Having worked on viruses for over 40 years, I know a fair number of people in the field, and I am amazed at how many of them have started to work on Zika virus. What exactly is attracting virologists to this emerging virus? There are probably many reasons why Zika virus would be of interest …
A major new feature of the fourth edition of Principles of Virology is the inclusion of 26 video interviews with leading scientists who have made significant contributions to the field of virology. For the chapter on Synthesis of RNA from RNA templates, Vincent spoke with Karla Kirkegaard, PhD, of Stanford University School of Medicine, about her career and her work on picornaviruses.
Update: July 30, 2018 This letter inaccurately explained the issues with the PLoS One study. Specifically, when I wrote it I misunderstood which analyses had and hadn’t been done. The letter was e-mailed to PloS One long ago, so I can’t correct what has already been sent. But the following three paragraphs should have replaced …
Project Premonition, a Microsoft Research project that uses drones to capture mosquitoes and analyze them for pathogens, preprint servers, and three mouse models for Zika virus induced birth defects are the topics of episode #390 of the science show This Week in Virology. You can find TWiV #390 at microbe.tv/twiv, or listen below. [powerpress url=”http://traffic.libsyn.com/twiv/TWiV390.mp3″] Click arrow to …
Three papers have been published showing that Zika virus can cross the placenta in mice, replicate in the fetus, and cause microcephaly. In this video from Virus Watch I summarize these data and their implications.
Science publishing has a problem. I agree with Nobel Laureate Randy Schekman, who wrote that prestigious science journals like Cell, Nature, and Science – which he calls ‘luxury journals’ – are damaging science. The succession of articles on Zika virus nicely illustrates this problem. The big three in science publishing – Science, Nature, and Cell …
