Basic virology

Truth Wins: A Practical Guide to Succeeding in Biomedical Research, by Jonathan Yewdell

1 Comment / Basic virology, Information / By Vincent Racaniello

Jonathan Yewdell, Chief of the Cellular Biology Section at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has written a book entitled Truth Wins: A Practical Guide to Succeeding in Biomedical Research. Dr. Yewdell is well known for his presentations about the problems with biomedical science, a subject we discussed on TWiV 208: The Biomedical …

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Have a methyl with your viral RNA

1 Comment / Basic virology, Information / By Vincent Racaniello

Chemical modification of RNA by the addition of methyl groups is known to alter gene expression without changing the nucleotide sequence. The addition of a methyl group to adenosine has been found to regulate gene expression of animal viruses, and most recently of plant viruses. The illustration shows a methyl (CH3-) group added to the …

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The $475,000 drug

3 Comments / Basic virology, Information / By Vincent Racaniello

The US Food and Drug Administration recently approved the first gene therapy, Kymriah, to treat B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. It uses a lentivirus to modify the patient’s T cells to kill tumor cells. Acute lymphoblastic leukemia, or ALL, is caused by uncontrolled growth of B cells, which normally produce antibodies to fight off infections. It …

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A plasmid on the road to becoming a virus

5 Comments / Basic virology, Information / By Vincent Racaniello

Plasmids have been discovered that can move from cell to cell within membrane vesicles in a species of Archaea (link to paper). They provide clues about the origin of virus particles. Electron microscope analysis of the culture medium from Halobrum lacusprofundi R1S1, an Archaeal strain from Antarctica, revealed spherical particles which were subsequently shown to …

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Phage synergy with the immune system

2 Comments / Basic virology, Information / By Vincent Racaniello

Not long after their discovery, viruses that infect bacteria – bacteriophages – were considered as therapeutic agents for treating infections. Despite many years of research on so-called phage therapy, clinical trials have produced conflicting results. They might be explained in part by the results of a new study which show that the host innate immune system …

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Purging the PERVs

2 Comments / Basic virology, Information / By Vincent Racaniello

There aren’t enough human organs to meet the needs for transplantation, so we have turned to pigs. Unfortunately pig cells contain porcine endogenous retroviruses, PERVS, which could infect the transplant recipient, leading to tumor formation. But why worry? Just use CRISPR to purge the PERVs. The genomes of many species on Earth are littered with endogenous …

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