Activation of human monocytes after infection by human coronavirus 229E.

Human coronaviruses (HCoV) are recognized respiratory pathogens that may be involved in other pathologies such as central nervous system (CNS) diseases. To investigate whether leukocytes could participate in respiratory pathologies and serve as vector for viral spread towards other tissues, the susceptibility of human leukocytic cell lines and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) to HCoV-229E and HCoV-OC43 infection was investigated. Human primary monocytes/macrophages were susceptible to HCoV-229E infection, but strongly restricted HCoV-OC43 replication.

Comparative study of mechanisms of herpes simplex virus inactivation by sodium lauryl sulfate and n-lauroylsarcosine.

The mechanisms of herpes simplex virus (HSV) inactivation by sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) and n-lauroylsarcosine (LS), two anionic surfactants with protein denaturant potency, have been evaluated in cultured cells. Results showed that pretreatment of HSV type 1 (HSV-1) strain F and HSV-2 strain 333 with either surfactant inhibited, in a concentration- and time-dependent manner, their infectivities on Vero cells. SLS was a more potent inhibitor of HSV-2 strain 333 infectivity than LS with respect to the concentration (4.

Engineering nutritious proteins: improvement of stability in the designer protein MB-1 via introduction of disulfide bridges.

Protein design is currently used for the creation of new proteins with desirable traits. In this laboratory the focus has been on the synthesis of proteins with high essential amino acid content having potential applications in animal nutrition. One of the limitations faced in this endeavor is achieving stable proteins despite a highly biased amino acid content.