Publications related to Molecular Basis for Differential Patterns of Drug Resistance in Influenza N1 and N2 Neuraminidase

Peptide-based virucidal drugs

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, viruses were not a major priority for the scientific community. Today, many events have changed the world and the importance of studying viruses, vaccines, and antiviral drugs is fully appreciated. The development of effective ...

EPFL2024

Inactivation of influenza A virus in expiratory droplets and aerosol particles and the associated physicochemical drivers

Aline Laetitia Schaub

Influenza is an infectious respiratory illness caused by influenza viruses. Every year, it causes up to one billion cases of disease worldwide. Despite its high disease burden, the transmission pathway of influenza remains subject to debate. There is incre ...

EPFL2024

Virucidal compounds and use thereof

Francesco Stellacci, Bruno Emanuel Ferreira De Sousa Correia, Pablo Gainza Cirauqui, Corey Alfred Stevens, Lukasz Richter, Francesca Olgiati, Chiara Medaglia

Disclosed herein are peptide-grafted compounds that irreversibly deactivate bacteriophages or influenza virus depending on the peptide and remain safe for bacteria and mammalian cells. The active compounds comprise a core (cyclodextrin or gold nanoparticle ...

2024

Stability of influenza A virus in droplets and aerosols is heightened by the presence of commensal respiratory bacteria

Tamar Kohn, Htet Kyi Wynn, Céline Terrettaz, Aline Laetitia Schaub, Athanasios Nenes, Kalliopi Violaki, Marta Augugliaro, Shannon Christa David, Ghislain Gilles Jean-Michel Motos, Walter Hugentobler, Laura José Costa Henriques, Daniel Scott Nolan

Aerosol transmission remains a major challenge for control of respiratory viruses, particularly those causing recurrent epidemics, like influenza A virus (IAV). These viruses are rarely expelled alone, but instead are embedded in a consortium of microorgan ...

American Society for Microbiology2024

Stimulus-responsive assembly of nonviral nucleocapsids

Angela Steinauer

Controlled assembly of a protein shell around a viral genome is a key step in the life cycle of many viruses. Here we report a strategy for regulating the co-assembly of nonviral proteins and nucleic acids into highly ordered nucleocapsids in vitro. By fus ...

Nature Portfolio2024

Expiratory Aerosol pH is a Driver of the Persistence of Airborne Influenza A Virus

Aline Laetitia Schaub

To mitigate the spread of a viral disease, it is crucial to understand the factors that influence airborne virus transmission. However, the micro-environment to which the virus is exposed in expiratory aerosol particles is highly complex. The relative humi ...

SWISS CHEMICAL SOC2023

Multivalent Virucidal Antivirals: Synthesis, Mechanisms of Action, and Immune-stimulating Effects

Yong Zhu

Viruses initiate invasion by binding to cell surface glycoproteins. Materials mimicking the carbohydrate motifs of these glycoproteins, such as heparan sulfate (HS) and sialic acid (SA) can block viral attachment and inhibit the infection. Multivalent disp ...

EPFL2023

Inactivation mechanisms of influenza A virus under pH conditions encountered in aerosol particles as revealed by whole-virus HDX-MS

Tamar Kohn, Jonathan Paz Montoya, Aline Laetitia Schaub, Athanasios Nenes, Giovanni D'Angelo, Kalliopi Violaki, Shannon Christa David, Ghislain Gilles Jean-Michel Motos, Walter Hugentobler

Multiple respiratory viruses, including influenza A virus (IAV), can be transmitted via expiratory aerosol particles, and aerosol pH was recently identified as a major factor influencing airborne virus infectivity. Indoors, small exhaled aerosols undergo r ...

2023

Antiviral Mechanism of Virucidal Sialic Acid Modified Cyclodextrin

Francesco Stellacci, Paulo Henrique Jacob Silva, Marine Batista, Yong Zhu, Andrey Sysoev

We have reported that CD-6'SLN [6-sialyllactosamine (6'SLN)-modified beta-cyclodextrin (CD)] can be a potential anti-influenza drug because it irreversibly deactivates virions. Indeed, in vivo, CD-6'SLN improved mice survival in an H1N1 infection model eve ...

MDPI2023

Ligand concentration determines antiviral efficacy of silica multivalent nanoparticles

Francesco Stellacci, Quy Ong Khac, Paulo Henrique Jacob Silva, Heyun Wang, Xufeng Xu, Rémi Andréa La Polla

We have learned from the recent COVID-19 pandemic that the emergence of a new virus can quickly become a global health burden and kill millions of lives. Antiviral drugs are essential in our fight against viral diseases, but most of them are virus-specific ...

Academic Press Inc Elsevier Science2023

Viral Genetic Determinants of Prolonged Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infection Among Infants in a Healthy Term Birth Cohort

Thomas Junier, Jacques Fellay, Dylan Lawless, Zhi Ming Xu

Background. Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is associated with acute respiratory infection. We sought to identify RSV variants associated with prolonged infection. ...

OXFORD UNIV PRESS INC2023

PSGL-1 is an evolutionarily conserved antiviral restriction factor

Chao Jiang, Ying Liu

The arms race between viruses and their hosts shaped the evolutionary history and the genome composition of both parties. Restriction factors are the first-line antiviral effectors encoded by the host genomes and are often conserved through evolution to pr ...

AMER SOC MICROBIOLOGY2023

Numerical simulation of the fate, transport and public health risks of enteric viruses in Lake Geneva

Chaojie Li

Lakes are a fundamental feature of nature with brilliance, profoundness and complexity. Various of physical, chemical and biological changes take place three dimensionally in deep lakes, regulated by complicated boundary conditions. To understand and predi ...

EPFL2023

Surfactant Treatment for Efficient Gene Detection of Enteric Viruses and Indicators in Surface Water Concentrated by Ultrafiltration

Shotaro Torii

The hollow fiber ultrafiltration (HFUF)-based microbial concentration method is widely applied for monitoring pathogenic viruses and microbial indicators in environmental water samples. However, the HFUF-based method can co-concentrate substances that inte ...

SPRINGER2023

Susceptibility of enveloped and non-enveloped viruses to ultraviolet light-emitting diode (UV-LED) irradiation and implications for virus inactivation mechanisms

Shotaro Torii

Ultraviolet (UV) light-emitting diodes (UV-LEDs), a disinfection technology, efficiently inactivate pathogens in water. However, the assessment of UV-LED treatment and the mechanisms of UV inactivation on viruses (especially enveloped viruses) are limited. ...

ROYAL SOC CHEMISTRY2023

Expiratory Aerosol pH: The Overlooked Driver of Airborne Virus Inactivation

Tamar Kohn, Aline Laetitia Schaub, Athanasios Nenes, Kalliopi Violaki, Shannon Christa David, Ghislain Gilles Jean-Michel Motos, Walter Hugentobler

Respiratory viruses, including influenza virus and SARS-CoV-2, are transmitted by the airborne route. Air filtration and ventilation mechanically reduce the concentration of airborne viruses and are necessary tools for disease mitigation. However, they ign ...

2023

Targeting molecular surfaces to engineer novel protein-based immunogens and inhibitors

Sarah Wehrle

Proteins are the basic building blocks necessary for the operation and regulation of virtually all functions in living organisms. Over millions of years, evolution has created a vast repertoire of proteins finely tuned to execute their biological functions ...

EPFL2022

Protein Engineering for Personalized therapy and diagnosis

Lixia Wei

Protein Engineering, especially protein post-translational modification (PTM), ex-tends proteomes in a more complex way than one can expect from analysis of their encod-ing genomes. It can activate or deactivate certain catalytic functions, add new desired ...

EPFL2022

Preliminary evidence that daily light exposure enhances the antibody response to influenza vaccination in patients with dementia

Jean-Louis Scartezzini

Enhancing lighting conditions in institutions for individuals with dementia improves their sleep, circadian rhythms and well-being. Here, we report first findings that exposure to brighter light during daytime may support the immune response to the annual ...

ELSEVIER2022

Polyanionic Amphiphilic Dendritic Polyglycerols as Broad-Spectrum Viral Inhibitors with a Virucidal Mechanism

Francesco Stellacci, Valeria Cagno, Matteo Gasbarri

Heparin has been known to be a broad-spectrum inhibitor of viral infection for almost 70 years, and it has been used as a medication for almost 90 years due to its anticoagulant effect. This nontoxic biocompatible polymer efficiently binds to many types of ...

American Chemical Society2022