Virology, Emerging Diseases & vaccines

Structural Virology

<p style="&quot;text-align:" justify;"=""> Structural Virology is the molecular mechanism used by viruses to invade host cells establish an infection and ensure that progeny virus particles are released into the environment, all while evading the host's immune defences. Viruses are the smallest self -replicating organisms. Even though individually viruses are rather simple, as a group they are exceptionally diverse in both replication strategies and structures. Structural Virology interested in how large double-stranded DNA viruses like herpes simplex virus and vaccinia virus (the smallpox vaccine) subvert the membrane trafficking machinery and innate immune defences of human cells. To study these problems we use a host of structural, biochemical, biophysical and cell-based techniques including protein X-ray crystallography, mass spectrometry, fluorescence microscopy, infection studies, multi-angle light scattering, differential scanning fluorimetry, isothermal titration calorimetry, surface plasmon resonance and fluorescence anisotropy.