Viruses

A new research paper was published in Volume 16 of Genes & Cancer on August 6, 2025, titled "Epstein-Barr virus nuclear antigen 1 upregulates Derlin1 and PSMD10 expression in HeLa cells."

Waiting is the hardest part. Especially in the case of testing for water or food contamination, which can take days or even a week in some cases for the results, leaving the possibility that people have been unknowingly exposed.

Researchers have discovered that a virus living inside the fungus Aspergillus fumigatus significantly boosts the fungus's ability to survive stress and cause severe infections in mammals. Removing the virus made the fungus weaker and less virulent, while antiviral treatments improved survival outcomes. This finding reveals a hidden factor driving the deadliness of fungal infections and opens the door to potential new treatments that target the virus rather than the fungus itself.

Researchers have discovered that a virus living inside the fungus Aspergillus fumigatus significantly boosts the fungus's ability to survive stress and cause severe infections in mammals.

Researchers engineered bacteria to deliver hidden viruses into tumors, bypassing the immune system and unleashing a new strategy for targeted cancer treatment.

Chikungunya, which can disable victims for years, is spreading rapidly, including in China and other places that have not seen it before.

Chikungunya, which can disable victims for years, is spreading rapidly, including in China and other places that have not seen it before.

China is having a fast-rising chikungunya outbreak in a place that has never had one before.

Researchers at Columbia Engineering have built a cancer therapy that makes bacteria and viruses work as a team.

Scientists have engineered a groundbreaking cancer treatment that uses bacteria to smuggle viruses directly into tumors, bypassing the immune system and delivering a powerful one-two punch against cancer cells. The bacteria act like Trojan horses, carrying viral payloads to cancer’s core, where the virus can spread and destroy malignant cells. Built-in safety features ensure the virus can’t multiply outside the tumor, offering a promising pathway for safe, targeted therapy.

Researchers at San Diego State University and Michigan State University are shedding new light on how viruses meticulously pack their genetic material — a breakthrough that could help researchers engineer antivirals and gene therapies.

Virus-based treatments are already approved to treat several types of cancer, and combining them with bacteria could make them even more effective

Respiratory viruses such as influenza and COVID-19 can reactivate dormant breast cancer cells in the lungs, raising the risk of metastasis. The process is driven by IL-6–induced cell changes and immune suppression, with the highest recurrence risk soon after infection.

A third of people don’t even know this STD exists, a new study finds.

A new study shows that while RSV mostly affects younger kids, the often-overlooked human metapneumovirus also hospitalizes children, especially those with preexisting conditions and who are older.

More than 70 cases of the chikungunya virus were reported in the UK in the first six months of this year.

Similar to humans, plants can become infected with more than one virus at a time, opening the door for more severe infections and new disease variants. But these mixed infections are often under-studied and poorly understood.

Scientists have found protein fragments from the COVID-19 virus hidden inside tiny cellular packages in the blood of long COVID patients, offering the first potential measurable biomarker for the condition. The discovery suggests the virus may persist in body tissues long after infection, possibly explaining ongoing symptoms. While promising, the signals were subtle and inconsistent, leaving unanswered questions about whether these fragments come from lingering viral reservoirs or active replication.

The Global Virus Network (GVN), a coalition of leading human and animal virologists from 80+ Centers of Excellence and Affiliates in more than 40 countries dedicated to advancing pandemic preparedness, is unequivocally committed to the continued development and deployment of mRNA vaccines and the global scientific collaboration that makes such innovation possible.

Research from the Nanoscience Center of the University of Jyväskylä, Finland, has revealed that lignin, a polyphenol important for plant structure, has antimicrobial activity against viruses and bacteria. The results highlight that lignin, which is also an important byproduct of the wood industry, has potential as a promising green alternative to synthetic antimicrobial agents for coating agents, packaging material, or surface disinfectants.

Montana State University-led research finds that bees with deformed wing virus flew shorter distances, whereas bees with sacbrood virus flew greater distances at higher speeds.

Experts say the painful infection, spread to people from mosquitoes, can get to many countries if it finds the right hosts

University of Hawai'i at Mānoa oceanographers have identified PelV-1, a dinoflagellate-infecting giant virus whose micron-length tail reaches 2.3 µm, stretching current notions of viral architecture.

The deformed wing and sacbrood viruses were thought to cause asymptomatic infections in adult bees. But the viruses make the insects fly slower and faster than normal, respectively

The first paper from a multi-year clinical research study has been published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases: Dynamics of Endemic Virus Re-emergence in Children in the USA Following the COVID-19 Pandemic (2022-2023): A Longitudinal Immunoepidemiologic Surveillance Study and demonstrates how the approach can improve modeling to better predict future outbreaks.

COVID-19 prevention methods such as masking and social distancing also suppressed the circulation of common respiratory diseases, leaving young children lacking immunity to pathogens they otherwise would have been exposed to, a new multi-center clinical research study reveals.

We all remember the advice frequently repeated during the COVID pandemic: maintain six feet of distance from every other human when waiting in a line to avoid transmitting the virus. While reasonable, the advice did not take into account the complicated fluid dynamics governing how the airborne particles actually travel through the air if people are also walking and stopping. Now, a team of researchers led by two undergraduate physics majors at the University of Massachusetts Amherst has modeled how aerosol plumes spread when people are waiting and walking in a line.

China reported over 7,000 cases of the chikungunya virus since July. Will it become another global pandemic?

For decades, medical professionals debated whether a common antiviral medication used to treat flu in children caused neuropsychiatric events or if the infection itself was the culprit.

Scientists have discovered a previously unknown virus in farmed Pacific oysters during a mass die-off in B.C., Canada. The discovery serves as a reminder that growers should exercise caution when moving young oysters internationally and domestically, to prevent the potential spread of pathogens, according to a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The new plant in Miyazaki, Japan will expand the company’s production capacity in response to global demand, focusing on the production of Planova filters S20N, 15N, 20N, 35N, and 75N. The post Asahi Kasei Life Science Plans New Spinning Plant for Its Planova Virus Removal Filters appeared first on GEN - Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News.

Scientists in Japan have discovered a genetic "silencer" within the HTLV-1 virus that helps it stay hidden in the body, evading the immune system for decades. This silencer element essentially turns the virus off, preventing it from triggering symptoms in most carriers. Incredibly, when this silencer was added to HIV, it made that virus less active too — hinting at a revolutionary new strategy for managing not just HTLV-1 but other deadly retroviruses as well. The discovery opens the door to turning the virus’s own stealth tactics against it in future treatments.

A new study has revealed that "junk DNA" descended from ancient viruses could play a key role in controlling genes.

The viruses that kill bacteria may be our best bet against antibiotic resistance — if we can understand how they win.

Viruses in the cold waters of the Arctic are strongly seasonal and are also detected in the Antarctic. This surprising discovery comes from a multi-year time-series study led by the GEOMAR Helmholtz Center for Ocean Research Kiel. The results offer new insights into the fragile balance of polar ecosystems—with implications for the role of viruses as indicators of change in the ocean, about which baseline knowledge is still lacking. The study is published in Nature Communications.

WEDNESDAY, July 30, 2025 — Health officials have confirmed Wisconsin’s first human case of West Nile virus in 2025.The case was found in Barron County, the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) said. Mosquitoes collected in both Milwaukee an...

Infecting marine plankton, the pathogen may use its extreme appendage to enter host cells

A virus that typically infects black-eyed peas is showing great promise as a low-cost, potent cancer immunotherapy-and researchers are uncovering why.

A new artificial intelligence model can improve the process of drug and vaccine discovery by predicting how efficiently specific mRNA sequences will produce proteins, both generally and in various cell types.

A new artificial intelligence model can improve the process of drug and vaccine discovery by predicting how efficiently specific mRNA sequences will produce proteins, both generally and in various cell types.

A virus from humble black-eyed peas is showing extraordinary promise in the fight against cancer. Unlike other plant viruses, the cowpea mosaic virus (CPMV) can awaken the human immune system and transform it into a cancer-fighting powerhouse, without infecting human cells. By comparing it to a similar, but ineffective, virus, researchers uncovered that CPMV uniquely triggers potent interferons and immune responses, making it a low-cost, plant-grown immunotherapy on the fast track toward clinical trials.

Scientists in Switzerland have cracked open a century-old viral mystery by decoding the genome of the 1918 influenza virus from a preserved Zurich patient. This ancient RNA revealed that the virus had already adapted to humans at the very start of the pandemic, carrying mutations that made it both more infectious and more immune-resistant. By pioneering a new method to recover fragile RNA from preserved tissue, researchers gained rare insights into how flu viruses evolve. The study not only revives the history of one of humanity's deadliest outbreaks but also arms us with critical knowledge to face future pandemics with smarter, science-based strategies.

HIV antivirals may be the key to stopping HTLV-1, a deadly virus with no cure. In a decade-long study, researchers successfully suppressed the virus in mice and discovered a way to kill infected cells, offering hope for the first preventative and curative treatments.

Scientists at The Pirbright Institute have taken a major step forward in tackling one of the world's most dangerous viruses, the Nipah virus, by evaluating vaccine candidates for pigs.

Scientists at The Pirbright Institute have taken a major step forward in tackling one of the world's most dangerous viruses, the Nipah virus, by evaluating vaccine candidates for pigs.

New research from the University of Sydney sheds light on how coronaviruses emerge in bat populations, focusing on young bats as hotspots for infections and co-infections that may drive viral evolution. By analyzing thousands of samples over three years, scientists discovered that juvenile bats frequently host multiple coronaviruses simultaneously—offering a real-time window into how new strains might arise. These findings, while involving non-human-infecting viruses, provide a powerful model to forecast how dangerous variants could eventually spill over into humans, especially as environmental pressures bring bats closer to human habitats.

Severe Fever with Thrombocytopenia syndrome virus (SFTSV) is a severe haemorrhagic fever virus transmitted by tick to animal and humans. Discovered in 2009, the virus is found in South-East Asian countries and has a fatality rate of up to 40%.

Wastewater surveillance became a popular choice among public health officials looking to track rapid virus mutations and spread patterns during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Wastewater surveillance became a popular choice among public health officials looking to track rapid virus mutations and spread patterns during the COVID-19 pandemic. But what if there was a way to detect emerging viruses even faster—or to even sniff out new variants possibly before patients even realize they're ill?

From late September, 9,000 babies and vulnerable infants in the UK will have a long-lasting injection.

Scientists developed a fast, cell-free system to create virus-mimicking vaccines, enabling quicker responses to emerging viral threats.

Researchers from Cornell and Northwestern universities have developed a rapid, cell-free method for building nanoparticle vaccines that mimic viruses at the molecular level, offering a powerful new tool for responding to emerging pandemics.

THURSDAY, July 17, 2025 — Florida virologist John Lednicky couldn’t have a more devoted research partner than his sleek black house cat Pepper.Pepper, an avid hunter who often leaves "gifts" for his people, made news last year for his role in hel...

A new study by researchers at Bar-Ilan University has uncovered that certain ocean viruses—specifically RNA viruses—may disrupt how carbon and nutrients are recycled in the ocean, potentially altering the global carbon cycle.

Lipid kinases are enzymes that play a critical role in both cell signalling and membrane trafficking by phosphorylating lipid molecules in the body.

Pepper the pet cat has made yet another contribution to virology.

A team at Scripps Research has created a microchip that can rapidly reveal how a person's antibodies respond to viruses using only a drop of blood. This game-changing technology, called mEM, condenses a week’s worth of lab work into 90 minutes, offering a powerful tool for tracking immune responses and fast-tracking vaccine development. Unlike earlier methods, it needs far less blood and delivers more detailed insights, even revealing previously undetected antibody targets on viruses like SARS-CoV-2 and influenza.

A cat named Pepper has once again helped scientists discover a new virus—this time a mysterious orthoreovirus found in a shrew. Researchers from the University of Florida, including virologist John Lednicky, identified this strain during unrelated testing and published its genome. Although once thought to be harmless, these viruses are increasingly linked to serious diseases in humans and animals. With previous discoveries also pointing to a pattern of viral emergence in wildlife, scientists stress the need for more surveillance—and Pepper remains an unlikely but reliable viral scout.

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Pepper, the pet cat who made headlines last year for his role in the discovery of the first jeilongvirus found in the U.S., is at it again. This time, his hunting prowess has contributed to the identification of a new strain of orthoreovirus.

As part of a person's first line of defense against viruses and other microbes that cause illness and disease, a whole network of proteins and other molecules detect and respond to intruders, which they do in part by sensing the genetic material of the invading pathogens and recognizing it as "not self." Most immune proteins researchers have identified thus far are able to recognize either intruding DNA or RNA—not both.

Pepper the cat, whose owner works at the University of Florida, gathered a specimen containing a never-before-seen virus for the second time.

As summer kicks into full gear and people are spending more time outside, there's one thing on many people's minds - ticks.

As summer kicks into full gear and people are spending more time outside, there's one thing on many people's minds—ticks. Tick season is starting earlier and lasting longer, and ticks are popping up in areas they haven't been found before, expanding the risk of tick-borne viruses.

WEDNESDAY, July 9, 2025 — A common virus once thought harmless to humans might be linked to Parkinson’s disease, a new study says.The germ, Human Pegivirus (HPgV), was found in half the autopsied brains of patients with Parkinson’s, but not in any b...

The herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1), which affects almost two-thirds of the world's population and is generally associated with oral herpes, may cause painful cold sores or fever blisters around the mouth.

A cancer-killing virus could soon be approved for use after shrinking tumours in a third of people with late-stage melanoma

Researchers have discovered a strategy to neutralize two highly lethal viruses for which there is currently no approved vaccine or cure.

Test positivity for common cold coronaviruses significantly declined following widespread SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 vaccination.

Researchers have discovered a strategy to neutralize two highly lethal viruses for which there is currently no approved vaccine or cure.

Scientists have identified dozens of human proteins that SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, depends on to replicate and spread, according to a recent study published in the journal PLOS Biology.

A new study, published recently in Nature Communications, offers the first-ever map of which parts of Chikungunya virus trigger the strongest response from the body's T cells.

A research team from Bochum and Hannover shows that the hepatitis E virus also attacks organs other than the liver.

Porous materials have a wide range of applications due to their capacity to act as filters, or lightweight structural materials that use less material than a solid substance. Researchers, including those from the University of Tokyo, created a new material fine enough to filter things like viruses but is strong enough to be a rigid construction material for devices. The study is published in the journal Science.

Disrupted care during the covid-19 pandemic led to sharp increases in other non-covid causes of illness and death, particularly mental health disorders, malaria in young children, and stroke and heart disease in older adults, finds a study published by The BMJ today.

Influenza hemagglutinin subunit vaccines are more effective and offer better cross protection against various influenza virus challenges when combined with a mucosal adjuvant that enhances the body's immune response, according to a study by researchers in the Institute for Biomedical Sciences at Georgia State University.

In a comprehensive Genomic Press Innovators & Ideas interview, Dr. Danielle Beckman reveals how her passion for microscopy has evolved into a mission to understand viral impacts on brain health, offering hope for patients suffering from post-viral neurological symptoms.

Some forms of respiratory infection can cause lasting issues and loss of function. It has been suspected that an increased burden of senescent cells is one of the mechanisms involved in post-infection effects. While senescent cells are created constantly throughout life, a population of lingering senescent cells grows with age to disrupt tissue structure and function via inflammatory signaling. An increase in this burden of senescent cells is already known to cause increased mortality and risk of age-related disease in cancer survivors treated with chemotherapy and radiotherapy, so it should not be surprising to find this outcome occurring in other conditions and treatments that place a great deal of stress on cells for an extended period of time. Influenza A virus (IAV) infection causes acute […]

Scientists have discovered a stealthy mechanism that cytomegalovirus (CMV)—the leading infectious cause of birth defects in the U.S.—uses to infiltrate blood vessel cells while evading immune detection. The virus forms a hidden protein complex that acts like a molecular “backdoor,” allowing it to bypass the immune system’s defenses. This newly identified pathway may explain why vaccine efforts have failed for decades and opens the door to targeted therapies that could finally prevent CMV-linked birth defects in newborns and protect vulnerable patients.

Bats found near orchards harbor pathogens that could be passed to livestock or humans.

In the shadows of Python Cave, Uganda, a leopard leaps from a guano mound—formed by bat excrement—and sinks its teeth into a bat. But this is no ordinary bat colony. The thousands of Egyptian fruit bats (Rousettus aegyptiacus) found in this cave are known carriers of one of the world's deadliest viruses: Marburg, a close cousin of Ebola.

It's hoped phages could give us new ways of treating infections which are immune to antibiotics.

New report doesn’t rule out that SARS-CoV-2 leaked from a lab in China, but says evidence for scenario remains “speculation”

Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) continues to devastate the global swine industry, yet the structural basis of how small molecules block its entry into host cells remains unclear. Researchers at the University of Tsukuba and Mahidol University developed a refined model of the PRRSV receptor domain CD163-SRCR5 using state-of-the-art computational approaches, offering new avenues for rational drug design.

THURSDAY, June 26, 2025 — Illinois has confirmed its first human case of West Nile virus this year, health officials say.The person, who lives in southern Illinois, was hospitalized with complications from the mosquito-borne virus, according to the...

The new downstream processing removes bottlenecks to the production of oncolytic viruses, a new class of anti-cancer drug that differs from the more familiar adeno-associated viruses (AAV). The post Streamlined Production of a New Virus Class appeared first on GEN - Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News.

Two newly discovered viruses lurking in bats are dangerously similar to Nipah and Hendra, both of which have caused deadly outbreaks in humans. Found in fruit bats near villages, these viruses may spread through urine-contaminated fruit, raising serious concerns. And that’s just the start—scientists found 20 other unknown viruses hiding in bat kidneys.

Researchers have discovered two new viruses in bats that are closely related to the deadly Nipah and Hendra viruses—pathogens that can cause severe brain inflammation and respiratory disease in humans.

The COVID-19 pandemic yielded important advances in testing for respiratory viruses, but it also exposed important unmet needs in screening to prevent the spread of infections in high-risk settings.

Cold sore-causing HSV-1 doesn't just hijack cells it reconfigures the entire architecture of our DNA to aid its invasion. Researchers discovered that it actively reshapes the 3D structure of the human genome within hours of infection, using host enzymes like topoisomerase I to gain access to crucial genetic machinery. Stunningly, blocking this single enzyme shuts the virus down completely.

The H5N1 avian influenza virus has infected birds and mammals around the world. As of June 2025, 70 people have been infected, and 1 person has died in the United States.

Viruses are entirely dependent on their hosts to reproduce. They ransack living cells for parts and energy and hijack the host's cellular machinery to make new copies of themselves.

A research team led by Prof. Wan Yinhua from the Institute of Process Engineering (IPE) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has developed a machine learning (ML) framework to analyze virus filtration processes in therapeutic protein purification. The new method enables intelligent identification of critical parameters affecting virus retention efficiency and provides predictive guidance for process optimization. The findings were published in the Journal of Membrane Science.

The privacy-focused web browser DuckDuckGo has boosted its anti-scam features. It can now detect and block fake ecommerce stores, crypto sites, virus alerts, and more. The new security feature is completely free for all users on both Mac and iOS browsers, with no Privacy Pro subscription needed … more…

The herpes virus that commonly causes cold sores affects how tightly coiled our DNA is and makes it shrink, all to help itself grow

A new study led by researchers at the University of Minnesota found transmission of viruses between different bee species did not lead to the formation of new virus variants.

Video from a national park in Uganda depicted a parade of predatory species feeding on and dispersing fruit bats that are known natural reservoirs of infectious diseases.

Video from a national park in Uganda depicted a parade of predatory species feeding on and dispersing fruit bats that are known natural reservoirs of infectious diseases.