Uncovering How Dengue, Zika Viruses Manipulate Hosts
A new, holistic approach to biology is giving researchers new insights into how the Dengue and Zika viruses attack their hosts and, in the case of Zika, affect brain development. Published Dec. 13 in the journal Cell, the work may open up new ways to think about treating virus infections or mitigating their effects.
Systems biology addresses biological systems as a whole, rather than breaking them into smaller component parts. The approach encompasses high-throughput techniques in DNA sequencing and protein analysis (genomics and proteomics) as well as mathematical and computer modeling.
First author of the new study is Priya Shah, now an assistant professor in the Departments of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics and of Chemical Engineering at UC Davis. Shah carried out the work mostly as a postdoctoral researcher in Nevan Krogan’s laboratory at UC San Francisco.