Researchers at the UVA School of Medicine and collaborators in China and Poland have developed a database, called virusMED (virus Metal binding sites, Epitopes, and Drug binding sites), as a freely available resource to help speed the development of vaccines and treatments against viral diseases. Accessed through the https://virusmed.biocloud.top portal, virusMED lays out everything known about the atomic structure and potential vulnerabilities of more than 800 virus strains from 75 different virus families, including SARS-CoV-2, influenza, Ebola, and HIV‑1.
While nobody could have predicted the COVID-19 outbreak, an international team of scientists are staying one step ahead of the next pandemic. UVA School of Medicine scientists, with collaborators in China and Poland, have created a powerful new tool to speed vaccines and treatment for future pandemics. The new tool, called virusMED, in the form of an internet database, maps out everything known about atomic structure and potential vulnerabilities of more than 800 virus strains from 75 different virus families, including SARS-CoV-2, influenza, Ebola and HIV‑1, according to UVA.
In 2011, UVA ophthalmologist Jayakrishna Ambati and his colleagues made a curious observation: In the pigmented retinal layers of human eye samples afflicted with an advanced form of age-related macular degeneration, they discovered high concentrations of Alu transcripts. Alu is a class of transposable elements, DNA bits that jump around the genome through a copy-paste mechanism that occurs in the nucleus. Further studies by the team suggested that the Alu RNA was somehow causing inflammation and cell death, but it was a mystery how. Earlier this year, Ambati’s team uncovered an important clue
The UVA Center for Politics with Legacy Productions and OWN will be presenting a special screening of a documentary at the Ting Pavilion on Thursday. According to a release, it will be an evening of events around the documentary “The Legacy of Black Wall Street” directed by Deborah Riley Draper. The film covers the history of the rise of Black Wall Street in Oklahoma up until the 1921 Tulsa massacre. Draper will be on hand for a discussion about the film.
The UVA Police Department has established a new unit called COPS, which stands for Community-Oriented Police Squad. The department will increase police presence around the Corner and other surrounding areas.
UVA President Jim Ryan will start having office hours in Madison Hall. Ryan said this is in addition to the new outdoor lunch series with students called “Lunches on the Lawn.”
Days after Pfizer announced it was testing an antiviral pill to treat COVID-19, UVA infectious diseases professor Dr. William Petri said, if effective, the drug could “take the teeth out of this whole terrible pandemic.”
Based on personality, parenting and position, [former UVA basketball star] Malcolm Brogdon is growing into someone the Indiana Pacers need him to be. The point guard does not have to be the team leader, but it is better if he is.
(Commentary) UVA psychology professor Shigehiro Oishi says there is another dimension of wellbeing, characterized by variety and perspective-changing experiences. “This new concept of a psychologically rich life is really to address the issue in the literature that was essentially so dichotomous in thinking – that the good life is about either being happy or leading a meaningful life,” he said. “It’s a different type of life goal – you’re trying to accumulate different kinds of experiences.”
UVA alumna Natalie Moore got the idea to start a new business, called Ruff Canine Club, after visiting a dog park bar in Greensboro, North Carolina called Doggo’s Dog Park and Pub. The canine club coming to Scott’s Addition this fall will be the first of its kind in the Richmond metropolitan area.
The Cabinet has formally decided to nominate Supreme Court judge Donal O’Donnell to be the next Chief Justice. O’Donnell, who was selected at the beginning of the summer, will succeed Chief Justice Frank Clarke, who is to retire Oct. 10. O’Donnell, 63, was born in Belfast where his father, the late Turlough O’Donnell, was a senior judge and one of the few Catholic judges of his generation in Northern Ireland. Educated at St. Mary’s Christian Brothers’ Grammar School in Belfast, University College Dublin, King’s Inns and the University of Virginia, O’Donnell was called to the bar in 1982 and ap...
(Co-written by Zyahna Bryant, undergraduate student) In the closing days of Black Philanthropy Month, the annual commemoration of Black donors, philanthropists and social impact investors, a group of 40 Black women funders, entrepreneurs, scholars and activists convened for a weekend in Laguna Beach, California, to discuss strategies for resourcing and empowering young Black women and girls. Our goal was to facilitate a collective brain trust around the development of a year-long fellowship initiative that would provide Black girls with something many of them seldom receive—rest and restoratio...
J. Miles Coleman, an associate editor of Sabato’s Crystal Ball of UVA, said the gubernatorial winner had typically been the opposite of the party of the elected president since the 1970s, until McAuliffe broke that cycle in 2013. Gov. Ralph Northam (D) continued the trend, riding off a wave of anti-Trump energy in Virginia. Coleman said now that Trump is out of the picture, it will be interesting to see what happens. “I think this year may be a good kind of taste-test, OK well, is the state still winnable for Republicans, or is it just too blue now? This would be the first time, if McAuliffe w...
In recent weeks, he has gained on McAuliffe to the extent that the venerable Cook Political Report now calls the race a toss-up. The development is worrisome for Democrats, who have come to view the Old Dominion as their turf. “Low Biden ratings, massive Youngkin spending, and a lack of energy among D voters (false belief that Rs can’t win in the new VA) have made this election quite competitive,” University of Virginia political scientist Larry Sabato recently tweeted.
The parties will almost certainly try to draw favorable maps in the states where they control the process. In 2020, that’s an advantage for the GOP. Republicans can draw the lines for 20 states and 187 congressional seats compared with only 75 seats for Democrats, according to Sabato’s Crystal Ball at the UVA Center for Politics.
But Pew and Gallup polls show increasing support among voters for third-party candidates. A Gallup poll from February shows 62% of Americans say a third-party is needed. “In broad, abstract terms, there does seem to be this call among voters for more variety and additional parties,” said Jennifer Lawless, professor and chair of the University of Virginia political science department. “But when push comes to shove, they seem to be satisfied with the two broad party options that they have.”
Hemmed on nearly all sides by highways, Westside is a physical manifestation of the economic and social dislocation caused by some of America’s massive infrastructure projects. Peter Norton, associate professor of history in the engineering school at the University of Virginia, calls it “the Berlin Wall effect.”
And, as for working from home: “A family of four would not be able to work and study from home at speeds of 25/3,” says Christopher Ali, an associate professor of media studies at the University of Virginia.
Already, many U.S. hospitals have begun installing solar panels, while others are trying to cut surgical waste and phase out ozone-damaging chemicals. Activists are pressing for the industry to cut back on energy-intensive protocols, such as ventilation requirements that mandate a high level of air circulation, measured as air changes per hour. They say they could be reduced without harming patients. But the industry is moving cautiously to avoid harm to patients — and legal liability. They “don’t want to make any mistakes. And part of not making mistakes is a resistance to change,” said Dr. M...
“Alpha-gal is dramatically different from other forms of food allergy,” said Thomas Platts-Mills, MD, professor of medicine and microbiology at the University of Virginia School of Medicine. “Previously healthy adults can suddenly develop potentially life-threatening reactions to red meats such as beef, pork and lamb. The delayed nature of the reactions adds to the difficulty that clinicians and patients have in identifying the cause of the symptoms. This unique set of circumstances makes an accurate diagnosis critical for managing this disease.”