Encephalitis News and Research

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Encephalitis is an acute inflammation of the brain.

How Neuroimmune Cells Modulate Immune Responses and Neuroinflammation

The brain, traditionally considered an immune-privileged organ due to the blood-brain barrier (BBB), has its own sophisticated immune defense system.

7 Nov 2024

A New Understanding of Viral Infection

Scientists studying animal viruses with the potential to infect humans have discovered a critical protein that could facilitate the spread of a family of organisms known as arteriviruses.

1 Nov 2024

Flavivirus Hijacks Importin-7 for Nuclear Transport and Replication

Viruses of the family Flaviviridae, including Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV), Dengue virus (DENV), Zika virus (ZIKV), West Nile virus (WNV), and Tick-borne encephalitis virus, are significant arthropod-borne pathogens.

15 Aug 2024

Harvard Researchers Crack the Code on Western Equine Encephalitis Decline

The story of the rise and fall of western equine encephalitis as a lethal disease offers essential lessons about how a pathogen can gain or lose its ability to jump from animals to humans.

29 Jul 2024

Unlocking the Potential of CRISPR/Cas13 for Antiviral Therapy

RNA viruses like SARS-CoV-2 demand new solutions. CRISPR/Cas13 tools work well against these viruses in the cell's nucleus, but not in the cytoplasm, where many replicate.

15 Apr 2024

Zika's Enzyme Cascade Holds the Key to Viral Replication

Viruses operate with limited genetic material and a sparse protein repertoire, requiring efficient utilization of their components. The Zika virus serves as an illustrative case, producing only 10 proteins.

11 Dec 2023

Study Provides Increased Understanding of How Tick-Borne Encephalitis Virus Behaves in the Brain

The dreaded tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) virus infects different types of brain cells in different parts of the brain, depending on whether the affected person's immune system is activated or not.

18 Apr 2023

Deactivating mosquito sperm to control populations of Culex

New UC Riverside research makes it likely that proteins responsible for activating mosquito sperm can be shut down, preventing them from swimming to or fertilizing eggs.

22 Mar 2023

Herpesvirus infection boosts host cellular immunity: Study

A new editorial was published in Genes & Cancer on January 19th, 2023, entitled, "Severe herpesvirus infection beats adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma."

27 Feb 2023

Researchers capture images of antibodies attacking neuron receptors using Cryo-Electron Microscopy Facility

Scientists have for the first time photographed an autoantibody coupled to a receptor on the surface of a nerve cell using the Cryo-Electron Microscopy Facility at UT Southwestern.

14 Jul 2022

Researchers detect major contamination in organic vegetables, likely to cause fatal illness

According to a new study proposed at this year’s European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) in Lisbon, Portugal (23–26 April, 2022), disease-causing amoebas that reside on natural leafy vegetables can preserve human pathogens such as Pseudomonas, Salmonella, and Helicobacter, posing a public health hazard. Dr Yolanda Moreno and colleagues from Spain’s Universitat Politècnica de València conducted the research.

25 Apr 2022

INTEGRA’s ASSIST PLUS pipetting robot helps to streamline sample pooling for arbovirus testing

INTEGRA Biosciences’ ASSIST PLUS pipetting robot is helping the Arbovirus Testing Lab at the New Hampshire Public Health Laboratories in Concord, USA, to streamline sample pooling for West Nile and Eastern equine encephalitis virus testing.

23 Mar 2022

Study identifies protein complex that confers neuroprotection against HSV-1 infection

Recent research by scientists from the University of Illinois demonstrates a process that halts the herpes simplex virus 1 from inducing severe brain damage and death.

15 Oct 2021

Study finds a correlation between zika-induced neurological complications and Gas6 protein

An article by Brazilian researchers published in the journal Brain, Behavior, and Immunity elucidates one of the mechanisms whereby zika virus causes neurological complications in adult patients and microcephaly in fetuses. The discovery paves the way for future research to develop drugs that combat the virus.

4 Oct 2021

Scientists isolate monoclonal antibodies against alphaviruses

A research group has isolated monoclonal antibodies that, in laboratory and animal studies, prohibited infection by alphaviruses.

From Vanderbilt University 24 Aug 2021

Genetic editing tools stop the spread of Culex mosquitoes

Since the onset of the CRISPR genetic editing revolution, scientists have been working to leverage the technology in the development of gene drives that target pathogen-spreading mosquitoes such as Anopheles and Aedes species, which spread malaria, dengue and other life-threatening diseases.

From UC San Diego 31 May 2021

Researchers use new decoding method to identify novel proteins encoded by HSV-1

Comprehensive identification of viral proteins encoded by viral genes is required to understand the pathophysiology of viral infections.

8 Dec 2020

New laboratory test can rapidly detect infectious agents in hospitalized patients

Researchers have designed a laboratory test that can detect the microbial miscreant affecting patients hospitalized with serious infections in just six hours.

11 Nov 2020

New research initiative to model species' range shifts in response to climate change

In response to a changing climate, populations of plants and animals move to more hospitable locations. Predicting where species will end up, and how New England farmers and rural communities need to plan and adapt accordingly is the focus of a new interdisciplinary research initiative led by the University of Maine.

24 Sep 2020

Study shows immune cells contribute to brain infection

A new study shows how the immune system has a damaging effect on a severe brain condition, which is most commonly caused by the cold sore virus.

17 Sep 2020