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Image shows the mosquito Aedes aegypti on top of human skin.
A Mosquito Protein Facilitates Zika Infection
A salivary protein in mosquitos can suppress host immune activity and aid viral transmission.
A Mosquito Protein Facilitates Zika Infection
A Mosquito Protein Facilitates Zika Infection

A salivary protein in mosquitos can suppress host immune activity and aid viral transmission.

A salivary protein in mosquitos can suppress host immune activity and aid viral transmission.

zika

An artist’s rendering of a DNA-based virus trap, represented as gray rods in a short cone-shaped arrangement. One is coated with blue molecules, likely antibodies, that adhere to a virus target. Another image shows to traps coming together to capture a red coronavirus.
“Origami” DNA Traps Could Keep Large Viruses From Infecting Cells
Natalia Mesa, PhD | Jan 18, 2023 | 4 min read
By engineering structures out of DNA, scientists could potentially prevent larger viruses, like coronaviruses and influenza viruses, from interacting with cells.
Sleeping mice in chambers with mosquitoes behind them on a mesh
Mosquitoes Drawn to Hosts Infected by Dengue, Zika
Patience Asanga | Jun 30, 2022 | 4 min read
Flavivirus infections alter the skin microbiome of mice to increase the production of a sweet-smelling compound that attracts the viruses’ insect vectors, a study finds.
Mosquito with red abdomen and white stripes on human skin
Mosquitoes Add Bacteria to Water to Help Larvae Grow: Preprint
Natalia Mesa, PhD | Apr 12, 2022 | 4 min read
Pregnant mosquito females deploy the microbe Elizabethkingia to speed larval growth; the larvae, in turn, help the bacteria outcompete other strains.
Headshot of Sherif Zaki
CDC Pathology Investigator Dies Unexpectedly at 65
Jef Akst | Nov 23, 2021 | 2 min read
Sherif Zaki worked at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for more than 30 years, and was renowned for uncovering crucial intel on various outbreak-causing scourges, from Ebola and Zika to SARS and influenza.
Transmission electron microscope image of Zika virus particles
T Cell–Boosting Zika Vaccine Protects Mice from the Virus
Ruth Williams | May 12, 2021 | 4 min read
By avoiding the production of antibodies, something vaccines ordinarily induce, the immunization sidesteps the problem of antibody-dependent enhancement, which can amplify infection by a similar virus and is known to occur with dengue and Zika.
Transforming Virology Research with Cryo-EM
The Scientist and Thermo Fisher Scientific | May 11, 2021 | 1 min read
Explore what researchers can do with Cryo-EM
An Oxitec mosquito release box from the Florida Keys Friendly Mosquito Project
First US Field Test of GM Mosquitoes Begins in Florida
Christie Wilcox, PhD | May 4, 2021 | 2 min read
After years of push back, the first batch of Oxitec’s engineered mosquitoes, designed to reduce population numbers, have been released in the Keys.
Mosquitos in Asia and the Americas More Susceptible to Zika Virus
Abby Olena, PhD | Nov 19, 2020 | 4 min read
A study explains how Zika was present among mosquitoes in Africa for decades without causing the harm to human health seen outside the continent in recent years.
Zika Infection Increases Risk of Severe Dengue Fever
Ruth Williams | Aug 27, 2020 | 4 min read
A study of Nicaraguan children links prior Zika virus infection with aggravated dengue fever symptoms.
750 Million GM Mosquitoes Will Be Released in the Florida Keys
Lisa Winter | Aug 21, 2020 | 2 min read
There have been no reports of health or environmental harm in other locations where genetically modified mosquitoes have been introduced over the last decade.
Did Contaminated Water Exacerbate Brazilian Babies’ Zika Symptoms?
Ashley Yeager | Jun 1, 2020 | 4 min read
Elevated levels of a neurotoxin in northeastern Brazil’s drinking water and a high incidence of microcephaly in the region led scientists to look for a link, and they found one.
Zika as Cancer Buster?
Amy Schleunes | Apr 1, 2020 | 2 min read
By infecting glioblastoma cells but not healthy brain tissue, some form of the virus could serve a therapeutic purpose.
mosquito aedes aegypti jacobina brazil oxitec genetic engineering gm genetically modified dengue zika
GM Mosquito Progeny Not Dying in Brazil: Study
Kerry Grens | Sep 17, 2019 | 2 min read
The biotech Oxitec had released the genetically engineered insects with the hope that they would breed with wild populations and produce offspring that die young. But that’s not always happening.
Combination Strategy Nearly Eliminates Invasive Mosquitoes in Field
Abby Olena, PhD | Jul 17, 2019 | 3 min read
Researchers use two techniques—Wolbachia infection and irradiation—to suppress reproduction in populations of Asian tiger mosquitoes at two study sites in China.
MIT Researcher Allegedly Copied Other Groups’ Drug Designs
Catherine Offord | May 29, 2019 | 2 min read
Executives at a biotech that develops new antibodies argue that Ram Sasisekharan didn’t come up with the structures for at least two experimental therapies that his group has described.
Does Prior Dengue Exposure Help or Hurt a Zika Infection?
Diana Kwon | Mar 6, 2019 | 5 min read
Animal and cell culture studies show evidence that dengue antibodies can both neutralize and enhance Zika, but human investigations have only found protective effects.
Past Dengue Infection Appears to Protect Children from Zika Symptoms
Carolyn Wilke | Jan 23, 2019 | 1 min read
Children were 38 percent less likely to show signs of Zika infection if they had previously had dengue.
Photos of the Year
Carolyn Wilke | Dec 21, 2018 | 2 min read
From 500-million-year-old fat to a newly discovered virus, here are some stunners from The Scientist in 2018.
extracting saliva from mosquitos
Zika Likes it Warmer than Dengue: Study
Anna Azvolinsky | Aug 15, 2018 | 4 min read
Climate change may open up new habitats suitable for the virus’s spread.
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