Finding influenza’s Achilles’ heel

by Virology Research Services | Oct 5, 2018 | News & Views

Finding influenza’s Achilles’ heel Influenza virus is a moving target The influenza virus is a moving target. Because of its constant mutations and genetic re-assortments, clinical virologists struggle to keep up (read more about it here). Point mutations in the amino...

Did Zika mutate and turn ugly?

by Virology Research Services | Sep 28, 2018 | News & Views

Did Zika mutate and turn ugly? Zika virus (ZIKV) has been around for a while, first isolated by serendipity in a sentinel monkey that developed fever during observation in 1947. It was then observed in the human population during the course of several sporadic foci in...

New Host Factors for Zika

by Virology Research Services | Sep 22, 2018 | News & Views

New Host Factors for Zika Little is known about the molecular mechanisms responsible for Zika virus (ZIKV) pathogenesis. Learning about cellular responses to viral infection and the mechanisms of host restriction and immune evasion is fundamental for the development...

VRS win Proximity to Discovery Award

by Virology Research Services | Sep 22, 2018 | Events

Virology Research Services (VRS) has been awarded a £25k MRC Proximity to Discovery Industry Engagement Fund for knowledge exchange with The Native Antigen Company (TNAC, LINK), a group focused on the expression and purification of viral antigens, and of antibodies...

Human cytomegalovirus: how does it get in?

by Virology Research Services | Sep 16, 2018 | News & Views

Human cytomegalovirus: how does it get in? HCMV: the problem Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infects between 50% and 100% of the human population, depending on the geographical location. Generally infection doesn’t cause major complications, but the virus remains latent...