A new test that ‘fishes’ for multiple respiratory viruses at once using single strands of DNA as ‘bait’, and gives highly accurate results in under an hour, has been developed by Cambridge researchers.
Scientists have developed a ‘nanobody’ – a small fragment of a llama antibody – that is capable of chasing out human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) as it hides away from the immune system. This then enables immune cells to seek out and destroy this potentially deadly virus.
Cambridge zoologists Bill Sutherland and Silviu Petrovan warn that we must dramatically change the way we interact with animals to reduce the risk of this happening again.
Researchers at the University of Cambridge and the University of Oxford have discovered a new molecule that plays a key role in the immune response that is triggered by influenza infections. The molecule, a so-called mini viral RNA, is capable of inducing inflammation and cell death, and was produced at high levels by the 1918 pandemic influenza virus. The findings appeared in Nature Microbiology yesterday (September 17).
We are still part-virus, writes Edward Emmott, Research Associate in Virology, for The Conversation. Human DNA plays host to a range of different viruses. And this could help explain why it has been so difficult to develop effective antiviral drugs.
Study of bee-manipulating plant virus reveals a “short-circuiting” of natural selection. Researchers suggest that replicating the scent caused by infection could encourage declining bee populations to pollinate crops – helping both bee and human food supplies.
Many of us are infected with a virus we’ll never clear. While we’re healthy, it’s nothing to worry about, but when our immune system is suppressed it could kill us.
Although anti-HIV drugs can significantly prolong life, patients must take the drugs for the rest of their lives. New approaches to therapeutics may hold the answer to finding a cure for HIV.
New research shows how some bacterial cells keep a ‘suicide complex’ ready to hand at all times.
Researchers find that African bats have antibodies that neutralise a deadly virus.
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