Virus News and Research

Latest Virus News and Research

Smartphone ‘virus scanner’ could help governments contain viral outbreaks

Researchers have created and tested a miniature virus-scanning device for smartphones that is 100 times more sensitive than commercial influenza testing kits.

31 Jul 2019

Smartphone virus scanner could help tackle the spread of diseases

The current leading method to assess the presence of viruses and other biological markers of disease is effective but large and expensive. It is prohibitively difficult for use in many situations, especially due to certain economic and geographic factors.

31 Jul 2019

Scientists discover lung cell that can hustle to repair its damaged DNA and survive influenza

Scientists at Duke University have identified one kind of lung cell that can hustle to repair its damaged DNA and survive an attack of the influenza A virus while other kinds of cells around it die in droves.

30 Jul 2019

Researchers discover SIGN-R1 molecule that recognizes multiple variants of influenza

A team of researchers from the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB, affiliated to USI Università della Svizzera italiana, Switzerland) have discovered and identified a molecule - SIGN-R1 - capable of recognizing the multiple variants of influenza and consequently 'directing' the immune response in individuals affected by the disease.

30 Jul 2019

90% of hepatitis cases, 65% hepatitis deaths preventable by 2030

A new report by the World Health Organization (WHO) shows that 4.5 million deaths could be prevented by 2030, and 26 million beyond that, if 67 countries in the low- and middle-income bracket invest $6 billion a year towards abolishing hepatitis. Hepatitis is a completely preventable and treatable illness at present, and in fact, hepatitis C is completely curable.

29 Jul 2019

New gene-editing study finds protective genes against Zika virus

Tel Aviv scientists have discovered certain genes that protect the host organism against attack by Zika virus, raising hopes of an eventual vaccine or cure for this dreaded viral disease.

28 Jul 2019

Study reveals mechanism that may contribute to HIV-associated metabolic conditions

HIV-infected cells release vesicles that contain a viral protein called Nef, impairing cholesterol metabolism and triggering inflammation in uninfected bystander cells, according to a study published July 25 in the open-access journal PLOS Pathogens by Dmitri Sviridov of the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute in Australia, and colleagues.

From PLOS ONE 26 Jul 2019

Researchers explore how HIV spreads in 3D tissue-like environments

The spread of pathogens like the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is often studied in a test tube, i.e. in two-dimensional cell cultures, even though it hardly reflects the much more complex conditions in the human body.

25 Jul 2019

Study identifies new mechanism that impacts HIV infection

A team of scientists led by Texas Biomed's Assistant Professor Smita Kulkarni, Ph.D. and Mary Carrington, Ph.D., at the Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, published results of a study that pinpointed a long noncoding RNA molecule which influences a key receptor involved in HIV infection and progression of the disease.

25 Jul 2019

Johns Hopkins co-leads study on 'poliolike' condition affecting children

Johns Hopkins Medicine and University of Alabama at Birmingham researchers will lead a multicenter, multinational study of acute flaccid myelitis, the “poliolike” condition affecting children that causes loss of muscle control.

From Johns Hopkins Medicine 25 Jul 2019

New vaccine shows promise against toughest HIV strains

A new study reports successful immunization against a so-far invincible “death star” strain of an HIV-related laboratory virus (SIVmac239) and another tough strain. The new approach also achieves long-term protection with a single dose, showing that gene therapy could allow broad and durable protection, based on a modified form of the CD4 protein that allows HIV entry into human cells.

24 Jul 2019

Vaginal ring used by most women for HIV prevention in open-label study

In an open-label study of women in southern and eastern Africa, a vaginal ring that is inserted once a month and slowly releases an antiviral drug was estimated to reduce the risk of HIV by 39%, according to statistical modeling.

24 Jul 2019

New vaccine containing DNA and recombinant proteins may protect from HIV

Researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have developed a novel vaccine consisting of DNA and recombinant proteins?proteins composed of a portion of an HIV protein and another unrelated protein.

24 Jul 2019

Connection to HIV treatment services helps gay, bisexual population to achieve viral suppression

Gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men and transgender women with HIV, who are not in care, can be engaged in care when reached and connected with HIV treatment services, according to findings from a clinical trial supported by the National Institutes of Health.

23 Jul 2019

Researchers identify encephalitis as rare toxicity of immunotherapy treatment

After a cancer patient receiving an immunotherapy developed encephalitis and died 18 months into treatment, researchers at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center investigated why the complication occurred, performing a molecular analysis of the disease's pathology and mining data to determine the incidence of similar occurrences.

22 Jul 2019

Facial microexpressions change your emotions, but how?

Why are people so easily influenced by the mood of others? Scientists think they have found the answer - our microexpressions.

22 Jul 2019

BIA Separations selected to support AveXis’ gene therapy pipeline

BIA Separations, a leading biochromatography development and manufacturing company, today announced it is collaborating with AveXis, a Novartis company, to enhance the commercial purification process for its gene therapy pipeline, beginning with Zolgensma (onasemnogene abeparvovec-xioi), the first U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved gene therapy indicated for the treatment of pediatric patients with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) who are less than two years of age.

22 Jul 2019

Scientists confirm HIV theory by sequencing 53-year old tissue

Researchers have extracted a near-complete HIV-1 genome from the lymph node tissue of a man who has been embedded in wax since 1966.

22 Jul 2019

How genetic differences in Epstein-Barr virus strains alter the way it behaves

Researchers at the University of Sussex have identified how differences in the genetic sequence of the two main strains of the cancer-associated Epstein-Barr virus can alter the way the virus behaves when it infects white blood cells.

19 Jul 2019

Study defines how diarrhea-causing rotavirus initially interacts with the host

Research by the Department of Microbiology of the University of Valencia, the Institute of Biomedicine of Valencia and the Institute of Agrochemistry and Food Technology of the CSIC has defined the initial interaction of human rotavirus P [8] (the main cause of gastroenteritis) with the recipients of the intestine.

18 Jul 2019