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Q&A: New CPIRT director on lung infections, antibiotics, and climate change

By Guest PostMarch 20, 2017Environment, Healthantibiotics, charles dela cruz, climate change, global warming, lung infections, viral infections

This summer, the new Yale Center for Pulmonary Infection Research and Treatment (CPIRT) held its first meeting, with the goal of breathing fresh air into the science of lung infection. Conceived by associate professor Dr. Charles Dela Cruz as a cross-disciplinary hub for investigators, CPIRT brings together innovative minds from basic, translational, and clinical research areas across Yale. The center’s ultimate aim is to develop better treatments for both acute and chronic ailments — from pandemic flu to emphysema — that are affected by lung infections. (more…)

20 Years after Rio Earth Summit: Ecologists Call for Preservation of Planet’s Remaining Biological Diversity

By Guest PostJune 9, 2012Natureaichi targets, andrew gonzalez, balance of evidence, biodiversity loss, biological diversity, bradley cardinale, columbia university, david hooper, earth summit, ecologists, ecosystem services, exotic plants, fungal, george gilchrist, impact on humanity, j emmett duffy, natural ecosystems, nutrient remineralization, pests, planet, plant pathogens, preservation, rio de janeiro, rio earth summit, shahid naeem, soil organic matter, sustainability, university of michigan, viral infections

ANN ARBOR, Mich.— Twenty years after the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, 17 prominent ecologists are calling for renewed international efforts to curb the loss of biological diversity, which is compromising nature’s ability to provide goods and services essential for human well-being.

Over the past two decades, strong scientific evidence has emerged showing that loss of the world’s biological diversity reduces the productivity and sustainability of natural ecosystems and decreases their ability to provide society with goods and services like food, wood, fodder, fertile soils, and protection from pests and disease, according to an international team of ecologists led by the University of Michigan’s Bradley Cardinale. (more…)

Discovery of Why Influenza B Virus Exclusively Infects Humans Opens Door for Drugs to Fight Seasonal Epidemics Caused by Virus

By Guest PostAugust 29, 2011Scienceaaron shatkin, avian influenza, brendan amer, cross species, flu pandemic of 1918, gaetano montelione, human cells, human defenses to infection, human protein, influenza a viruses, influenza b virus protein, influenza viruses, interferon stimulated gene 15 protein, isg15, li ching ma, ns1b protein, robert krug, rongjin guan, Rutgers University, seasonal influenza epidemics, strains, the university of texas at austin, viral infections, x ray crystallography

AUSTIN, Texas — The three-dimensional structure of a site on an influenza B virus protein that suppresses human defenses to infection has been determined by researchers at Rutgers University and The University of Texas at Austin.

The discovery could help scientists develop drugs to fight seasonal influenza epidemics caused by the common influenza B strain.

Their discovery also helps explain how influenza B is limited to humans, and why it cannot be as virulent as A strains that incorporate new genes from influenza viruses that infect other species. (more…)

Tag Archives: viral infections

Q&A: New CPIRT director on lung infections, antibiotics, and climate change

20 Years after Rio Earth Summit: Ecologists Call for Preservation of Planet’s Remaining Biological Diversity

Discovery of Why Influenza B Virus Exclusively Infects Humans Opens Door for Drugs to Fight Seasonal Epidemics Caused by Virus