For the first time since April of 1955, recipients of poliovirus vaccine will no longer receive all three serotypes. This past Sunday the World Health Organization orchestrated a synchronized switch from trivalent to bivalent oral poliovirus vaccine (OPV) in 150 countries. The reason for the switch is clear: type 2 poliovirus was declared eradicated last year, and the …
From trivalent to bivalent oral poliovirus vaccine Read More »
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. These in-depth interviews provide the background and thinking that went into the discoveries or observations connected to the concepts being taught in this text. …
Dr. Susan Nasif is a virologist and part of the team at Cimaza Comics that produces science-themed comics. In their latest creation, Zanzare, we are plunged head-first into the global mystery of Zika virus. We meet the mosquitoes (in Italian: zanzare) implicated in its spread; but the insects plead their innocence, saying it’s all a misunderstanding. They …
Six months after Zika virus became a household word, we now know the three-dimensional structure of the virus particle. And it looks like very much like other flaviviruses, such as West Nile and dengue viruses. In the old days, solving a virus structure was a big deal. A virus is, after all, a very large assembly …
If the DNA sequence of a cell is like the operating system of a computer, then the smallest cellular OS has just been written. Called Syn3.0, it encodes everything needed to make a viable, autonomously replicating cell. Mycoplasma is a genus of bacteria that are the smallest known free-living organisms. They also have the smallest genomes of any autonomously …
Today it is well known that viruses may contain DNA (poxvirus, mimivirus) or RNA (influenza virus, Zika virus), but for many years it was thought that genomes were only made of DNA. The surprise at finding only RNA in a virus is plainly evident in a 1953 letter from Harriett Ephrussi-Taylor to James D. Watson (pictured, Cold Spring Harbor Archives …
