Designer babies have been discussed as a possibility for decades. With the recent advancement to genome editing technology referred to as "CRISPR", the discussions about the ethics of have been amplified. This is because CRISPR has reduced hurdles to human genome editing in terms of cost and technical ease. Three days ago, the following video … Continue reading Under-the-Radar Human Evolution
Category: Virology
Monkeys Carry Astroviruses of “Other Animals”
Submitted by Sydney Jennings This paper is a summary of the article, Non-Human Primates Harbor Diverse Mammalian and Avian Astroviruses Including Those Associated with Human Infections. The purpose of this paper was to explore the idea that Astrovirus (AstV) infections are species-specific, meaning that human Astroviruses (HAstVs) can only cause infection in humans and avian … Continue reading Monkeys Carry Astroviruses of “Other Animals”
Protecting Picornavirus Genomes from RNAse Degradation within Endosomes
Submitted by Winter Kemppainen The research article, Picornavirus RNA is protected from cleavage by ribonuclease during virion uncoating and transfer across cellular and model membranes,1 outlines the results from a study that investigated how the RNA of Picornaviruses is transferred from the virion into the host cell’s cytoplasm without degradation by ribonucleases. The research focuses … Continue reading Protecting Picornavirus Genomes from RNAse Degradation within Endosomes
Life and Biology 