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Micro 5149

Introduction to Virology

Credit Hour(s): 3 Units
Instructor(s): Chesarino
Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): Micro 4100
Role in Microbiology Major: Group 1 Elective

Lecture Topics:

  • General concepts of viruses
  • Virus-host interactions: from the virus, host, and population viewpoints
  • Genomes, replication, and expression
  • RNA Viruses replication strategies:
    • Positive Stranded RNA viruses: Polio and Sindbis viruses
    • Negative Stranded RNA viruses: Rabies and influenza viruses
    • General features of Retrovirus virus replication
    • HIV and disease
    • Hepadnaviridae: Hepatitis B virus
  •  DNA Viruses replication strategies:
    • Papillomaviruses
    • Herpesviruses
    • Pox viruses
  • Viruses and cancer
  • Emerging and reemerging viruses
  • Bioterrorism

Learning Outcomes:

Successful students will understand...

  • The structural components and transmissions of viruses.
  • Processes that contribute to the evolution of viruses.
  • How the host’s immune system (innate and adaptive) restricts viral infections and how this contributes to the disease process.
  • The mechanisms by which viruses evade the host’s immune system.
  • The molecular processes involved in the replication of specific model viruses and how replication results in tissue injury and disease.
  • The mechanisms by which viruses cause cancer.
  • Environmental factors and virus properties that enhance the emergence of “new” viruses.