The words Glasgow, tropical and mosquito don’t go together often – you are far more likely to hear about the dreaded midge than hear about an infestation of an insect that prefers slightly warmer climes. However, here at the CVR, we have recreated the tropics within our insectary (a secure, cosy and very humid home… Continue reading
As part of a new series of posts from CVR staff and students about their work, CVR postdoc Chris Syme, writes about his research in the Bhella lab on the structural biology of viruses like Zika virus using a diverse array of imaging techniques. If you would like to hear more about one of the techniques Chris writes about… Continue reading
In this post, CVR PhD students Steph, Yasmin and Weronika, briefly write about their research (Zika pathogenesis, cat retroviruses and new HepC diagnostics) and the groups that they belong to, as part of a short series of articles from new Contagious Thinking contributors (check the whole team out here). Contagious Thinking serves to communicate the… Continue reading
“For many years, if not from the time of the introduction of the Merino sheep into the Colony, there has been prevalent amongst the flocks a disease known as fever. This disease is most prevalent during the summer months, and is very much worse in wet seasons.” That was a quote from the Report of… Continue reading
Is the ebolavirus mutating to become more transmissible in humans? Why was Zika virus able to move across the world so rapidly? Why are some viruses able to spread via aerosols floating in the air? While these may all appear to be very distinct questions, there is one major factor that connects them: the concept… Continue reading
In a world obsessed with the deadly nature of viruses, join us in a celebration of the beauty of their biological structure. Glasgow is a fascinating place to live, with awesome architecture and design emerging from the dramatic Scottish landscape. Although invisibly small, viruses also produce strikingly beautiful structures, constructed from the local materials of… Continue reading
Knowledge of how cells and organisms defend themselves against pathogenic microbes is of paramount interest in our understanding of infection and immunity. Determining the mechanism by which cells achieve this – and exploiting this knowledge – may aid in the development of therapies as well as improving our understanding of how these microbes cause disease. Shu et al., (from the… Continue reading
As the International Meeting on Arboviruses and their Vectors, kicks off today in Glasgow with the Society for General Microbiology (#IMAV15), we’d like to present to you the fifth and final in a series of posts about arboviruses, their vertebrate hosts and their arthropod vectors. This post, written by Dr Alain Kohl ,CVR Arthropod-borne infections programme leader along with… Continue reading
“While arboviruses do not generally cause recognisable disease in their arthropod vectors they often do in vertebrates, in particular warm-blooded vertebrates like primates like us and livestock. “ As classically defined, arboviruses have both arthropod and non-arthropod hosts. Whilst insects/ticks may have legs, jaws and eyes etc., they are clearly very different to their vertebrate hosts, such as… Continue reading
As we’re now only one week from the International Meeting on Arboviruses and their Vectors, being held in Glasgow with the Society for General Microbiology (#IMAV15), we’d like to present to you the third in a series of posts about arboviruses. This post, written by Veronica Rezelj, PhD student (@verorezelj), focuses on arboviruses themselves, their virology and how by understanding how they… Continue reading
