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.
Using a virus-like delivery particle made from DNA, researchers from MIT and the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT, and Harvard have created a vaccine that can induce a strong antibody response against SARS-CoV-2.
Bio & Medicine
Jan 30, 2024
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A novel nanoparticle spray coating process has been shown to all but eliminate the growth of some of the world's most dangerous bacteria in air filtration systems, significantly reducing the risk of airborne bacterial and ...
Bio & Medicine
Jan 24, 2024
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Human noroviruses cause acute gastroenteritis, a global health problem for which there are no vaccines or antiviral drugs. Although most healthy patients recover completely from the infection, norovirus can be life-threatening ...
Bio & Medicine
Dec 7, 2023
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The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated the importance of being prepared with drug interventions to contain viral outbreaks that can otherwise have devastating consequences. In preparing for the next pandemic—or Disease X, there ...
Bio & Medicine
Nov 28, 2023
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Richard Feynman famously stated, "Everything that living things do can be understood in terms of the jigglings and wigglings of atoms." This week, Nature Nanotechnology features a study that sheds new light on the evolution ...
Bio & Medicine
Nov 27, 2023
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Pseudoviruses resemble impostors: Although harmless, they are designed in such a way that they can hardly be distinguished from their dangerous relatives. This makes them an invaluable tool in virus research. They can be ...
Bio & Medicine
Nov 2, 2023
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A rapid, accurate way of testing for COVID-19 infection would be a big step in overcoming the virus' hold over our society. Now, Japanese researchers have developed a promising solution: a novel platform that couples nanopore ...
Bio & Medicine
Oct 26, 2023
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Engineers at the University of California San Diego have developed an experimental vaccine that could prevent the spread of metastatic cancers to the lungs. The key ingredients of the vaccine are nanoparticles—fashioned from ...
Bio & Medicine
Oct 18, 2023
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Recent studies have found that Gires-Tournois (GT) biosensors, a type of nanophotonic resonator, can detect minuscule virus particles and produce colorful micrographs (images taken through a microscope) of viral loads. But ...
Bio & Medicine
Oct 17, 2023
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Cleveland Clinic researchers have used nanoparticles to develop a potential vaccine candidate against Dabie Bandavirus, formerly known as Severe Fever with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome Virus (SFTSV), a tick-borne virus that ...
Bio & Medicine
Sep 21, 2023
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