virus

All too often an answer to the simple question of “what is making me sick?” does not come easily. Current methods for figuring out what viruses or bacteria are causing infection come with the risk of being too slow, or failing to find the culprit altogether. Taxonomer is a genomics-based pathogen surveillance tool that could provide the basis for a new way of diagnosing infectious disease. In this podcast Scope Radio talks with Gabor Marth, D.Sc., co-director of the USTAR Center for Genetic Discovery, and creator of iobio, software that gives Taxonomer characteristics that make it accessible and intuitive. Marth explains the advantages of Taxonomer over current clinical tests and the number of other ways in which it can be used. Learn more.

While it is rare these days, some children still catch chicken pox. Will old-fashioned remedies like an oatmeal bath work? Or should you take her to the pediatrician? Dr. Cindy Gellner goes step-by-step through everything you need to know about your child’s chicken pox, how to treat every symptom and when it’s time to take her to the pediatrician.

It may be unsettling to realize, but roughly eight percent of our DNA is viral in origin, meaning it came from infections our ancestors battled long ago. New research published in the journal Science by University of Utah geneticists Cédric Feschotte, PhD, Nels Elde, PhD, and Edward Chuong, PhD, looks at how our bodies have repurposed the viral remnants to defend ourselves against infections by viruses and other pathogens. Feschotte and Chuong explain the research and why our defenses, and those of other mammalian species, may have arrived upon this solution repeatedly throughout evolution.