Features of replication suggest viruses have common themes, vulnerabilities
...virus is bolstering the idea that broad classes of viruses - including those that cause important human disea...hinery four of the seven distinct classes of known viruses use to reproduce have common attributes. Such a discovery is important because it reveals a common v...Under magnetic force, nanoparticles may deliver gene therapy
...ed immune system responses that have occurred when viruses are used to deliver gene therapy. Levy said his team would pursue further studies into the feasibility of using the nanoparticles for gene therapy in blood vessels damaged by vascular disease. He suggested that the nanoparticles might find broader ...Discovery in plant virus may help prevent HIV and similar viruses
..., such as HIV, because if you block them, then the viruses simply can't replicate." The retrovirus HIV and ...to another cell. In reverse transcription, used by viruses such as HIV and CaMV, the virus' RNA is copied into DNA after it latches on to a victim's cell. This...American Chemical Society's Weekly PressPac -- July 25, 2007
...News In a post 9-11 world where laboratory-made viruses and other legitimate scientific discoveries could become terrorists weapons, scientists are stepping-up efforts to help ensure that well-intended research is not used for sinister purposes, according to an article ( http://pubs.acs.org/cen/science/85...New research identifies anti-viral protein that may predict who might be at risk to develop lupus
...ur immune system is able to defeat disease-causing viruses and bacteria every day using chemical weapons, like interferon-alpha, that have been honed over time. But like anything else, we can have too much of a good thing. Using blood samples from two large repositories, rheumatologist Mary K. Crow, M.D.,...Carnegie Mellon scientists find key HIV protein makes cell membranes bend more easily
...called fusion intermediates. Through evolution, viruses have also become skilled at fusing with cells to u...s same phenomenon could provide a general way that viruses use to infect cells, so it will be exciting to look at other viral systems with our experimental met...Study finds contaminated water reaching Florida's offshore keys
...han six miles offshore. The frequency of detecting viruses increased with rainfall in the summer months, when the viruses were most likely to be found in groundwater. Lipp cautioned, however, that the test used to identify...Charting ever-changing genomes
...ld, high acidity or salinity, or pathogens such as viruses and leaf-munching insects. In response, plants mobilize physiological and biochemical defenses that help them survive. We expected certain classes of genes to be highly variable due to natural selection in different environments. Both studies reveale...UC Santa Barbara scientists clarify molecular basis of interferon action
...tance that is also used as a drug to treat certain viruses such as Hepatitis C. The findings will be p...or the antiviral effect of interferon against some viruses but not others. The current study extends findings from studies of mouse cells that are gen...Universal flu vaccine being tested on humans
...led M2 protein, remains unchanged in all human flu viruses known, including the strains that caused the pandemics in the last century. On the basis of the M2-protein they developed a vaccine and successfully tested it on mice and other laboratory animals: the M2 vaccine provided total protection against A st...Tips from the Journals of the American Society for Microbiology
...et model to evaluate transmissibility of influenza viruses in humans and found that some strains currently ci...al of Virology. Transmission of H5N1 influenza viruses is of great concern worldwide as their geographic and host ranges continue to expand. Currently tra...Clues to future evolution of HIV come from African green monkeys
Monkey viruses related to HIV may have swept across Africa more recently than previously thought, according to new research from The University of Arizona in Tucson. A new family tree for African green monkeys shows that an HIV-like virus, simian immunodeficien...... which often results in the emergence of resistant viruses and overall treatment failure. This has prompted a...of HIV and maximize the possibility of eradicating viruses resistant to the maintenance regime. They also find the counter-intuitive result that for induction ...Modified herpes virus keeps arteries 'free-flowing' following procedures
...plication of genetically engineered herpes simplex viruses for treatment of vascular disease," Skelly added. "It suggests that genetically engineered viruses may have a significant impact on the outcomes of angioplasty performed in humans. Human trials woul...MIT, BU team builds viruses to combat harmful 'biofilms'
...ers from MIT and Boston University are engineering viruses to attack and destroy the surface biofilms that ha...eradicate these biofilms using bacteriophage, tiny viruses that attack bacteria. Phage have long been used in Eastern Europe and Russia to treat infection. ...Tomorrow's green nanofactories
...tts Institute of Technology (MIT), is working with viruses to make them do good things. By exploiting a viruss ability to replicate rapidly and combine with semiconductor and electronic materials, she is coaxing them to grow and self-assemble nanomaterials into a functional electronic device. Through this ma...First all-African produced genetically engineered maize is resistant to maize streak virus
Maize streak viruses (MSV), geminiviruses that can destroy most of a maize crop, are endemic to sub-Saharan Africa and adjacent Indian Ocean islands where they are transmitted by leafhoppers in the genus Cicadulina. Maize can supply 50% of the caloric intake in sub-S...Rapid evolution of defense genes in plants may produce hybrid incompatibility
...cidity or salinity, or attack by pathogens such as viruses or insect predators. Such stresses mobilize defe...ell death, which occurs in response to invasion by viruses or bacteria. The cells invaded by the pathogens are quickly marked by the plant for death so that t......mined as a host, not only because previous unknown viruses have been found to have originated in bats, but be...eservoir hosts of an increasing number of zoonotic viruses (animal viruses capable of also infecting people), but they rarely display clinical signs of infecti...Lancet study shows gene therapy for Parkinson's disease is safe and some patients benefit
... an inhibitory chemical called GABA into pieces of viruses that have been rendered non-infectious. They began studying the experimental treatment in Parkinsons patients in 2003. Some patients continue to show improvement. Parkinson's patients have been willing to step up to the operating table for relief fr...