Page 25: Research news on viruses

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.

Engineers muffle invading pathogens with a 'molecular mask'

Vaccines remain the gold standard of protection against dangerous pathogens, but take considerable time and vast resources to develop. Rapidly mutating viruses such as SARS-CoV-2 can blunt their effectiveness and even render ...

Improving infectious disease testing with gold nanoparticles

By harnessing the power of composite polymer particles adorned with gold nanoparticles, a group of researchers have delivered a more accurate means of testing for infectious diseases. Details of their research are published ...

Must mRNA be cloaked in a lipid coat to serve as a vaccine?

The Uchida Laboratory of Innovation Center of NanoMedicine has demonstrated that intradermal administration of mRNA alone (naked mRNA) without protection by nanoparticles induced robust vaccination against SARS CoV-2, a virus ...

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