Virology News and Research

Latest Virology News and Research

Study provides key insights on potential origins of coronavirus outbreak in China

Emerging viral infections--from bird flu to Ebola to Zika infections--pose major threats to global public health, and understanding their origins can help investigators design defensive strategies against future outbreaks.

22 Jan 2020

Researchers develop novel assay to detect Chinese coronavirus

Researchers from the German Center for Infection Research at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin have developed a new laboratory assay to detect the novel Chinese coronavirus.

16 Jan 2020

Researchers provide first robust cell culture model for hepatitis E virus

Even though hepatitis E causes over three million infections and about 70,000 deaths each year, the virus has been little studied as yet.

13 Jan 2020

Researchers discover hundreds of novel viruses in insects

New viruses which cause diseases often come from animals. Well-known examples of this are the Zika virus transmitted by mosquitoes, bird flu viruses, as well as the MERS virus which is associated with camels. In order to identify new viral diseases quickly and prevent possible epidemics, DZIF scientists at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin are targeting their search at viruses in animals.

8 Jan 2020

Mystery virus infecting dozens in central China prompts fears of new epidemic

China announced that an unknown form of viral pneumonia has broken out in Wuhan and has so far infected almost 60 people.

6 Jan 2020

Bile acids help norovirus to infect cells of the small intestine

A new study led by researchers at Baylor College of Medicine and published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reveals that human noroviruses, the leading viral cause of foodborne illness and acute diarrhea around the world, infect cells of the small intestine by piggybacking on a normal cellular process called endocytosis that cells use to acquire materials from their environment.

31 Dec 2019

Research shows how the hepatitis D virus copies itself

A team of researchers has discovered how one crucial step occurs in the lifecycle of the hepatitis D virus (HDV), which causes the widespread and hard to treat liver inflammation called hepatitis D. The study, which was published recently in the Journal of Virology, could help develop antiviral therapy to control this disease.

22 Dec 2019

Researchers reveal the mystery in replication cycle of hepatitis D virus

A team led by Professor Patrick Labonté at the Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique in Montreal, Canada has identified the role of a key process in the replication cycle of the hepatitis D virus, an infection that is still very difficult to cure and affects 15 to 20 million people worldwide.

19 Dec 2019

Evolutionarily novel genes found to be expressed in tumors

A team of scientists from Peter the Great St.Petersburg Polytechnic University (SPbPU) studied the evolutionary ages of human genes and identified a new class of them expressed in tumors -- tumor specifically expressed, evolutionarily novel (TSEEN) genes.

16 Dec 2019

Researchers make significant advances in developing novel Zika virus vaccine

Researchers from the University of Adelaide have made significant advances in developing a novel vaccine against Zika virus, which could potentially lead to global elimination of the disease.

14 Dec 2019

Virome analysis reveals clues for increased risk of type 1 diabetes in children

New results from The Environmental Determinants of Diabetes in the Young study show an association between prolonged enterovirus infection and the development of autoimmunity to the insulin-producing pancreatic beta-cells that precedes type 1 diabetes.

2 Dec 2019

New way to thwart HIV infection at early stages

1.7 million. That's how many people are infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) each year worldwide. 1.7 million people who are condemned to lifelong antiretroviral therapy (ART) or risk developing fatal AIDS . Out of the 37.9 million people living with HIV (PLWH), 22.3 million have access to ART, allowing them to have an almost normal lifespan.

26 Nov 2019

New antiviral drug drives treatment resistance in influenza viruses

On January 31, 2019, an 11-year old boy in Japan went to a medical clinic with a fever. The providers there diagnosed him with influenza, a strain called H3N2, and sent him home with a new medication called baloxavir.

25 Nov 2019

Tulane virus needs intracellular calcium to replicate

Some gastrointestinal viruses need calcium. They need calcium ions to carry out several essential aspects of viral life, such as entry into host cells, genome replication and building new viruses to invade other cells. The cells invaded by viruses also use calcium. They use it as signals to regulate many of the cells' own processes, but viruses can takeover cellular calcium signaling to satisfy their own needs.

13 Nov 2019

Investigational vaccine protects macaques against four types of hemorrhagic fever viruses

Scientists funded by the National Institutes of Health have developed an investigational vaccine that protected cynomolgus macaques against four types of hemorrhagic fever viruses endemic to overlapping regions in Africa.

8 Nov 2019

HIV-1 virus characteristics can predict treatment efficacy with specific antibody treatment

Current HIV-1 therapies have been proven to be highly effective in slowing the progression of the virus in the body with only minimal side effects.

6 Nov 2019

Researchers find genes from 'fossil' virus in human DNA to be active

Genes from a virus that was stitched into the human genome thousands of years ago are active, producing proteins in the human brain and other tissues, according to researchers at the University of Washington School of Medicine and the Laval University School of Medicine in Quebec, Canada.

5 Nov 2019

Researchers develop new therapeutic concept for treatment of temporal lobe epilepsy

Teams of researchers from Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin and the Medical University of Innsbruck have developed a new therapeutic concept for the treatment of temporal lobe epilepsy.

30 Oct 2019

Universal influenza vaccine developed at Cornell is set for human clinical trials

A universal influenza vaccine with the potential to be longer lasting and more effective than commercially available vaccines is destined for human clinical trials, thanks to a $17.9 million grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

24 Oct 2019

Wyss Institute joins Global Virus Network as new Center of Excellence to fight viral threats

Today, the Global Virus Network, a conglomerate of 52 "Centers of Excellence" and 9 Affiliates in 32 countries, which catalyzes collaborative research into diseases caused by every class of virus in humans and animals, announced the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University as a new Center of Excellence.

24 Oct 2019