Autoantibodies Cause Lifelong Risk of Viral Infections

19-Jul-2024 - A new study shows that about two percent of the population develop autoantibodies against type 1 interferons, mostly later in life. This makes individuals more susceptible to viral diseases like COVID-19. The study, conducted by UZH researchers together with a USZ team, is based on an analysis of ...

The Route Into the Cell Influences the Outcome of Sars-Cov-2 Infection

A surface protein helps viruses to enter cells. This has far-reaching consequences for the infection

04-Jun-2024 - How exactly do Sars-Cov-2 particles enter host cells? An international team led by Dr Richard Brown from Dr Daniel Todt’s Computational Virology group at the Department of Molecular and Medical Virology at Ruhr University Bochum, Germany, together with researchers from the Paul-Ehrlich-Institut, ...

Hepatitis C Virus Infection: Discovery of Unexpected Proviral Effect of Guanylate-Binding Protein 1 (GBP1)

02-Apr-2024 - A research team from the Paul-Ehrlich-Institut has gained important insights into the role of the human guanylate-binding protein 1 (GBP1) in hepatitis C virus infection. Their results show that GBP1 performs a previously unknown function, that of a proviral factor, during the HCV life cycle. ...

Decreasing biodiversity may promote spread of viruses

New insight into the dynamics of infectious disease

28-Sep-2023 - How are environmental changes, loss of biodiversity, and the spread of pathogens connected? The answer is a puzzle. Researchers from Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin have now described one piece of that puzzle in the journal eLife,* showing that the destruction of tropical rainforests harms ...

New infection mechanism in coronavirus discovered

Results provide starting point for development of antiviral therapies

20-Jul-2023 - The SARS-coronavirus-2, responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic, triggers a stress response in infected cells that facilitates the virus' entry into the cells. In their search for the underlying molecular mechanism, researchers from the Heidelberg University Medical School and Heidelberg University ...

Copper is effective against Sars-Cov-2 on surfaces – silver is not

Silver nanopatches leave the virus unimpressed

09-May-2022 - Copper and silver are known for their antibacterial properties. Researchers from Bochum have explored their effectiveness against viruses. Silver and copper ions wipe out many pathogens. That’s why implants and medical instruments, for example, are coated with these metals. Researchers from ...

Using viruses to fight resistant bacteria

25-Sep-2018 - Emergence of antimicrobial resistance is a major threat to global health. Worldwide, more than 700,000 people died due to impaired action of antibiotic agents, and it is estimated to cause 10 million deaths a year by 2050. Li Deng, head of an Emmy-Noether Young Investigator Group at the Institute ...

Magnetized viruses attack harmful bacteria

03-Aug-2017 - Magnetic nanoparticle clusters have the power to punch through biofilms to reach bacteria that can foul water treatment systems, according to scientists at Rice University and the University of Science and Technology of China. The nanoclusters developed through Rice's Nanotechnology-Enabled Water ...

Sun Pharma & NIV sign agreement to fight Zika, Chikungunya and Dengue

27-Jun-2017 - Sun Pharma and The National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, an institution of the Indian Council of Medical Research, Department of Health Research, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare , New Delhi announced that they have signed an agreement for testing phytopharmaceutical, biologic and ...

New method could deliver DNA-based vaccines in pill form

13-Apr-2017 - A microscopic corn-and-shrimp cocktail could eventually make DNA-based vaccinations and cancer-treating gene therapies an easier pill to swallow, according to new research from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. In a recent study, the researchers demonstrated that nesting a specialized ...