Viruses are acellular infectious agents that depend entirely on host cellular machinery for replication and are therefore studied as a central topic in microbiology, virology, and infectious disease research. They consist minimally of a nucleic acid genome (DNA or RNA, single- or double-stranded, linear or circular) enclosed in a protein capsid, and in many cases a host-derived lipid envelope containing viral glycoproteins. Viral classification and research focus on genome organization, replication strategies, host range, tropism, mechanisms of cell entry and egress, immune evasion, and evolutionary dynamics, as well as their roles in pathogenesis, horizontal gene transfer, and biotechnology applications such as vectors and phage therapy.
In a world first, scientists led by a team from Stanford University have created 16 viable viruses that do not exist in nature and were designed by AI. Their experiment, which is published in Science, could help in the fight ...
A study by researchers in the UAB Department of Mathematics and the Center for Mathematical Research (CRM) presents a model describing the behavior of encapsulated bacteriophages within the gastrointestinal tract. Its objective ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Jul 31, 2026
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When a virus enters a cell, its top priority is to replicate its genome rapidly, creating new viruses to infect elsewhere. The host has the opposite priority: to destroy the virus, ideally before it can do any harm. Biology ...
Poxviruses have a long history in human disease as well as medicine: The first-ever vaccine was developed to protect against smallpox, which has since been eradicated. Despite this, scientists still don't fully understand ...
Cell & Microbiology
Jul 30, 2026
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All cells in the human body—and the motions they enable, from our beating hearts to our wiggling toes—use energy generated by a molecule called ATP. Its energy is thought to be released to fuel cellular processes in only ...
Biotechnology
Jul 25, 2026
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La Trobe University scientists have uncovered the critical role fatty cell structures play in our body's early detection and defense against viruses. Published in Nature Communications, the discovery could open the door to ...
Cell & Microbiology
Jul 24, 2026
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All cellular life—from humans to bacteria—possesses two layers of immunity: innate and adaptive. Scientists have long understood how these two types of immunity work together in higher organisms but not in the microbial world.
Cell & Microbiology
Jul 22, 2026
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An international team of researchers developed a new way to uncover hidden differences in how viruses infect and destroy individual microbial cells—solving a biological puzzle that has persisted for more than 80 years.
Cell & Microbiology
Jul 15, 2026
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Researchers have discovered that a group of viruses known to infect an agriculturally important plant pathogen has remained genetically stable for an astonishing four decades. The discovery of a disease-fighting virus that ...
Cell & Microbiology
Jul 13, 2026
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To prevent viruses from sickening or killing us—whether it's an individual case of hepatitis B or a COVID pandemic—it's crucial to understand how the proteins they make initiate changes in our bodies that allow them to flourish. ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Jul 10, 2026
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