In a newly published study, an international team of scientists detail a new class of molecular compounds capable of killing the influenza virus. Simon Fraser University virologist Masahiro Niikura and his doctoral student Nicole Bance are among an international group of scientists that has discovered a new class of molecular compounds capable of killing the [...]

This year’s flu, called H3N2, is affecting many people this season and this three minute video with NPR’s Robert Krulwich and medical animator David Bolinsky explains how a flu virus can trick a single cell into making a million more viruses. A lot of you have had it by now, or are having it or [...]

A new study reports that P. acnes phages, a family of viruses that live on human skin and naturally prey on the bacteria that cause pimples, could offer a promising new tool against acne. Watch out, acne. Doctors soon may have a new weapon against zits: a harmless virus living on our skin that naturally [...]

As of September of this year, there have been more than 2,600 new cases of West Nile virus in the USA, including 118 deaths, which were reported to the CDC in Atlanta, Georgia. While most people have no symptoms of West Nile, some have life-threatening brain inflammation, which leaves survivors with long-term disabilities including paralysis [...]

Pathogenic bacteria without their virulent factors could be rendered harmless and eliminated by the human immune system. That’s the goal that a group of researchers have been striving for, and they recently managed to block the Brucella bacteria from bonding with its host. The scientists published their findings in the journal Chemistry & Biology. Infectious [...]

A newly published study examined data from 26 clinical trials to better understand how drug resistant HIV mutations form and to help find more effective treatments. In a step that may lead to more-effective HIV treatments, Harvard scientists have found that, in a small number of HIV patients, pre-existing mutations in the virus can cause [...]

A cocktail of three antibodies has been able to cure monkeys infected with the Ebola virus if administered 24 hours or more after exposure. This could imply that a future treatment for humans could be possible. Some of the variants of the Ebola virus kill up to 90% of infected patients, and currently, most treatment [...]

Observed for the first time in neurons, biologists from Princeton University documented common strains of the herpes virus indirectly taking control of a cell’s mitochondria. The researchers believe that the viruses then commandeer the proteins that mitochondria typically use to move so they can then freely travel and proliferate in the nervous system. Herpes and [...]

Scientists at the Berkeley Lab have developed a way to generate power using harmless viruses that convert mechanical energy into electricity. Their generator is the first of its kind to produce electricity by harnessing the piezoelectric properties of a biological material and could lead to devices that harness electrical energy from the vibrations of everyday [...]

Researchers at Michigan State University are studying how viruses evolve and potentially become deadly mutations. For the first time ever, scientists were able show how the “Lambda” virus went through four mutations and found a new way to attack host cells. Their ability to continuously duplicate these results implied that adaptation by natural selection had [...]

MIT researchers are studying how viruses use bacteria to support the replication of their own DNA. Viruses in phosphorus-starved regions of the ocean are able to take advantage of bacteria that need phosphorus as a nutrient. The bacteria seek out these seemingly helpful viruses only to have the virus inject its own DNA into a [...]

A new virus has been found that causes fetal malformations and stillbirths in cattle, sheep and goats in northern Europe. Scientists don’t have a clue about the origin of the virus or why there is this sudden outbreak. Scientists want to share the virus and protocols to allow anyone interested to study the disease and develop [...]