ZMapp, a mixture of three antibodies against Ebola virus, became a household name after it was used to treat two Americans who were infected while working in Liberia. The structure of these antibodies bound to the Ebola virus glycoprotein suggest how they inhibit infection and ways to improve ZMapp. The three monoclonal antibodies that comprise ZMapp (called c13C6, c2G4, and c4G7) were …
Sea stars are lovely marine invertebrates with a round central body connected to multiple radiating legs (photo credit). In the past year millions of sea stars in the west coast waters of North America have melted into piles of slime and ossicles. Sea star associated densovirus might be the cause of this lethal disease. Sea star wasting disease (SSWD) …
Many well-known human viruses, including poliovirus, rabies virus, West Nile virus, can infect cells of the nervous system, leading to alterations in the function of that organ. Could a virus that infects algae also cause human neurological alterations? Chloroviruses are large DNA-containing viruses that infect unicellular algae called zoochlorellae (pictured: image credit, ViralZone). Unexpectedly, chlorovirus …
Algal virus associated with altered human cognitive functions Read More »
The Wild Types is an interview show about scientists hosted by Ushma Neill and Richard White. Ushma interviewed me for episode #2. The show name doesn’t refer to the fact that all scientists are wild (some are; I am not) but the genetic term referring to the strain or organism that is compared with mutants. As …
Jonas Salk, who lead the team that developed the first poliovirus vaccine, was born 100 years ago today, 28 October 1914, in New York City. Numerous sites across the country have convened symposia in his honor. Last week City College of New York, where Salk earned a bachelor’s degree, held a centennial celebration. The photo shows Salk’s …
This morning I received this email from President Lee Bollinger: Dear fellow members of the Columbia community: As you may have seen in the media, Dr. Craig Spencer is being treated for Ebola at Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan. Dr. Spencer, an emergency department physician at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center, recently returned from a humanitarian mission …
