Virology News and Research

Latest Virology News and Research

Scientists use RNA to reprogram 1 cell type into another

For the past decade, researchers have tried to tweak cells at the gene and nucleus level to reprogram their identity.

16 Apr 2009

Prenatal exposure to influenza virus shown to reduce intelligence in adulthood

The Hong Kong flu pandemic was responsible for more than 700,000 deaths worldwide in the late 1960s, with major disease outbreaks in Europe in the winter of 1969-1970.

15 Apr 2009

Federal funding for partnership to combat infectious diseases

Oregon Health & Science University and the University of Washington, along with a number of partner institutions across the Northwest, have received federal funding to form a regional research center aimed at combating emerging or re-emerging infectious diseases that pose a serious threat to human health.

15 Apr 2009

Major breakthrough in understanding of Hendra virus

Groundbreaking CSIRO research into how the deadly Hendra virus spreads promises to save the lives of both horses and humans in the future.

15 Apr 2009

Hovione's TwinCaps inhaler in phase III trials for influenza

Hovione has announced that its licensee Daiichi Sankyo has informed that it intends to use Hovione's TwinCaps dry powder inhaler device in the launch of the compound CS-8958, an inhaled long-acting neuraminidase inhibitor active against the influenza virus.

15 Apr 2009

Discovery of a new target for novel HIV treatment strategy

The AIDS-causing HIV specifically counteracts the mechanisms of human cells that protect these against viral infections - a special viral protein marks protective cellular proteins for their rapid destruction and thus diminishes the cell's supply.

15 Apr 2009

Gene therapy for muscular dystrophy a step closer

Researchers have cleared a safety hurdle in efforts to develop a gene therapy for a form of muscular dystrophy that disables patients by gradually weakening muscles near the hips and shoulders.

15 Apr 2009

Early HIV treatment decreases the risk of death

Begin treatment as early as possible: this general common sense rule seems to apply to most diseases except HIV-AIDS, which is only treated once a certain number of immune cells called "CD4+" cells have disappeared.

14 Apr 2009

HIV infection rates are lower in circumcised heterosexual men

Three recent African trials support male circumcision for reducing the risk of contracting HIV in heterosexual men.

14 Apr 2009

Mutations that help HIV hide undermine the virus's ability to replicate

When HIV infects a cell, a complex of human immune proteins called HLA (short for human leukocyte antigen) alert killer T cells by displaying bits of the virus on the surface of the cell. The T cells recognize these HIV fragments and mobilize an attack.

13 Apr 2009

Withdrawal of Raptiva from U.S. market

Genentech, the manufacturer of the psoriasis drug Raptiva (efalizumab), has announced that it has begun a voluntary, phased withdrawal of the product from the U.S. market.

8 Apr 2009

Immune cells in skin fight off infection better than the rest

Scientists at the University of Melbourne have discovered the local action of immune cells in the skin, which could improve treatment of viral skin infections.

8 Apr 2009

HIV virus may have become more virulent

Damage to patients' immune systems is happening sooner now than it did at the beginning of the HIV epidemic, suggesting the virus has become more virulent, according to a new study in the May 1, 2009 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases, now available online.

8 Apr 2009

Growth factor TGF-beta helps maintain health of retinal blood vessels

Scientists at Schepens Eye Research Institute have found that the growth factor known as TGF-beta is essential to the health of blood vessels in the retina and that blocking it can cause retinal dysfunction.

8 Apr 2009

Reovirus kills cancer stem cells

Dalhousie Medical School cancer researcher Dr. Patrick Lee has proven that a common virus can infect and kill breast cancer stem cells.

8 Apr 2009

Patient to patient transmission of hepatitis B virus:

Patient-to-patient transmission of hepatitis B virus (HBV) can occur as the result of routine clinical practices incorrectly thought to be risk-free.

8 Apr 2009

$45 million public awareness campaign on HIV/AIDS epidemic in U.S.

The U.S. government has announced a $45 million program to fight the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

8 Apr 2009

FDA clears rapid test for the detection of influenza A/H5N1

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today cleared for marketing a new, more rapid test for the detection of influenza A/H5N1, a disease-causing subtype of the avian influenza A virus that can infect humans.

7 Apr 2009

Stanford study shows PEPFAR program saved a million lives

The President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, the ambitious U.S. government program begun in 2003, has cut the death toll from HIV/AIDS through 2007 by more than 10 percent in targeted countries in Africa, though it has had no appreciable effect on prevalence of the disease in those nations, according to a study from the Stanford University School of Medicine that is the first to evaluate these outcomes.

6 Apr 2009

New type of probe enables visualization of single ribonucleic acid

Biomedical engineers have developed a new type of probe that allows them to visualize single ribonucleic acid (RNA) molecules within live cells more easily than existing methods.

6 Apr 2009