New Advances on Zika Virus Research

Front Cover
Luis Martinez-Sobrido, Fernando Almazan Toral
MDPI, Apr 2, 2019 - Medical - 552 pages

Zika virus (ZIKV) is a mosquito-borne member of the Flaviviridae family that historically has been associated with mild febrile illness. However, the recent outbreaks in Brazil in 2015 and its rapid spread throughout South and Central America and the Caribbean, together with its association with severe neurological disorders—including fetal microcephaly and Guillain-Barré syndrome in adults—have changed the historic perspective of ZIKV. Currently, ZIKV is considered an important public health concern that has the potential to affect millions of people worldwide. The significance of ZIKV in human health and the lack of approved vaccines and/or antiviral drugs to combat ZIKV infection have triggered a global effort to develop effective countermeasures to prevent and/or treat ZIKV infection. In this Special Issue of Viruses, we have assembled a collection of 32 research and review articles that cover the more recent advances on ZIKV molecular biology, replication and transmission, virus–host interactions, pathogenesis, epidemiology, vaccine development, antivirals, and viral diagnosis. 

 

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About the author (2019)

 Luis Martinez-Sobrido, Ph.D., is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at University of Rochester. His Ph.D. research focused on the study of viral replication and transcription of respiratory syncytial virus under the guidance of Dr. Jose Antonio Melero at the Instituto de Salud Carlos III in Madrid, Spain. He also conducted post-doctoral research on the molecular biology of influenza viruses under the supervision of Dr. Adolfo Garcia-Sastre at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, USA. His research interest has been focused on the molecular biology, immunology, and pathogenesis of negative-stranded (influenza viruses, respiratory syncytial virus, human metapneumovirus, arenavirus, thogotovirus, Ebola virus, Crimean Congo hemorrhagic fever virus) and positive-stranded (dengue virus, SARS coronavirus, mouse hepatitis virus) RNA and DNA (human cytomegalovirus and vaccinia) viruses. His current research interest focuses on the molecular biology of RNA viruses—mainly influenza, arenaviruses and Zika virus. 

Fernando Almazán, Ph.D., is currently a Research Leader in the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology at the National Centre for Biotechnology (CNB-CSIC) in Madrid, Spain. He obtained his Ph.D. degree in Biology at the Centre for Molecular Biology “Severo Ochoa” (Madrid, Spain) in 1991 under the supervision of Dr. Eladio Vinuela. In 1998, he moved to Oxford University, ˜ where he completed an EMBO postdoctoral fellowship in the laboratory of Dr. Geoffrey L. Smith. Upon completing his postdoctoral studies, he joined the laboratory of Dr. Luis Enjuanes at the National Centre for Biotechnology (Madrid, Spain) as a “Ramon y Cajal” researcher. Finally, in 2008 he was appointed as Permanent Scientist of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) in the National Centre for Biotechnology (Madrid, Spain). During his scientific career, his research interest has focused on the molecular biology, immunology, virus–host interaction, and pathogenesis of complex DNA viruses (ASFV and vaccinia virus) and positive-stranded RNA viruses, including coronaviruses (TGEV, SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, HCoV-OC43, and FIPV) and flaviviruses (Dengue and Zika viruses). Currently, his research interest is focused on the study of the molecular bases of Zika virus pathogenesis.

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