Research Progress

[05-04-2017]A basis for the development of peptide-based drugs to prevent JEV and ZIKV infection

Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) and Zika virus (ZIKV) are mosquito-borne viruses of the Flavivirus genus that cause viral encephalitis and congenital microcephaly, respectively, in humans, and thus present a risk to global public health. The envelope glycoprotein (E protein) of flaviviruses is a class II viral fusion protein that mediates host cell entry through a series of conformational cha...

[05-04-2017]Scientists find that deletion of nudB causes increased susceptibility to antifolates in Escherich...

Co-trimoxazole, a fixed-dose combination of sulfamethoxazole (SMX) and trimethoprim (TMP), has been used for the treatment of bacterial infections since the 1960s. Since it has long been assumed that the synergistic effects between SMX and TMP are the consequence of targeting 2 different enzymes of bacterial folate biosynthesis, 2 genes (pabB and nudB) involved in the folate biosynthesis of Esc...

[05-04-2017]A stable and safe tool to handle West Nile virus outside of a BSL-3 facility

West Nile virus (WNV), a mosquito-borne flavivirus, is an important neurotropic human pathogen. As a biosafety level-3 (BSL-3) agent, WNV is strictly to BSL-3 laboratories for experimentations, thus greatly hindering the development of vaccine and antiviral drug. Recently, the research group led by Prof. Bo Zhang in WIV, developed a novel pseudo-infectious WNV reporter virus expressing the Gaus...

[05-04-2017]A novel strategy for JEV to escape the host innate immune response is revealed

JEV is the major cause of viral encephalitis in South and Southeast Asia with high mortality. However, the molecular mechanisms contributing to the severe pathogenesis are poorly understood. The ability of JEV to counteract the host innate immune response may be one of the potential mechanisms responsible for JEV virulence.