How many different viruses are there on planet Earth? Twenty years ago Stephen Morse suggested that there were about one million viruses of vertebrates (he arrived at this calculation by assuming ~20 different viruses in each of the 50,000 vertebrates on the planet). The results of a new study suggest that at least 320,000 different …
Dr. Jeffrey Almond began his career as an academic virologist studying influenza virus, then moved to poliovirus. He made major contributions to our understanding of the molecular basis of poliovirus attenuation and reversion to virulence. After 20 years in academics he moved to Sanofi Pasteur, where he is currently Vice President, discovery research and external …
Reticuloendotheliosis viruses (REVs) are retroviruses that cause a rare disease of gamebirds and waterfowl that includes anemia, immunosuppression, neoplasia, runting, and abnormal feathering. Since the first isolation of REV from a turkey in 1957, REVs were believed to be strictly avian viruses. It now appears that REVs are mammalian viruses that were accidentally introduced into …
Inadvertent transfer of a mammalian retrovirus into birds Read More »
What is wrong with this paragraph from today’s New York Times that describes the origin of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) coronavirus: Health officials confirmed Wednesday that bats in Saudi Arabia were the source of the mysterious virus that has sickened 96 people in the Middle East, killing 47 of them. Here is the …
Part of MERS-CoV nucleotide sequence found in a bat Read More »
Discutiremos acerca de los procesos y las enzimas que participan en la sÃntesis de RNA a partir de templados de RNA y como la sÃntesis de RNA se utiliza para maximizar la capacidad codificante del genoma viral.
Ray Ortega of the American Society for Microbiology has created a beautiful one-minute trailer for our documentary visit to a BSL-4 facility, ‘Threading the NEIDL‘.
