Virology
Scientists film influenza viruses ‘surfing’ into human cells in real time
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An international team led by ETH Zurich and including researchers in Japan has used a new high‑resolution imaging technique to watch, live, as influenza viruses penetrate human cells. The work shows that cells actively engage with the virus, helping to draw it inside in a process that resembles surfing along the cell membrane, and could inform the development of targeted antiviral therapies.
La Trobe University researchers say dying cells can leave behind a residue containing newly identified extracellular vesicles that help direct immune clearance, but laboratory experiments suggest influenza viruses may also use the vesicles to help spread.
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A genetically engineered virus has stopped pancreatic tumors from growing in three patients in an early US clinical trial. The results come from a safety study led by researchers at the University of Minnesota.
Preliminary genetic analyses indicate that the African swine fever virus killing 29 wild boars in Barcelona did not originate from the nearby Generalitat laboratory. Scientists compared the DNA and found mutations suggesting years of separate evolution. However, the results are not conclusive, with further tests pending.
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Scientists from the universities of Cambridge and Glasgow have shown why many bird flu viruses can keep replicating at fever-like temperatures that typically curb human flu. A study in Science identifies the viral PB1 gene as crucial to this heat tolerance, raising concerns about pandemic risks if such genes move into human strains.