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.
When a virus mutates, the world usually finds out the hard way. Variants of influenza and SARS-CoV-2 can slip past vaccines and antibody drugs before scientists fully understand what has changed. A new study from Harvard's ...
Evolution
Sep 14, 2026
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When public health researchers want to know whether diseases such as COVID-19 or polio are circulating in a community, they can look for genetic evidence in wastewater.
Ecology
Sep 14, 2026
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The scavenging behavior of many wild birds plays an important role in the type, number and variety of viruses they have, a new University of Otago–Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka-led study has found.
Ecology
Sep 10, 2026
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In recent years, scientists have developed methods to measure a cell's transcriptome, or all the RNA produced by a cell, to study the cell's identity and genetic activity. However, these methods rely on killing the cell to ...
Cell & Microbiology
Sep 4, 2026
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A research team from The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) has developed an innovative "one-pot" testing platform, known as TEMPO, that could transform highly sensitive nucleic acid testing from a laboratory-based ...
Biotechnology
Aug 31, 2026
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Bats are anomalies in the mammalian world—they fly, have long lifespans and rarely get cancer. Scientists now suspect the bat immune system enables them to live longer without disease, according to a new study published today ...
Evolution
Aug 26, 2026
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A citrus greening disease treatment rooted in more than a decade of research at Texas A&M AgriLife Research has reached a milestone on the path to commercial availability. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has granted ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Aug 21, 2026
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As antimicrobial resistance grows around the world, novel therapies to counter it become increasingly important. Phages—viruses that infect bacteria—are an exciting avenue of research in this regard, providing a means to ...
Cell & Microbiology
Aug 19, 2026
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Red blood cells serve as the foundation for nanocarriers that show promise in a new study as effective and efficient vehicles for gene therapy, tumor targeting and other medical treatments. Scientists at The Ohio State University ...
Bio & Medicine
Aug 17, 2026
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Tiny viruses that infect bacteria could one day help us tackle infections that antibiotics can no longer treat. But first, scientists need to understand how these viruses work, and artificial intelligence could provide them ...
Biotechnology
Aug 15, 2026
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