Virology News and Research

Latest Virology News and Research

New gene therapy approach safe for patients with muscular dystrophy

Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have shown that it is safe to cut and paste together different viruses in an effort to create the ultimate vehicle for gene therapy. In a phase I clinical trial, the investigators found no side effects from using a "chimeric" virus to deliver replacement genes for an essential muscle protein in patients with muscular dystrophy.

1 Dec 2011

GlobalPost examines U.S. response to HIV/AIDS 'scientific advances, economic realities'

GlobalPost examines the "collision of scientific advances vs. economic realities" in the fight against HIV/AIDS in a special report as part of its "Healing the World" series.

1 Dec 2011

Researchers identify first gene associated with frequent herpes-related cold sores

A team of researchers from the University of Utah and the University of Massachusetts has identified the first gene associated with frequent herpes-related cold sores.

1 Dec 2011

Neuropharmacology to publish Nutra Pharma's Alpha-Cobratoxin mechanism study on chronic pain

Nutra Pharma Corporation, a biotechnology company that is developing treatments for Multiple Sclerosis (MS), Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), Adrenomyeloneuropathy (AMN) and Pain, announced today that the journal Neuropharmacology will be publishing a mechanism study on the use of Alpha-Cobratoxin, a component of cobra venom, as a treatment for pain.

1 Dec 2011

Scripps scientist receives NIH grant for HIV/AIDS research

A scientist at The Scripps Research Institute has been awarded $3.4 million from the National Institutes of Health to study the mode of action and the therapeutic potential of a new compound that blocks a step of HIV replication not targeted by current therapies.

1 Dec 2011

With HIV and unaware of it: CDC report

Over the years diagnosis with HIV/AIDS has ceased to become a death sentence. However a new Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) report says only one in four Americans with AIDS has the virus under control with adequate medication. Figures also show that about 16,000 people die from the disease annually, and the number of new infections each year in the U.S. has held steady at about 50,000 in recent years.

30 Nov 2011

Global leaders plan next steps at Harvard on World AIDS Day

Thirty years, 30 million deaths and 60 million infections after HIV appeared, medical researchers now have the tools to halt the deadly epidemic. "We have the weapons to win the war against AIDS," says Richard Marlink, M.D., Executive Director of the AIDS Initiative at the Harvard School of Public Health. "It is time to take what we have learned to turn the epidemic around and end AIDS."

30 Nov 2011

Scientists create genetically-altered neurons that light up as they fire

In a scientific first that potentially could shed new light on how signals travel in the brain, how learning alters neural pathways, and might lead to speedier drug development, scientists at Harvard have created genetically-altered neurons that light up as they fire.

30 Nov 2011

PTC, Roche announce licensing agreement for SMA programme

Roche, PTC Therapeutics, Inc. and the SMA Foundation, announced today a licensing agreement for PTC's Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) programme.

30 Nov 2011

Cases of two AIDS patients renew hope of AIDS cure for many scientists, New York Times reports

The New York Times profiles two AIDS patients whose cases "suggest to many scientists that curing AIDS may be achievable," according to the newspaper. "One man, the so-called Berlin patient, apparently has cleared his HIV infection, albeit by arduous bone marrow transplants," and the other, "a 50-year-old man in Trenton, N.J., underwent a far less difficult gene therapy procedure. While he was not cured, his body was able to briefly control the virus after he stopped taking the usual antiviral drugs, something that is highly unusual," the newspaper writes.

29 Nov 2011

Shots reduce risk of chicken pox

Infants below the age of one may be too young to get the chicken pox vaccine but far fewer of them got the itchy rash after the U.S. started routinely vaccinating older children in 1995, according to a new study.

29 Nov 2011

New trends in HIV/AIDS prevalence

According to a latest report released this Monday, Toronto has more HIV and AIDS cases than ever before, with an estimated one in 120 adults in the city now HIV-positive. In all of Ontario, the number of people living with HIV-AIDS grew by 31 per cent between 2003 and 2008 and that number continues to expand.

29 Nov 2011

Enrollment complete in Alnylam's ALN-RSV01 Phase IIb study for RSV infection

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leading RNAi therapeutics company, announced today that it has completed patient enrollment in its Phase IIb study with ALN-RSV01, an RNAi therapeutic for the treatment of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection.

29 Nov 2011

Seizure drug slows spread of uveal melanoma

A drug commonly used to treat seizures appears to make eye tumors less likely to grow if they spread to other parts of the body, according to researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

29 Nov 2011

Serotonin instructs scar forming cells to switch off regeneration in chronic liver disease

In liver disease, extent of tissue damage depends on the balance between the generation of scar tissue and the regeneration of new liver cells. In a significant minority of people who get injury to their organs instead of repairing them, they form scars.

29 Nov 2011

New swine flu virus alarms health officials

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), three cases of a new flu virus have been confirmed. These originated in pigs but apparently spread from person to person, in three Iowa children.

28 Nov 2011

Roche NimbleGen, BGI develop Major Histocompatibility Complex region capture technology

Roche NimbleGen, Inc. and BGI, the world's largest genomic organization, announced that they have developed a Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) region capture technology based on NimbleGen SeqCap EZ Choice Library, a revolutionary process for the enrichment of the MHC region.

28 Nov 2011

Suppressing mosquitoes - the only way of controlling dengue

There is no vaccine against dengue, an emerging tropical disease regularly also hitting tourists, so the only way of controlling it is by suppressing the mosquitoes transmitting the disease.

28 Nov 2011

Mass immunization with cervical cancer vaccine switched to a more effective variety

Cervarix is currently offered to girls aged 12 and 13 years to protect against strains of the sexually transmitted human papillomavirus (HPV), which causes most cases of cancer of the cervix, the neck of the womb. Cervarix was picked by the Labour government for the first four-year phase of the NHS programme in 2008 because it offered ‘best overall value’ and more than five million doses have been given.

27 Nov 2011

IPS reports on child poverty in Lesotho

"The triple threat of HIV, poverty and food insecurity is increasingly exposing children to abuse, exploitation and other human rights violations" in Lesotho, Inter Press Service reports in an article examining child poverty in the small southern African country.

24 Nov 2011

Virology News and Research

Latest Virology News and Research

New gene therapy approach safe for patients with muscular dystrophy

GlobalPost examines U.S. response to HIV/AIDS 'scientific advances, economic realities'

Researchers identify first gene associated with frequent herpes-related cold sores

Neuropharmacology to publish Nutra Pharma's Alpha-Cobratoxin mechanism study on chronic pain

Scripps scientist receives NIH grant for HIV/AIDS research

With HIV and unaware of it: CDC report

Global leaders plan next steps at Harvard on World AIDS Day

Scientists create genetically-altered neurons that light up as they fire

PTC, Roche announce licensing agreement for SMA programme

Cases of two AIDS patients renew hope of AIDS cure for many scientists, New York Times reports

Shots reduce risk of chicken pox

New trends in HIV/AIDS prevalence

Enrollment complete in Alnylam's ALN-RSV01 Phase IIb study for RSV infection

Seizure drug slows spread of uveal melanoma

Serotonin instructs scar forming cells to switch off regeneration in chronic liver disease

New swine flu virus alarms health officials

Roche NimbleGen, BGI develop Major Histocompatibility Complex region capture technology

Suppressing mosquitoes - the only way of controlling dengue

Mass immunization with cervical cancer vaccine switched to a more effective variety

IPS reports on child poverty in Lesotho

Microplate-based assays in virology research eBook eBook

Real-time Raman monitoring for pharmaceutical hot melt extrusion

Synthetic Psychedelics: A Growing Public Health Concern

How the Vutara VXL simplifies single-molecule imaging