Pig lung being irradiated with red light to inactivate viruses. Method developed by scientists in Brazil and Canada can prevent transmission of diseases to organ recipients. Credit: Cristina Kurachi A new technique for the decontamination of organs before transplantation using ultraviolet and red light irradiation has been developed by Brazilian and Canadian researchers and is … Read more
Imagine that HIV is a sealed tin can: if you opened it, what would you find inside? An international team led by researchers at the University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre (CRCHUM), Tufts University School of Medicine, and the University of Melbourne think they know. For the first time, they have visualized what the “open … Read more
Herpes simplex virus type 1 (green fluorescence) incubated with non-neutralizing human sera damaged cells. Credit: Sean A. Taylor Findings from a study published in the journal Science Translational Medicine, led by David Leib, Ph.D., professor and chair of microbiology and immunology at Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine, are offering new insights into neonatal herpes, its … Read more
Antiretroviral therapy may soon be obsolete, as scientists have successfully used immune cells to kick the dormant form of HIV out of its hiding place and destroy it. The findings may soon lead to an HIV vaccine.New research brings us closer to an HIV vaccine that could eradicate it completely. According to recent estimates, around … Read more
Hepatitis B is a viral liver infection that can lead to acute or chronic conditions. Although there is a vaccine that offers protection against the virus, current treatments which prevent the virus from replicating are not curative for infected individuals. Scientists at the Institut Pasteur working in collaboration with the CNRS have demonstrated that a … Read more
A DNA-encoded monoclonal antibody prevents Zika infection in mice and non-human primates, researchers report April 5 in the journal Molecular Therapy. Injections of synthetic DNA encoding the potent anti-Zika monoclonal antibody ZK190 resulted in high production of ZK190 for weeks to months, effectively controlling infection in all animals. The new platform for monoclonal-antibody gene delivery … Read more
The Zika virus is widely known for causing microcephaly and other brain defects in the fetuses of pregnant, infected women. Currently, there are no approved antiviral therapies specifically designed to treat Zika, but researchers at the Advanced Science Research Center (ASRC) at The Graduate Center of The City University of New York, Hunter College, and … Read more
Michigan State University scientists have linked a common food preservative to an altered immune response that possibly hinders flu vaccines. The study conducted in mice, presented at the 2019 Experimental Biology meeting in Orlando, Fla., April 7 at 9 a.m., offers up a new potential factor in vaccine effectiveness. Tert-butylhydroquinone, or tBHQ, can be found … Read more
Many viruses, including that perennial winter affliction, the influenza virus, are protected by a lipid membrane on loan from the host cell. The fusion proteins on the surface of the membrane are tasked with merging the lipid membrane of the virus with that of the cell. After this, the virus is able to slip inside … Read more