Shubhada Bopegamage is a Virologist, an associate professor. Currently she heads the Enterovirus Laboratory and the National Reference Center for Identification of Enteroviruses of the Medical Faculty of the Slovak Medical University, Bratislava, Slovakia. Her work is focussed on the pathogenesis and diagnosis of enteroviruses. She received her BSc. Microbiology degree from Pune, MSc. Microbiology degree from Mumbai, India and PhD in Biological Sciences from the Academy of Medical Sciences, Moscow, Russia. She is known in the Enterovirus research since 2005 for her work on the mouse model and oral route of infection of coxsackievirus. She is involved in research and teaching and has guided several MSc. and PhD students. She has co-ordinated and has lead as a principal or co-investigator several national and international projects.

Enteroviruses are human pathogens, ubiquitous in nature and found in all countries of the world. Infections by these viruses are common. A few case reports suggest that enterovirus infection of the mother during pregnancy may lead to preterm births, or slow growth of the fetus, embryopathy and increase the risk of development of chronic diabetes type 1 in children born to these mothers. Our aim was to follow-up the pathophysiological process after coxsackievirus (CV) infection in gravid mice. Selected organ tissues of pregnant mice orally infected with CVB4-E2 at different stages of gravidity (1st, 2nd and 3rd week of gravidity) were checked for quantitative measurement of viral RNA, histopathological changes and multiple cytokines induced simultaneously in sera of pregnant mice were determined. We observed difference in the cytokine levels between the mice infected in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd week of gravidity. High cytokine levels were noted at day 3 post infection (p.i.), further increased levels were observed at day 5 p.i. Cytokines differed in their levels at day 3 p.i. depending on the time of infection during the gravidity. Histopathological changes were observed in the pancreas but not in the hearts of the infected dams. Highest copies of RNA were observed in the heart at day 5 p.i. in mice infected in the 2nd week and in pancreas of dams infected in the 1st week on day 3 p.i. We conclude that time of infection during gravidity influences the severity of the infection, and the innate and adaptive immune responses.

Deproteinization of a flu virus is necessary for its penetration into a cell and this occurs for the account of trypsin-like proteinases of the host’s cell. We assumed that this enzyme has an important role in morphogenesis of flu virus and considerably defines its pathogenic and virulent properties. rnObjective: to study the changes of proteinase and inhibitor activities in the development of influenzal infection at white mice previously infected with flu A virus.rnMethods. We worked with virus of flu of A/PR/8/34 (H1N1) and white mice weighing 16-17 g. For infection of the animals we took virus 2,5-2 LD50 dose. Such a dose provided 100% death of the animals for the 6th day after infection. The animals were slaughtered and took lungs. Blood was taken in 15, 30 min., 1, 6 hours and further in 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 days after infection. In parallel not infected animals were slaughtered and their lungs were taken according to the same terms. In lungs’ homogenate and blood serum we defined infectious, hemagglutinating, proteinase and inhibiting activity and total protein. rnResults. It has been is established that the level of trypsin-like proteinase and its inhibitor in the lungs and blood serum of not infected white mice were in balance at rather high level and did not change considerably during the whole period of supervision (6 days). At infection of white mice with virus of flu A/PR/8/34 (H1N1) there was a violation of proteinase-inhibitory balance. The most profound changes happened during the first hours after infection. There was the growth of proteinase activity and decrease of inhibitory activity. During the maximum accumulation of infectious titer of virus and its hemagglutinin, both proteinase and inhibitory activity was completely suppressed. The animals which didn\'t perish for 5-6 days increase of inhibitory activity and decrease in proteinase took place.rnConclusions. Increase of proteinase activity during the first hours after infection led to increase of infectious and hemagglutinating activity. The increase of inhibitory activity in 5-6 days after infection leads to some arresting of influenzal infection.rn

Lipatova Anastasia is a PhD-student in Engelhardt Institute of Molecular Biology. She has published more than 10 research papers in molecular biology and virology

One of the approaches used in creation of viral strains suitable for tumor therapy is enhancement of the specificity of oncolytic viruses for tumor cells as well as widening the spectrum of the tissues that could be infected by the virus. However development of cell systems that support viral replication is also important as production of viral strains with a broadened tissue tropism takes more than 5-6 mutations that appear after 2-3 cycles of replication culminating in the appearance of the genetically stable mutant which inevitably leads to a decrease in tropism for various receptors on tumor cells. To address that issue we produced a stable cell line from malignant tumors of the brain (GlioMD7) by co-culturing 5 different primary cell lines. All primary cell lines were obtained from tumor samples undergoing secondary growth and that were treated by multiple courses of chemotherapy. Cloning of the population revealed more than 11 different subpopulations with drastically different expression profiles of marker genes. To produce a cell line that would support replication of nonpathogenic enteroviruses we introduced a plasmid STAT1 p84/p91 CRISPR/Cas9 Knock-out (sc-400086, Santa-Cruz, USA) that resulted in a cell line with a switched off gene STAT1 (responsible for creation of antiviral immunity). Further study revealed that after 3,6,12 passages the obtained cell line hadn’t lost its heterogeneity while maintain a constantly low expression of STAT1. That line was subsequently cryopreserved. Acknowledgements:Our research was supported by Russian Ministry of Education grant RFMEFI60714X0067

Sana Khalid has completed her Ph.D. course work with distinction and is a regular Ph.D. student at Institute of Agricultural Sciences, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan. She has published good papers in national and international journals for the last 3-4 years. She is a young, vibrant and dedicated scholar.

Agriculture is of immense importance all over the world whereas, viruses always have sound effect on the growth of plants, besides interacts with host defence mechanism, leads to the alteration of crop physiology. The geminivirus Coat protein (Cp) is multifunctional and is involved in systemic infection, virion formation and insect transmission; but it is not required for viral DNA replication. Furthermore, the role of Cp in systemic infection depends on the specific geminivirus-host combination. However, in some host plant species, Cp of some whitefly-transmitted bipartite begomoviruses is not required for systemic infection (i.e., cell-to-cell and long-distance movement) or symptom development. In contrast, Cp is required for systemic infection of monopartite begomoviruses, curtoviruses and mastreviruses. It is worth investigating, that alteration in Cp gene constitutes a novel epidemiological adaptation for a geminivirus. Coinfection is also a prerequisite for recombination occurring between viruses, and it is suggested from the available evidence that due to intergenic recombinations, present taxonomic structure of the family Geminiviridae has established. Recent evidence indicates that dicot-infecting mastreviruses are particularly prone to inter-specific recombination (trans-encapsidation). Irrespective of the type of geminivirus examined, the Cp is essential for insect transmission, and it is the determinant of vector specificity. Hence, this article will help scientific community to better understand the coinfection with different Geminiviruses especially due to vector inspecificity thus lead to the occurrence of revolutionary recombination events occurring with the potential to yield new viruses that could adversely affect agriculture.

Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality all over the world, particularly in Egypt. Limited data are available concerning the national seroprevalence and the possible modes of transmission of HCV in the pediatric age group. The aim of this study was to obtain a better estimate of the national hepatitis C seroprevalence and the possible risky exposures among healthy school children in Alexandria. HCV knowledge and counseling for school children was also investigated. A total of 500 school children, age between 6 and 15 years were evaluated for HCV seropositivity and interviewed for potential disease risk factors. The seropositivity for Anti-HCV Ab was 2.8%. About 71.4% of seropositive children were 10-15 years old. Urban residence, chronic disease, male circumcision and invasive procedures were detected as significant risk factors for acquiring HCV infection among the studied children. The level of awareness of hepatitis C among school children was very low (3.6%) and was found associated with the age and educational level. HCV infection continues to occur in children and is frequently unrecognized. This mandates immediate intervention and robust control strategies in the settings of exposure combined with health education programs to limit further HCV spread.