The United States has provided a large sum of money to pharmaceutical giant Novartis to produce influenza vaccines grown in cell culture. According to CIDRAP: Novartis’s US efforts have been spurred by two major federal contracts. In 2006 the firm won a $220 million HHS contract to develop cell-based flu vaccines, and in January 2009 …
A $707 million investment in cell-based influenza vaccine Read More »
A laboratory in the Netherlands has identified a lethal influenza H5N1 virus strain that is transmitted among ferrets. These findings are under review by the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB) to ensure that they do not constitute a threat to human health. Meanwhile both the popular and scientific press has been calling this …
For those who do not read Portuguese, the title of this post is “Popularization of science through podcast”. During my visit to Brazil last month, I was interviewed by a Ph.D. student, Luiza Montenegro Mendonça, from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. Luiza is taking a course on scientific divulgation, and students are required to …
Arthur D. Levinson, Ph.D., Chairman of Genentech, has replaced Steve Jobs as Chairman of the Board of Apple, Inc. During his scientific career, Levinson did research on different viruses, including adenovirus, retroviruses, and hepatitis B virus. His first virology paper came from his Ph.D. research with Arnold Levine, and is entitled “In vivo and in …
Most students of elementary biology will have seen the table at left that depicts the genetic code. HG Khorana was one of several scientists who determined, in the 1960s, the amino acids specified by each three-letter combination of bases. As long as I have been at Columbia University I have had a copy of this …
At the recent Brazilian Virology Society meeting George Rohrmann gave me a copy of his book, Baculovirus Molecular Biology. Baculoviruses are double-stranded DNA containing viruses that infect insects and other arthropods. Early in the first chapter of George’s book I learned that baculoviruses may be present on uncooked cabbage leaves: …in one study it was found …
