Advanced Virology

SIR3014
Lecture 1
Intro to Course
 COURSE SUMMARY
Resources - The Magical World Wide Web
- Flint, J. et al. Principles of Virology 4th edition (2015). ISBN 978-1-55581-951-4.
- Knipe, D.M. and Howley, P.M. Fields Virology Sixth edition (2013). ISBN-13:
978-1451105636.
- Primary and Secondary Research Articles
- “This Week In Virology” (TWIV) http://www.twiv.tv/
- “Virology Blog” http://www.virology.ws
- “ViralZone” http://viralzone.expasy.org
Who & Dr. Jasmine Khairat
Where Am I?
jasmine@um.edu.my (Feel free to email me any queries)
Level 2. Postgraduate Room, HIR Building
Time & Place Lecture: Mon & Wed / 11.00 – 11.50am @ B12
Pracs: WEEK 1 – 7
Wednesday, 2.00 – 4.50pm @ M2
 COURSE SUMMARY
Continuous Assessment : 40%
- Test 1 (10%)
- Test 2 (10%)
Assessment’s
- Prac (10%)
Weightage
- Assignment (10%)

External Examination : 60%

COURSE DESCRIPTION

• Designed to provide in-depth understanding of the

significance of viruses to biology, the origin of life, and our
current world

• Mastering the principles of the field (i.e., the currently

accepted “facts”), and then developing your own ideas to
advance the field
• Giving critical thought to the material presented, and thinking about
it in new ways, asking deeper questions, reorganizing the facts to find
novel meanings etc., etc.
Main goal  to understand the concepts more than
memorize details
SLO (STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES)

• Upon completion of this course, you should be able

to discuss in-depth the following:

• The structure and function of viruses

• Distinguish diverse characteristics of viruses – host
range, target tissues, replication strategy, transmission,
etc.
• Describe the role of viruses in human diseases
COURSE DESCRIPTION

•Teaching methodology:
•Lectures
• short questions that address basic issues of the topic
just learned, or questions about social or scientific
impacts.
• Short presentations about Virology news published in
normal media or in specialised journals.
•Pracs
•Tutes
 FIRST HALF OF SEMESTER
WEEK ACTIVITY
1 L1 Intro to course
L2 Recap on SIR2007 Virology
2 L3 Theories of viral origins & evolution
L4 Viral replication, transcription, translation, assembly, & exit
3 L5 Viral Virulence
L6 Viral Infection
4 L7 Pre-test I
L8 Viral Transmission I
5 L9 Viral Transmission II
L10 Viral Pathogenesis
6 L11 Mechanism of Pathogenesis
L12 Emerging and re-emerging viruses – Should we be worried?
7 L13 Tutorial/Discussion
L14 Post-test II
 1. Written Assignment

• Independent term paper on a select current research

topics related to virology

• Will be discussed further in the coming lectures

• 10% weightage
 2. Tests

• Pre-test I (5%)
• WK 1 - 4

• Post-test II (5%)
• WK 5 - 7

Total 10%
Virology in the new era
A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

Adapted from Virology in the 21st Century

L. W. Enquist and for the Editors of the Journal of Virology
Greatest challenges and triumphs

• Smallpox is a prime example:

humankind’s greatest killer,
which literally changed the
course of history during the
European conquest of the New
World, is also the only disease
ever eradicated from the globe

• Edward Jenner’s scientific

demonstration in 1796 that
inoculation with cowpox lesions
provided protection against the
far-more-virulent variola major
virus
Greatest challenges and triumphs

• Viruses also cause serious diseases in plants and livestock

• 2001 epidemic of FMD (Foot-and-mouth disease), United Kingdom

devastated its beef industry

• Plum pox virus – infect stone fruit trees in Europe since the early
1900s, now spread to the United States and Canada

• Viruses have been implicated in a disease that is ravaging our

honeybees, threatening natural pollination cycles and thus much of
agriculture.
 TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT
• Until recently, the only microbiota that we could identify in a complex community
(e.g., gut flora or seawater) were those we could cultivate

• Research in the 21st century allow the identification of new families of organisms
(including viruses) by high-speed sequencing of RNA and DNA

• “deep sequencing” of mixed populations found in respiratory secretions and

gastrointestinal contents is revealing novel virus families, both pathogenic and
nonpathogenic.

• Indeed, new polyomaviruses, marine viruses, and bacteriophages have been

identified by using sequence-based techniques coupled with genomic and
metagenomic analyses.

• Strikingly, some of the viral proteins revealed by these studies show little genetic
similarity to known viruses, suggesting the existence of a universe of novel viruses
awaiting study
• RVFV (Bunyaviridae, Phlebovirus) - emerging human and veterinary pathogen responsible
for recurring epidemics throughout Africa and the Arabian Peninsula
• RVFV has the potential to cause hemorrhagic fever in humans
What next?
New tech, new vaccines,
FUNDing antivirals

Emerging infections Interest

Support and
Advocacy

Political issues
impacting
virology –
refugees,
displaced
persons, climate
change
YOU!
See you next lecture