Virus News and Research

Latest Virus News and Research

RB announces Zika Relief Package of $1 million to help fight Zika virus outbreak

In response to the global call for urgently needed resources to fight the spread of the Zika virus, RB is announcing a Zika Relief Package of $1 million USD consisting of both cash and product donations that will be made available to health authorities and international NGOs battling the outbreak.

16 Feb 2016

UF study shows effective way to control damaging health impacts of mosquito-borne diseases

A common toxin used to kill yellow fever mosquito larvae - the most prevalent transmitter of dengue, chikungunya and zika viruses - is highly effective. While there are some fitness advantages to surviving adults, this is still an effective way to control the damaging health impacts of these mosquito-borne diseases, a new University of Florida study shows.

15 Feb 2016

Wake Forest Baptist researchers develop new nanotechnology to detect disease biomarkers

Researchers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center have developed a new technology to detect disease biomarkers in the form of nucleic acids, the building blocks of all living organisms.

15 Feb 2016

Scientists modify plants' defense system to confer resistance to virus

Scientists at Indiana University have modified a plant gene that normally fights bacterial infection to confer resistance to a virus.

15 Feb 2016

Protein Sciences, UNIGEN agree to supply Flublok influenza vaccine for the U.S. market from Japan

Protein Sciences Corporation (Meriden, CT and Pearl River, NY) and UMN Pharma Inc. (Akita, Akita prefecture, Japan) announced today that Protein Sciences and UNIGEN Inc., a joint venture of UMN and IHI Corporation (Koto-ku, Tokyo, Japan), entered into an agreement to source bulk Flublok influenza vaccine from Japan for the U.S. market.

12 Feb 2016

Tick genome study sheds light on occurrences of Lyme disease

After a decade-long research effort the genome of the deer tick has been sequenced by an international team of scientists, including researchers from the SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics.

12 Feb 2016

Leading global health bodies share data related to Zika crisis

Leading global health bodies including academic journals, NGOs, research funders and institutes, have committed to sharing data and results relevant to the current Zika crisis and future public health emergencies as rapidly and openly as possible.

12 Feb 2016

Leeds scientists to start computer drug research to find cure for Ebola virus

Scientists at the University of Leeds will run the equivalent of password cracking software to find the chemical keys to defeating the Ebola virus.

11 Feb 2016

Zika: an update

Since the Zika outbreak in Brazil early last year, the virus has spread to 20 countries across the Americas. As of February 3rd, 35 cases of Zika have been reported in the U.S., all of which have been associated with international travel.

11 Feb 2016

Unlocking intrinsically disordered proteins: an interview with Peter Wright

I'm a professor in the Department of Integrative Structural and Computational Biology at The Scripps Research Institute. I have been performing NMR research on proteins for nearly 40 years.

From Bruker BioSpin - NMR, EPR and Imaging 11 Feb 2016

UW-Madison research team starts work on Zika virus infection

In October, when David O'Connor last visited Brazil as part of a decade-long research program studying drug-resistant strains of HIV, one of his Brazilian collaborators had a request.

11 Feb 2016

Zika virus can have substantial economic impact in Americas

"Zika virus isn't going anywhere," says Frank Esper, MD, infectious disease specialist at University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital. "If it's anything near what happened with SARS or with Ebola, people are going to be very hesitant to travel to those areas.

11 Feb 2016

First case of Zika virus found in Ohio

"This is not unexpected," says Frank Esper, MD, infectious disease specialist at University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital in Cleveland, after learning of the first case of Zika virus in Ohio, found in a Cleveland woman who traveled to Haiti. "We know people are going to come back and they're going to have the Zika virus."

11 Feb 2016

Boosting intrinsic growth programs can enhance axon regeneration of injured neurons

Damage to axons in the central nervous system (CNS) typically results in permanent functional deficits. Boosting intrinsic growth programs can dramatically augment the axon regeneration of injured neurons. If injured neurons can regenerate sufficient number of axons, the CNS may recover and overcome such functional deficits.

11 Feb 2016

TSRI scientists develop new screening device for drug discovery

Screening large "libraries" of compounds to find those with a desired biological activity is a powerful method for discovering new drugs, but requires a large, expensive and dedicated facility. Now, scientists at the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute have devised the central component of a screening system that would be orders of magnitude smaller and cheaper.

11 Feb 2016

BMJ offers online resources to help healthcare workers respond to global emergency linked to Zika virus

BMJ is offering free online resources to support researchers, doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals to understand and respond to the global health emergency linked to the Zika virus.

10 Feb 2016

ESCMID gathers more solid data to better assess Zika virus risks, prepares for possible outbreak in Africa, Europe

Experts at the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases – an organization promoting research, risk assessment, knowledge sharing and best practices in the fight against infectious diseases – are developing tools to monitor the spread of the Zika virus and are conducting research to gather more solid data to better assess the risks associated with the infection.

10 Feb 2016

Researchers sequence genetic blueprint of Lyme-disease-spreading tick

Researchers have sequenced the genetic blueprint of one of the most prolific pathogen-transmitting agents on the planet - the Lyme-disease-spreading tick (Ixodes scapularis) that bites humans. The findings could lead to advances in not only disrupting the tick's capacity to spread diseases but also in eradicating the pest.

10 Feb 2016

ZAO provides platform for scientists, clinicians to share new research and clinical data on Zika

ZAO provides a platform for scientists and clinicians to publish their findings and source data on Zika and its mosquito vectors within days of submission, so that research, medical and government personnel can keep abreast of the rapidly evolving outbreak.

10 Feb 2016

El Niño plays significant role in outbreak of haemorrhagic fevers

The dengue virus affects 390 million people globally every year, and fears are that early 2016 will see an epidemic, particularly in South-East Asia, due to the predicted extreme intensity of El Niño. A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has revealed the significant role that this monster climatic phenomenon plays in the outbreak of haemorrhagic fevers.

9 Feb 2016