When viruses are introduced into a new population, selection pressures can lead to evolution of both pathogen and host. The pathogen must adapt to a new host, while the latter can become resistant to infection, leading to an arms race. An archetypal example of such host-pathogen evolution is illustrated by the attempt to control rabbit …
Rabbits and viruses: An iconic example of natural selection Read More »
How difficult would it be to study the virome of living whales? You might think that sampling would be the hard part, but not if you used a drone. A drone was used to collect the breath (‘blow’) from 19 humpback whales near Sydney, Australia. The video below show how a sampling chamber carried by …
On episode #366 of the science show This Week in Virology, Vincent visits Melbourne, Australia, where he speaks with four PhD students about their research projects and what it’s like to get a doctorate down under. You can find TWiV #366 at www.microbe.tv/twiv. Or you can watch the video below.
On episode #293 of the science show This Week in Virology, Vincent visits Melbourne, Australia and speaks with Melissa, Alex, Gilda, and Paul about their work on HIV infection of the central nervous system, West Nile virus, microbicides for HIV, and the Koala retrovirus. You can find TWiV #293 at www.microbe.tv/twiv.
The Koala retrovirus (KoRV) continues to spread within Australia, according to results of a new analysis of a larger sample size from a wider geographical range than was previously studied. Blood or tissue samples were collected from koalas in different regions of Australia, and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to detect the presence of …
