By Jason Nasse
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Adeno-associated virus (AAV) is a single stranded, Parvoviridae DNA virus, packaged in a non-enveloped icosahedral capsid, that can be used to express genes of interest in cell and animal models. AAVs are non-pathogenic, do not integrate into the host genome, and can be ...
We often think about the brain’s function in terms of its regions. But equally important is the way the brain connects across these regions, a process driven by neurons. By studying how neurons are physically connected, we can begin to understand how the brain works. It’s kind ...
Viruses are the SUVs of molecular biology – they can deliver materials to specific destinations, haul a variety of cargo, and even handle a variety of terrains. They are, in fact, a choice delivery vector from basic science research all the way to clinical gene therapy. But how ...
Viruses have many negative associations: common colds, COVID-19, norovirus (the stomach flu), and many more. Their infectious nature allows them to easily deliver their “cargo” to target cells and organisms, and when that cargo is designed to make you sick…well, you feel it. But ...
To deliver genes using lentiviral vectors, you need an envelope protein on the virus’s surface and a corresponding receptor in the host cell. Some of these envelope-receptor pairings are broad, allowing delivery into many cell types, while others are specific, allowing delivery ...
Your next cool experiment requires some AAV. Where do you start? Plasmids of course! You just need three plasmids to start making the AAVs you need for your experiment: the packaging plasmid which contains the AAV structural and packaging genes, the adenoviral helper plasmid ...
So you have this awesome experiment you want to do, but it requires some AAV. You’ve never worked with AAV before, but you aren’t going to let that stop you. Where do you start? Turns out like all good experiments, making AAV starts with some plasmids. You just need three ...
