This week€™s addition to the virology toolbox was written by Chris Upton Dotplots are an extremely useful way of visualizing comparisons of small and large DNA sequences (as well as protein sequences), providing insight into the degree of similarity, deletions, insertions and direct and indirect repeats. In a dotplot, each nucleotide, or small window of …
If there€™s something strange in your neighborhood, who you gonna call? EIS! In the early 1950s, Alexander Langmuir, an epidemiologist for the Communicable Disease Center (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia, warned that pathogenic microbes could be used as agents of biological warfare. To counter the threat, he advised the federal government to establish a ready response …
This week’s addition to the virology toolbox was written by Chris Upton First, you may be asking yourself €“ Why viral bioinformatics? Good question! Although it€™s true that much in the world of bioinformatics can be applied to all manner of protein and DNA sequences, there are a number of resources that are specific for …
A press release from the Netherlands indicates that the FDA and NIH have independently confirmed the association of XMRV with chronic fatigue syndrome as published last fall in Science. Apparently two journalists for the Dutch magazine ORTHO obtained a copy of a lecture by Dr. Harvey Alter in Zagreb which confirms these findings. According to …
Use of the rotavirus vaccine Rotarix in the US has been temporarily suspended because the vaccine was found to be contaminated with porcine circovirus 1 DNA. The discovery was made in the laboratory of Dr. Eric Delwart, who has provided insight into what was found in Rotarix, and why he was analyzing the vaccine. Delwart …
Deep sequencing reveals viral vaccine contaminants Read More »
The second RNA segment of some influenza virus strains encodes a protein called PB1-F2 that might contribute to virulence. Speaking about the 2009 pandemic H1N1 strain, Peter Palese noted that If this virulence marker is necessary for an influenza virus to become highly pathogenic in humans or in chickens, then the current swine virus doesn€™t …
It’s not easy to make the 2009 H1N1 influenza virus a killer Read More »
