Virus Engineering News Today

Sunday, 22 December 2013 Some of the world's most eminent scientists have severely criticised the arguments used by some influenza researchers who are trying to make the H5N1 bird-flu virus more dangerous to humans by repeatedly infecting laboratory ferrets. More than 50 senior scientists from 14 countries, including three Nobel laureates and several fellows of…

Contact: University of Oxford press.office@admin.ox.ac.uk 44-018-652-80530 University of Oxford Novel vaccine additive to enhance the body's immune response shows promise in mice Oxford University scientists have discovered a compound that greatly boosts the effect of vaccines against viruses like flu, HIV and herpes in mice. An 'adjuvant' is a substance added to a vaccine to…

Contact: Press presse@inserm.fr INSERM (Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale) By demonstrating that it is possible to inhibit the viral infection in vitro by blocking the bonding between the virus and these receptors, the researchers have opened the way to a new antiviral strategy. These works were published on line in…

Contact: Jim Sliwa jsliwa@asmusa.org 202-942-9297 American Society for Microbiology Pneumococcal disease rates down significantly post-vaccine Since the approval of a vaccine against pneumococcal bacteria for young children in 2000, rates of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) are down significantly in all age groups, while rates of IPD caused by non-vaccine strains are modestly on the rise. …

Public release date: 13-Sep-2012 [ Contact: Diana Yates diya@illinois.edu 217-333-5802 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign IMAGE:Giant viruses should be included reconstructions of the tree of life, researchers report in a new study. The mimivirus, shown here (small black hexagons) infecting an amoeba, is as big... Click here for more information. CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — A new…

  Researchers at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California, introduced DNA molecules not found in nature to a common bacterium The E. coli bugs are able to grow and reproduce as normal despite containing two extra letters in their genetic code Research involved overcoming a billion years of evolution to get the expanded…

Contact: Hanu Pappu hrp@wsu.edu 509-335-3752 Washington State University Could lead to new generation of viruses PULLMAN, Wash.— Washington State University researchers have found that viruses will join forces to overcome a plant's defenses and cause more severe infections. "These findings have important implications in our ability to control these viruses", says Hanu Pappu, Sam Smith…

Contact: Claire Bowles claire.bowles@rbi.co.uk 44-207-331-2751 New Scientist Superflu is being brewed in the lab AFTER the worldwide alarm triggered by last year's SARS outbreak, it might seem reckless to set about creating a potentially far more devastating virus in the lab. But that is what is being attempted by some researchers, who argue that the…

2010 report posted for filing Conflicts of Interest WHO and the pandemic flu "conspiracies" Deborah Cohen, features editor, BMJ, Philip Carter, journalist, The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, London dcohen@bmj.com Key scientists advising the World Health Organization on planning for an influenza pandemic had done paid work for pharmaceutical firms that stood to gain from the…

Contact: Bonnie Cameron bonnie.cameron@stjude.org 901-495-4815 St. Jude Children's Research Hospital Special modification of reverse genetics created at St. Jude allowed vaccine to be custom-made within weeks of emergence of virus (MEMPHIS, TENN.--April 2, 2003) Scientists at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital announced today the development of a vaccine against H5N1, a new lethal influenza virus…