iu : reported that Indiana University-led team maps Zika virus protein to speed search for cure: News at IU: Indiana University

"Mapping this protein provides us the ability to reproduce a key part of the Zika virus in a lab," Kao said. The World Health Organization reports that more than 1 million people in 52 countries and territories in the Americas have been infected with the Zika virus since 2015. Drugs to target the Zika virus will almost certainly involve this protein." The IU-led study, conducted in collaboration with Texas A&M University, revealed the structure of the Zika virus protein NS5, which contains two enzymes needed for the virus to replicate and spread. Cheng Kao, a professor in the IU Bloomington College of Arts and Sciences' Department of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry, has mapped a key protein that causes the virus to reproduce and spread.

Miami's Miller School of Medicine move forward with development of early-stage Zika virus vaccine

A team of researchers at the University of Miami's Miller School of Medicine recently published their initial findings of an early-stage vaccine to protect against Zika virus infection. Last year, the Florida Department of Health gave the Miller School of Medicine a Zika research grant worth a total of $1.1 million. "There are presently no accepted therapies or vaccines to treat or prevent Zika virus infection, making the development of such measures of paramount importance," Barber said. Their study, titled Innate Immune Augmenting Vesicular Stomatitis Virus (VSV) Expressing Zika Virus Proteins Confers Protective Immunity, was published in a recent issue of the Journal of Immunology. "Zika virus, which has been linked to brain damage in developing human fetuses, has become a serious public health concern," Glen Barber, co-author of the study and professor of cell biology at the Miller School of Medicine, said.


collected by :Lucy William
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