Warren symposium follows legacy of geneticist giant

If we want to understand how the brain creates memories, and how genetic disorders distort the brain’s machinery, then the fragile X gene is an ideal place to start. That’s why the Stephen T. Warren Memorial Symposium, taking place November 28-29 at Emory, will be a significant event for those interested in neuroscience and genetics. Stephen T. Warren, 1953-2021 Warren, the founding chair of Emory’s Department of Human Genetics, led an international team that discovered Read more

Mutations in V-ATPase proton pump implicated in epilepsy syndrome

Why and how disrupting V-ATPase function leads to epilepsy, researchers are just starting to figure Read more

Tracing the start of COVID-19 in GA

At a time when COVID-19 appears to be receding in much of Georgia, it’s worth revisiting the start of the pandemic in early 2020. Emory virologist Anne Piantadosi and colleagues have a paper in Viral Evolution on the earliest SARS-CoV-2 genetic sequences detected in Georgia. Analyzing relationships between those virus sequences and samples from other states and countries can give us an idea about where the first COVID-19 infections in Georgia came from. We can draw Read more

reverse transcriptase

Potential HIV drugs hit three targets at once

Drug discovery veteran Dennis Liotta and his team continue to look for ways to fight against HIV. Working with pharmaceutical industry colleagues, he and graduate student Anthony Prosser have discovered compounds that are active against three different targets: immune cells’ entry gates for the virus (CCR5 and CXCR4), and the replication enzyme reverse transcriptase. That’s like one arrow hitting three bulls eyes. An advantage for these compounds: it could be less likely for viral resistance to develop.

For more, please go to the American Chemical Society — there will be a press conference from the ACS meeting in Denver on Monday, and live YouTube.

Posted on by Quinn Eastman in Immunology Leave a comment