BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Talks.cam//talks.cam.ac.uk//
X-WR-CALNAME:Talks.cam
BEGIN:VEVENT
SUMMARY:A highly sensitive approach to determine replication kinetics of i
 nfluenza type A viruses by plaque assay - Ramona Mogling\, Department of Z
 oology\, University of Cambridge
DTSTART:20140213T130000Z
DTEND:20140213T140000Z
UID:TALK50064@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Aleksandr Sahakyan
DESCRIPTION:Influenza viruses of the family of Orthomyxoviridae cause annu
 al epidemics in humans\, and are frequently found in birds and various mam
 malian species.\nInfluenza A viruses can be divided into subtypes as deter
 mined by the viral surface glycoporteins hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminid
 ase (NA). The HA protein is the main target for neutralizing antibodies ag
 ainst influenza A virus. However\, antigenic variation of HA\, which is re
 ferred to as antigenic drift\, results in immune escape that facilitates t
 he recurrence of seasonal epidemics and multiple infections during one’s
  lifetime. \nIn order to understand what determines influenza A virus evol
 ution rate and direction it is necessary to measure the fitness of the vir
 us. Viral growth is one of the key parameters studied in influenza virus r
 esearch as a proximity marker for virus fitness. Therefore\, we require ex
 perimental techniques to determine influenza virus replication with extrem
 e precision.\nWe have previously shown that multistep replication kinetics
  are not sensitive enough to distinguish small replication differences bet
 ween two different influenza A viruses and that measuring plaque sizes of 
 viruses is a preferred method to read out viral growth. We are applying th
 is technique to study the fundamental dynamics of the evolution of influen
 za viruses.
LOCATION:Entertaining Room\, Darwin College
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR