Scientists at Rutgers are playing a role in the search for a cure for the Zika virus, and they’re seeking the public’s help. Alex Perryman, a research teaching specialist at Rutgers’ New Jersey Medical School, and Joel Freundlich, associate professor of pharmacology and physiology and medicine, are part of a supercomputing project that screens current […]
A global project led by researchers at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School in Newark is using a crowd-sourced supercomputer network to test potential cures for the Zika virus, the infection expected to spread into the southern United States this summer. You can help: Just download an app to allow the IBM-sponsored “world community grid” to […]
Here, we report a pipeline for the rapid design, assembly, and validation of cell-free, paper-based sensors for the detection of the Zika virus RNA genome. By linking isothermal RNA amplification to toehold switch RNA sensors, we detect clinically relevant concentrations of Zika virus sequences and demonstrate specificity against closely related Dengue virus sequences. Read more
The project, known as OpenZika, employs a global team of scientists who will perform “virtual” experiments in a search of treatments for the fast-spreading virus that the World Health Organization has declared a global public health emergency. OpenZika will screen current drugs and millions of drug-like compounds from existing databases against models of Zika protein […]
IBM’s (NYSE: IBM) World Community Grid and scientists are launching an international study to identify drug candidates to cure Zika, a fast spreading virus that the World Health Organization has declared a global public health emergency. Read more
This review describes the current understanding of the epidemiology, transmission, clinical characteristics, and diagnosis of Zika virus infection, as well as the future outlook with regard to this disease. Read more
Virologists from KU Leuven, Belgium, have shown that an experimental antiviral drug against hepatitis C slows down the development of Zika in mice. The research team was led by Professor Johan Neyts from the Laboratory of Virology and Chemotherapy. “The Zika virus is transmitted by the tiger mosquito. Roughly twenty percent of the people who […]
The Zika virus could spread to Europe this summer, although the likelihood of an outbreak is low to moderate, the World Health Organization has said. Areas most at risk are those where Aedes mosquitoes may spread the virus, like the Black Sea coast of Russia and Georgia and the island of Madeira. Countries with a […]
We report an infectious cDNA clone of ZIKV that was generated using a clinical isolate of the Asian lineage. The cDNA clone-derived RNA is infectious in cells, generating recombinant ZIKV. The recombinant virus is virulent in established ZIKV mouse models, leading to neurological signs relevant to human disease. Additionally, recombinant ZIKV is infectious for Aedes aegypti […]
Here we report the crystal structure of ZIKV helicase NS3 at 1.8-Å resolution. The helicase structure revealed a conserved triphosphate pocket critical for nonspecific hydrolysis of nucleoside triphosphates across multiple flavivirus species. A positive-charged tunnel has been identified in the viral helicase, which is potentially responsible for accommodating the RNA. This crystal structure of ZIKV […]
