbreak among people in China is a threat to world health and should be taken seriously, scientists said on Wednesday," Reuters reports (Kelland, 5/1). [More]
Researchers reveal how Ebola evades human immune response

Researchers reveal how Ebola evades human immune response

Researchers have discovered the mechanism behind one of the Ebola virus' most dangerous attributes: its ability to disarm the adaptive immune system. [More]
Analysis identifies 37 RNA molecules that might predict survival in breast cancer patients

Analysis identifies 37 RNA molecules that might predict survival in breast cancer patients

A Big Data analysis that integrates three large sets of genomic data available through The Cancer Genome Atlas has identified 37 RNA molecules that might predict survival in patients with the most common form of breast cancer. [More]
H7N9 flu virus found to transmit from birds to humans but not person-to-person

H7N9 flu virus found to transmit from birds to humans but not person-to-person

Scientists in China have confirmed for the first time that the influenza A H7N9 virus has transmitted from birds—specifically, chicken at a wet poultry market—to humans, according to an Article published Online First in The Lancet. [More]
Vesicular stomatitis virus spares non-cancerous cells and kills melanoma cells

Vesicular stomatitis virus spares non-cancerous cells and kills melanoma cells

Researchers from Yale University School of Medicine have demonstrated that vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) is highly competent at finding, infecting, and killing human melanoma cells, both in vitro and in animal models, while having little propensity to infect non-cancerous cells. [More]

BGU, FCCC receive NIH grant to study role of microRNAs in maintaining measles virus persistence

American Associates, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev announces that Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia have received a two-year National Institutes of Health research grant to observe "the role of host encoded microRNAs in the maintenance of the measles virus persistent state." [More]
Ribavirin, interferon-alpha 2b inhibit virus replication in cell culture, NIH study finds

Ribavirin, interferon-alpha 2b inhibit virus replication in cell culture, NIH study finds

National Institutes of Health scientists studying an emerging coronavirus have found that a combination of two licensed antiviral drugs, ribavirin and interferon-alpha 2b, can stop the virus from replicating in laboratory-grown cells. [More]
New assays are effective in managing patients with influenza virus infection

New assays are effective in managing patients with influenza virus infection

Over 40,000 people die each year in the United States from influenza-related diseases. In patients whose immune systems are compromised, antiviral therapy may be life-saving, but it needs to be initiated quickly. It is therefore crucial to diagnose and type the influenza rapidly. [More]
Lessons learned from India's polio response could help country combat other diseases

Lessons learned from India's polio response could help country combat other diseases

"More than 400 signatories to [a scientific declaration urging the world to eradicate polio], hailing from 80 countries, believe polio eradication is achievable in large part because of the great gains India has made against the disease," T. Jacob John, a retired professor of clinical virology at Christian Medical College in Vellore, India, writes in the Wall Street Journal's "India Real Time" blog. [More]

Luminex's MAGPIX instrument gets FDA approval

Luminex Corporation today announced it has received U.S. FDA clearance of its MAGPIX instrument, with its xTAG Gastrointestinal Pathogen Panel. [More]

Study: Certain types of papilloma virus might prevent cervical cancer

There are over 100 different types of human papilloma virus (HPV). Cervical cancer is known to be caused by infection with approximately 14 so-called "high-risk" types of this virus. [More]
Study: Chicken-killing virus is a promising treatment for prostate cancer

Study: Chicken-killing virus is a promising treatment for prostate cancer

A study at the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine has identified a chicken-killing virus as a promising treatment for prostate cancer in humans. [More]
Research findings could help develop effective vaccines against new strains of bird flu

Research findings could help develop effective vaccines against new strains of bird flu

Scientists have described small genetic changes that enable the H5N1 bird flu virus to replicate more easily in the noses of mammals. [More]
WHO considers sending experts to China as death toll from H7N9 virus hits 7

WHO considers sending experts to China as death toll from H7N9 virus hits 7

The WHO "is talking with the Chinese government about sending international experts to China to help investigate a new bird flu strain that has sickened at least 24 people, killing seven of them," the Associated Press reports. [More]

Research: Hepatitis A virus steals membranes from infected cells to protect it from antibodies

Viruses have historically been classified into one of two types - those with an outer lipid-containing envelope and those without an envelope. [More]

New vaccine proves highly effective against H5N1 virus

Until now most experimental vaccines against the highly lethal H5N1 avian influenza virus have lacked effectiveness. But a new vaccine has proven highly effective against the virus when tested in both mice and ferrets. It is also effective against the H9 subtype of avian influenza. [More]
Researchers test protease inhibitors with potential for prevention, treatment of norovirus infection

Researchers test protease inhibitors with potential for prevention, treatment of norovirus infection

A Kansas State University-led team is researching ways to stop the spread of norovirus, a contagious stomach illness that infects one in 15 Americans each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. [More]
Researchers develop new approach for HIV vaccine development

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. [More]
Hepatitis C and HIV co-infection treatment: an interview with Prof Boecher, Boehringer Ingelheim

Hepatitis C and HIV co-infection treatment: an interview with Prof Boecher, Boehringer Ingelheim

Chronic hepatitis C infection is one of the most frequent chronic infectious diseases worldwide. The WHO estimates that 150 million people worldwide are chronically infected with the hepatitis C virus (HCV). [More]