Emerging Viral Diseases: Confronting Threats with New Technologies

Abstract

Emerging viral diseases pose ongoing health threats, particularly in an era of globalization; however, new biomedical research technologies such as genome sequencing and structure-based vaccine and drug design have improved our ability to respond to viral threats.

Ebola-Associated Genes in the Human Genome: Implications for Novel Targets

“…Thus, identifying the host proteins involved in EVD and understanding the pathways involved with these EVDassociated proteins is a first step toward rational host cell-based molecular targets discovery for therapy. The GWAS datasets provide a framework for identifying host genes relevant to pathogens, and numerous examples exist in the area of infectious diseases such as HIV, malaria and tuberculosis [15,17,18,52].…”

Plasmonic Nanohole Sensor for Capturing Single Virus‐Like Particles toward Virucidal Drug Evaluation

“…Of particular interest are enveloped viruses, which are a leading cause of worldwide morbidity and mortality and include the HIV, influenza, and dengue viruses among many more. There is enormous interest in the development of molecular detection and characterization tools for viral infection diagnosis as well as for antiviral drug evaluation . Indeed, the emergence of drug‐resistant virus strains is a growing problem and new classes of antiviral drugs are urgently needed .…”

Macromolecular prodrugs of ribavirin: Polymer backbone defines blood safety, drug release, and efficacy of anti-inflammatory effects

“…7 are rather similar to the drug release data collected in our prior studies via HPLC [43,46,62] and this serves to validate the established herein NMR-based approach to monitor drug release. 1 H NMR based method to quantify drug release was applied to the macromolecular prodrugs based on other polyanions as well as a nonionic carrier, PHPMA, Fig. 8.…”

“…Indeed, these non-cellular assemblies of macromolecules and lipids are simpler than even minimalistic replicating cells but can infect living organisms in both plant and animal kingdoms. Throughout history, viral infections repeatedly had a devastating effect on human society and even in modern times, viral outbreaks create an enormous socio-economic burden [1,2]. Recent examples include the outbreaks of coronavirus-associated Southeast Asian and Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndromes (SARS, MERS) as well as the Ebola and Zika virus outbreaks.…”