Virus News and Research

Latest Virus News and Research

Merck researchers to participate in two new collaborative efforts to study HIV latency

Merck, known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, today announced that company researchers will participate in two new collaborative efforts led by the prominent academic institutions of the University of North Carolina (UNC) Chapel Hill and the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) to develop new approaches towards eradicating HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

12 Jul 2011

Gilead announces expansion of global access program for HIV medications

Gilead Sciences, Inc. announced today an expansion of its global access program in an effort to provide accelerated access to Gilead medicines for the treatment of HIV/AIDS.

12 Jul 2011

Hutchinson Center receives $20M NIH grant to eradicate HIV infection

Whether a stem cell transplant using an HIV-infected person's own genetically modified immune cells can become a cure for the disease is the focus of a new $20 million, five-year research grant award announced today by the National Institutes of Health to Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

12 Jul 2011

Scientists to receive prestigious awards for innovative HIV research at IAS 2011

The International AIDS Society (IAS) announced today the six winners of three prestigious scientific awards, to be presented at plenary sessions during the 6th IAS Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention to be held in Rome July 17-20, 2011.

12 Jul 2011

Federal funds may help Gladstone to solve problem of HIV latency

The Gladstone Institutes will receive funds totaling $5.6 million over five years as part of the first-ever major funding initiative focusing on HIV eradication.

12 Jul 2011

Enrollment complete in Advaxis ADXS-HPV Phase II CIN study

Advaxis, Inc., a leader in developing the next generation of immunotherapies for cancer and infectious diseases, has completed enrollment of the first 40 subject cohort in the dose-ranging Phase II study of ADXS-HPV, an immunotherapy for Cervical Intraepithelial Neoplasia.

12 Jul 2011

NIAID awards $14 million a year for new HIV research

Three research teams focused on developing strategies that could help to rid the body of HIV are receiving grants totaling more than $14 million a year, for up to five years, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) of the National Institutes of Health announced today.

11 Jul 2011

Alnylam seeks CTA clearance to initiate ALN-PCS Phase I clinical trial for severe hypercholesterolemia

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leading RNAi therapeutics company, announced today that it has filed a Clinical Trial Application (CTA) with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to initiate a Phase I clinical trial with ALN-PCS, an RNAi therapeutic for the treatment of severe hypercholesterolemia.

11 Jul 2011

New tool reveals mutations that cause HIV-drug resistance

Protease inhibitor drugs are one of the major weapons in the fight against HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, but their effectiveness is limited as the virus mutates and develops resistance to the drugs over time.

11 Jul 2011

AIDS Healthcare Foundation rolls out new national ad campaign

As part of its ongoing advocacy efforts to spur President Obama and his administration to do more on AIDS, AIDS Healthcare Foundation is rolling out a new national ad campaign headlined 'What has the President done about AIDS?' The first leg of the campaign, a series of pointed online text and banner ads on Politico.com's Playbook and Pulse websites started running Monday July 4th on Mike Allen's Politico Playbook and will run through Friday July 15th on Politico's Pulse.

11 Jul 2011

QIAGEN to acquire Cellestis

QIAGEN N.V. today announced that it has amended its original proposal to acquire Cellestis Limited, a publicly traded Australian biotechnology company.

From QIAGEN Manchester Limited 11 Jul 2011

Scientists probe 'atlastin,' a protein linked to hereditary spastic paraplegia

New research from Rice University and Italy's Eugenio Medea Scientific Institute is yielding clues about hereditary spastic paraplegia (HSP), a group of inherited neurological disorders that affect about 20,000 people in the United States.

11 Jul 2011

Tips for preventing foodborne illness at home or while eating out

Dr. Melvin Pascall, an associate professor in the Department of Food Science and Technology at The Ohio State University, has spent the past 15 years working to improve food safety in areas ranging from packaging to food service cleaning practices.

11 Jul 2011

Flu vaccine against all strains of virus coming soon

A universal flu vaccine, capable of working against all strains, would save lives and money by eliminating the need for the annual jab say experts. Researchers in California and the Netherlands believe they are now a “step closer” to meeting this objective.

10 Jul 2011

Scientists track public health trends through Twitter

Twitter allows millions of social media fans to comment in 140 characters or less on just about anything: an actor's outlandish behavior, an earthquake's tragic toll or the great taste of a grilled cheese sandwich.

8 Jul 2011

Infectious adenoviruses and noroviruses in bathing water could pose a risk to health

European researchers have found viruses in nearly 40% of more than 1,400 bathing water samples gathered from coastal and inland areas in nine countries, including Spain. The concentrations found are low, but the scientists are calling for these microorganisms to be monitored in recreational waters, above all at times when their populations skyrocket, as is the case after heavy rains.

8 Jul 2011

New technique may help scientists probe mysteries of many different stem cells

Researchers at the Salk Institute have been able to genetically incorporate "unnatural" amino acids, such as those emitting green fluorescence, into neural stem cells, which then differentiate into brain neurons with the incandescent "tag" intact.

8 Jul 2011

Collaborative research discovers broadly acting antibody against influenza viruses

Annually changing flu vaccines with their hit-and-miss effectiveness may soon give way to a single, near-universal flu vaccine, according to a new report from scientists at The Scripps Research Institute and the Dutch biopharmaceutical company Crucell. They describe an antibody that, in animal tests, can prevent or cure infections with a broad variety of influenza viruses, including seasonal and potentially pandemic strains.

8 Jul 2011

Hendra virus outbreak suspected after second horse death

After the second horse death on the north coast, fifteen people are being monitored for any signs of the Hendra virus. The horse died at Macksville south of Coffs Harbour on Sunday and another horse was put down near Wollongbar, Alstonville last Friday.

7 Jul 2011

Gene therapy may help prevent progression of type 1 diabetes

Increasing a specific protein in areas of the pancreas that produce insulin blocks the immune attack that causes type 1 diabetes, researchers reported in the August issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, published early online.

7 Jul 2011