Category Archives: Guest Blogger

Mouse Pneumonia: Are We to Blame?

Posted on May 2, 2012 by David Esteban

Contributed by guest blogger: Alix Zongrone ’12
Pneumonia virus of mice, or PVM, is the leading cause of pneumonia in laboratory mice; however, lack of evidence of PVM in wild rodents has left scientists in the dark with regards to the … Continue reading →

Share
Posted in Guest Blogger, Immunology, Pathogenesis | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

After many setbacks, cross-presentation provides new hope for a Herpes Simplex Virus 1 vaccine

Posted on April 27, 2012 by David Esteban

Contributed by guest blogger: Stephanie Mischell ’12
Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) is making news due to a paper by Jing et al identifying two promising new candidate antigens for a vaccine. HSV-1 is a widespread public health issue, infecting … Continue reading →

Share
Posted in Guest Blogger, Immunology, Vaccines | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

The Viral Theory of Schizophrenia

Posted on April 17, 2012 by David Esteban

Contributed by guest blogger: Hannah Ziobrowski ’12
Schizophrenia is a severely debilitating mental illness with no known cause or cure, although there is a strong genetic correlation.  Interestingly, there is additionally a significant relationship between season of birth and the development … Continue reading →

Share
Posted in Guest Blogger, Immunology | Tagged , , , | 21 Comments

Herpes-Family Viruses are Associated with Stressed Out Corals

Posted on April 13, 2012 by David Esteban

Contributed by guest blogger: Ian Heller ‘12
A new review out in the Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology is causing a rash of media attention regarding the presence of viruses in stressed out coral. However, this media attention, with … Continue reading →

Share
Posted in Environmental virology, Guest Blogger | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

Zinc ionophores block the replication of nidovirus

Posted on April 10, 2012 by David Esteban

Contributed by guest blogger: Brian Lu ’13
Zinc ions function in many different cellular processes and have been shown to play important roles in the proper folding and activity of various cellular enzymes and transcription factors, but zinc ion concentrations are … Continue reading →

Share
Posted in Guest Blogger, Molecular Virology | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Natural Resistance: How Your Genes Can Determine The Severity of Your Influenza Infection

Posted on April 6, 2012 by David Esteban

Contributed by guest blogger: Jared Saunders ’13
Every winter, the general public frantically agonizes over influenza prevention and protection. But is the purchase of hand sanitizer in bulk and tissue boxes by the dozen really necessary? After all, many people don’t … Continue reading →

Share
Posted in Guest Blogger, Immunology, Molecular Virology | Tagged , , , , , | 6 Comments

Fighting Fire with Fire: Using Poxviruses to Combat Cancer

Posted on April 2, 2012 by David Esteban

Contributed by guest blogger: Brooke Schieffer ’12
In September of last year, a group of researchers infected cancer patients with a genetically engineered poxvirus. While this may sound like something out of a horror movie, it is actually quite the opposite: … Continue reading →

Share
Posted in Guest Blogger, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 11 Comments

Polydnavirus: Good for the Parasitic Wasp, Bad for the Host Caterpillar

Posted on March 23, 2012 by David Esteban

Contributed by guest blogger: Jason Adler 
An endoparasitoid wasp would disagree with the popular perception of viruses as malevolent. Parasitoids are organisms that spend a substantial portion of their life cycle in the host; unlike a parasite, a parasitoid usually kills … Continue reading →

Share
Posted in Guest Blogger, Immunology, Molecular Virology | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

I Don’t Want Dengue Fever

Posted on October 6, 2011 by David Esteban

When a student is absent from class, they usually send me an email to explain why. Occasionally I get emails from students in my microbiology or virology classes explaining their absence from class as a result of some infectious … Continue reading →

Share
Posted in Epidemics, Guest Blogger, Uncategorized | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Swine Flu: New and Improved!

Posted on May 2, 2011 by David Esteban

Contributed by guest blogger: Marni Hershbain ’11
Flu season is never enjoyable, but some seasons are certainly worse than others. The 2009 swine flu outbreak was particularly serious because the 2009 H1N1 strain was a novel virus, formed via … Continue reading →

Share
Posted in Epidemics, Evolution, Guest Blogger, Vaccines | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment