The Mysterious Origin of Viruses
Viruses: Evolution’s cheaters Viruses can be considered genetic parasites that hijack the resources of their cellular hosts. They are evolution’s cheaters. And they are doing well with this strategy: viruses parasitize all forms of cellular life and are the most...
How to look at … Part 1/3: Viral entry
Understanding at what stage of a virus life cycle a compound or a restriction factor acts is critical in the discovery process. In drug discovery, this aspect can be a bottleneck for hits generated via phenotypic screenings, but even when the viral of cellular targets...
The viral system of the month: Adeno-associated derived vectors
From concept to reality: How a virus is helping to advance gene therapy This month the FDA approved Zolgensma (Novartis), the first gene therapy for spinal muscular atrophy in children. While the treatment price – $2.125 million – is making most headlines, here we...
Hold tight and fire: plasmacytoid dendritic cells in action
Immunity vs. viruses In our evolutionary arm race against invading viruses, our body has evolved multiple defensive mechanisms. Together with anti-viral, cell-intrinsic innate response mechanisms, alternative or indirect pathogen-sensing pathways are also employed in...Page 14 of 29