VHFC partner, Corgenix Medical Corporation, has developed the first commercialized diagnostic test that enables rapid diagnosis of Lassa viral hemorrhagic fever.
"This 15-minute test has the potential to completely change stye way Lassa fever is detected and treated," said Douglas Simpson, Corgenix President.
Scientists from Tulane and Harvard University took part in the 2013 ASM Biodefense and Emerging Diseases Research Meeting held on February 25-27 in Washington D.C. The event featured talks by Dr. Jennifer Spence (School of Medicine, Tulane University) and Dr.
In an article published in The Guardian, VHFC Scientist Dr. Lina Moses discusses her research into the Mastomys rodents that transmit Lassa fever and how novel approaches to rodent control are being used to combat the disease on a local level.
A recent article in U-T San Diego features structural biologist and VHFC researcher Erica Ollmann Saphire. The article discusses her career path and research into the structures of virus-related proteins such as Lassa and Ebola.
VHFC scientists were able to locate three persons who worked in Nigeria dating back to the 1940s, two of whom were integrally involved in the early outbreaks and investigations of Lassa fever in the late 1960s, including the person from whom Lassa virus was first isolated.
VHFC scientist Pardis Sabeti, the recipient of the Smithsonian American Ingenuity Award for natural sciences, was recently featured in an article on Smithsonian.com.
At the 61st annual meeting of The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH) researchers from VHFC and Corgenix reported on their findings using ELISA-based diagnostic tests at Kenema Government Hospital in Sierra Leone. Lead researcher Matt Boisen and VHFC Director Robert F.
In a recent paper in the magazine Science, VHFC researchers Pardis Sabeti and colleagues argue that many of the diseases labeled as 'emerging infectious diseases' are actually more an issue of 'emerging diagnostics'.
In the August issue of PLoS One, VHFC research scientists from the Ollman Saphire lab at the Scripps Research Institute describe the molecular details of how the Lassa NP protein performs its nuclease activity. Digestion of viral RNA by this mechanisms appears to cause suppression of immune activity in infected cells and may be an important mediator of Lassa fever progression and disease.
Rapidly evolving viruses and other pathogens can have an immense impact on human evolution as natural selection acts to increase the prevalence of genes providing resistance to disease. In their new paper, Andersen et al, provide evidence for two genes - IL21 and LARGE - as being targets of natural selection caused by Lassa virus.
