A chemically defined production process for highly attenuated poxviruses.

Highly attenuated poxviruses are promising vectors for protective and therapeutic vaccines. These vectors do not replicate in human cells and can therefore be safely given even to immunocompromised recipients. They can accommodate very large inserts and provide strong stimulation of the immune system against the vectored antigen.

Cell lines from the Egyptian fruit bat are permissive for modified vaccinia Ankara.

Bats are reservoir hosts for a spectrum of infectious diseases. Some pathogens (such as Hendra, Nipah and Marburg viruses) appear to use mainly fruit bats as reservoir. We describe designed immortalization of primary fetal cells from the Egyptian fruit bat (Rousettus aegyptiacus) to facilitate isolation and characterization of pathogens associated with these mammals.

A large-scale functional RNAi screen reveals a role for CK2 in the mammalian circadian clock.

Post-translational processes are essential for the generation and dynamics of mammalian circadian rhythms. In particular, phosphorylation of the key circadian protein PER2 precisely controls the period and phase of circadian oscillations. However, the mechanisms underlying that control are poorly understood.