Virology Commons^™

Development Of Broadly Protective Vaccines Against New World Arenaviruses, Brian B. Gowen

Funded Research Records

No abstract provided.

Internship As An In-Vivo Technician At The Institute For Antiviral Research, Ashlynn Clark

Student Research Symposium

The Institute for Antiviral Research (IAR), located at Utah State University, specializes in evaluating antiviral agents and vaccines against a wide array of human pathogenic viruses, such as influenza, enterovirus, West Nile virus, yellow fever, zika virus, polio, and SARS-CoV-2, utilizing in vivo and in vitro models.

Identifying Compensatory Mutations In The Envelope Protein Of Japanese Encephalitis Virus That Restore Neurovirulence, Nathan Taylor, Jiyoun Kim

Student Research Symposium

• Japanese Encephalitis Virus (JEV) is a positive sense, single stranded Enveloped virus

Mdpk Cell Lines Can Be Used For In Vitro Antiviral Testing With Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (H5n1), Jada L. Westover

Student Research Symposium

• Outbreak in agricultural poultry starting in 2022
• In March 2024 first confirmed case in Dairy Cattle
• Tested drugs T705, Oseltamivir, Baloxivir, Ribavirin, EIDD-2947, and EIDD-2749 on three different cell lines
• Goal: See if MDBK cell lines could be used for in vitro studies

Distributor-Specific Variability In Balb/C Mouse Mortality Following Sars-Cov-2-Ma10 Infection, Taylor Kerr

Student Research Symposium

In recent years SARS-COV-2 has become a rapidly expanding area of research. To model human infections, this virus was adapted to mice enabling valuable insight into these processes.² Mice are often an effective research model due to their low cost, short reproduction time, and ability to adapt to a wide variety of viruses. Research into these immunological responses is crucial in developing vaccines, treatments, and furthering our understanding of this virus' behavior.¹ However, genetic variability in mouse models may be confounding previous and on-going research.

Enhancement Of Favipiravir With Compound X In A Hamster Model Of Yellow Fever Virus Infection, Hunter Stanger

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Yellow fever virus (YFV) has long been a worldwide health concern, and recent outbreaks in South America and Africa have resulted in significant mortality. There is currently an effective vaccine to prevent infection, but there are no currently developed antiviral drugs to treat patients that have already contracted the disease. Because of this, an effective antiviral is needed to combat unanticipated cases or emergence in areas that have previously been unaffected by this virus. A drug called favipiravir has shown promising results previously. This compound acts as a nucleoside analog to halt the replication of the virus and stop infection. …

New World Mammarenaviral Hemorrhagic Fever Virus Determinants Of Infection And Disease, Brady T. Hickerson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Several New World mammarenaviruses (NWM) are able to cause life-threatening hemorrhagic disease in humans. These agents use human transferrin receptor 1 (hTfR1), the main protein involved in cellular uptake of iron, to infect cells. Furthermore, use of hTfR1 correlates with the ability of these viruses to cause severe disease in humans. The most prevalent pathogenic NWM is Jun√≠n virus (JUNV), which is the etiological agent of Argentine hemorrhagic fever (AHF).The pathogenesis of AHF is poorly understood. A cardinal feature of severe cases of AHF is a prolonged increase of serum interferon-a (IFN-a) concentration. This increase is hypothesized to play a …

Investigating The Viral Ecology Of Global Bee Communities With High-Throughput Metagenomics, David A. Galbraith, Zachary L. Fuller, Allyson M. Ray, Axel Brockmann, Maryann Frazier, Mary W. Gikungu, J. Francisco Iturralde Martinez, Karen M. Kapheim, Jeffrey T. Kerby, Sarah D. Kocher, Oleksiy Losyev, Elliud Muli, Harland M. Patch, Cristina Rosa, Joyce M. Sakamoto, Scott Stanley, Anthony D. Vaudo, Christina M. Grozinger

Biology Faculty Publications

Bee viral ecology is a fascinating emerging area of research: viruses exert a range of effects on their hosts, exacerbate the impacts of other environmental stressors, and, importantly, are readily shared across multiple bee species in a community. However, our understanding of bee viral communities is limited, as it is primarily derived from studies of North American and European Apis mellifera populations. Here, we examined viruses in populations of A. mellifera and 11 other bee species from 9 countries, across 5 continents and Oceania. We developed a novel pipeline to rapidly, inexpensively, and robustly screen for bee viruses. This pipeline …

Maporal Hantavirus Β-Integrin Utilization And Sensitivity To Favipiravir, Kristin K. Buys

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Hantaviruses are members of the Bunyaviridae family of viruses. Pathogenic hantaviruses are the etiologic agents of hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS), a disease principally endemic in the Old World, and hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS), a disease primarily restricted to the Americas. Maporal virus (MPRLV), a recently isolated hantavirus, has been found to cause disease in hamsters that resembles HPS in humans. However, the virus has not been linked to human cases of HPS. Considerable evidence suggests that β-integrin usage mediating infection may serve to distinguish hantaviruses pathogenic to humans from nonpathogenic, but this receptor usage pattern information is not …

Bluetongue Virus Evolution: Sequence Analyses Of The Gene Coding For The Major Serogroup Antigen, Timothy F. Kowalik

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

A study was undertaken to better understand the genetic relationship of five United States prototype bluetongue virus serotypes. Genomic double-stranded RNA segment S1, which encodes the major core protein and serogroup antigen, VP7, was used as a marker gene for the sequence analyses. The S1 segments from BTV-2, 11, 13, and 17 were cloned and sequenced by methods developed during the course of this investigation. These results were compared with previously published sequence data from segment S1 of BTV-10. The Sl segments are 1156 base pairs long and contain a common open reading frame capable of coding for a protein …

Effects Of Folic Acid Or Zinc Malnutrition On Rotaviral Infection In A Murine Model, John Douglas Morrey

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The influences of dietary deficiencies of folic acid or zinc on rotaviral disease infant mice were studied. Preliminary studies indicated that bovine and simian rotaviruses, but not porcine rotavirus, caused diarrhea in infant mice. Bovine and porcine rotaviruses were not, however, sufficiently infectious to replace murine rotavirus in studies utilizing the murine model. It was also determined that murine rotavirus purified by a cesium chloride gradient was highly infectious and useful for subsequent studies on nutritional influences of rotaviral disease. In dietary studies, female Swiss Webster mice were fed diets containing deficient, moderately deficient, or adequate levels of folic acid …

The Effect Of Urea On The Sedimentation Coefficient Of The Curly Top Virus Dimer, Allen H. Smith

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

The purpose of this project is to investigate the effect of increasing concentrations of urea on the sedimentation rate of the curly top virus dimer as measured by ultracentrifugation techniques. In general, urea causes the breaking of hydrogen bonds in macromolecules--in the case of the virus, increased concentrations of urea should cause changes in the configuration of the virus and may possibly cause a separation of the dimer into monomers. From previous centrifugation studies, we know that the dimer has a characteristic sedimentation coefficient(S) of about 80 Svedbergs; the monomer has an S value of about 55 Svedberg units. Increased …

Detection Of Neonatal Calf Diarrhea Virus (Ncdv) And Human Infant Reolike Diarrhea Virus, Martin Wyatt Peterson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of this study was to develop a diagnostic test and conduct a survey for the neonatal calf diarrhea virus (NCDV) and human infant reolike diarrhea virus. Two immunologic methods were developed in this investigation.

Immune electron microscopy (IEM) and the fluorescent viral precipitin test (FVPT) are the methods used to detect NCDV and the human virus. Both methods are based upon the principle that viral aggregates form when the virus is reacted with anti-NCDV antibody. Aggregates in the IEM method are negatively stained and observed with the use of an electron microscope. Fluorescein labeled antibody is used in …