International Conference on Clinical and Diagnostic Virology August 10-11, 2022 London, UK

Biography:

Jinyu Shan has expertise in molecular microbiology, phages, qPCR-based molecular diagnostics, good laboratory practice and quality management system. Jinyu is enormously interested in exploiting phages for therapeutic applications in detecting bacterial infections e.g. Clostridium difficile (hospital superbug), Burkholderia pseudomallie (the causative agent of meliodosis) and Borrelia strains (the causative agent of Lyme disease and Relapsing Fever). His phage-based qPCR offers a novel tool for detecting Borrelia infection with high sensitivity (Shan et al., 2021). Jinyu safeguarded the journey of developing a phage-based diagnostics from conceiving the idea to analytical validation and to the evaluation against patient samples. Jinyu is a big fan of technology transfer and is exploring pathways to move molecular diagnostics from the lab to the bedside.

 

Abstract:

Lyme disease (LD) is caused by the bacterium Borrelia, and is transmitted to humans when ticks (vehicle of Borrelia) drink our blood. We all know LD is difficult to diagnose. We also know that at some point the PCR detecting Borrelia is considered to be a promising alternative because theoretically PCR should be able to detect Borrelia DNA from any stages of LD patients as long as the Borrelia happens to be present in the samples collected for testing. Although PCR can have very high specificity, it suffers from low sensitivity because the number of Borrelia in patient’s samples is normally very low, bearing in mind that evidence from published studies indicates that Borrelia presence in LD patients can range from 1-100 cells/ml. To avoid devastating consequences of prolonged suffering, better ways to diagnose LD are urgently needed.

To stand up to these diagnostic challenges, we have been investigating bacterial viruses (phages) for detecting LD. We demonstrated that Borrelia phage genes are present in multiple copies and tightly correlate with their Borrelia hosts (Fig. 1). Intuitively, targeting multi-copy genes offers an elegant and reliable way of increasing the amount of PCR template. Moreover, targeting phage-encoded genes would provide additional sensitivity to detect Borrelia infections because phages can be released into bloodstream, even though Borrelia cells may be hiding and not circulating in the blood. This situation of detecting free phage DNA from human blood bears some resemblance to identifying cell-free circulating DNA (cfDNA) as with cancer diagnosis. The phage-based technology could potentially complement the current LD diagnostics.

In a nutshell, the phage-based technology detects phages to diagnose bacterial infections. This method showed high sensitivity (90%) when tested against Lyme patient samples. A fully validated phage-based test would transform the current clinical practice of Lyme disease.

 

Biography:

He did complete the doctor of philosophy degree from Jamia Hamdard, India, and moved to the University of California, Irvine, to join the virus-host replication program. During his Ph.D., he focused on molecular diagnosis of the chikungunya virus from suspected patients and antiviral strategies. He has been awarded the George E. Hewitt fellowship from New Port Beach, California. He has published over ten peer-reviewed articles in prestigious journals such as the Journal of Molecular Virology, JCI Insight, Microbiology, and Immunology, among others. He has appointments as a reviewer for many journals. He has delivered many talks at both national and international conferences since 2020.

 

Abstract:

Human infection with the Chikungunya virus is rarely deadly but frequently accompanied by persistent joint and muscular pain. Chronic CHIKV illness is extremely crippling and linked to persistent viral infection. Chikungunya virus (CHIKV), which had previously only been an endemic pathogen in Africa and Asia that occasionally caused outbreaks, became a global pathogen starting in 2004. Given that CHIKV outbreaks have persisted and grown in size, finding possible vaccine and therapy options needs to get careful investigation. Since no licensed products exist in this area, control is solely dependent on the use of integrated vector control and personal protective measures, both of which have limited efficacy. So it makes sense to look into additional control options right away. The effectiveness of antivirals strategies in preventing diseases carried by researchers has been demonstrated. Therapeutics would be quite beneficial as well, though, given that CHIKV is known to spread quickly and cause high attack rates. A number of contenders are now being explored; this assessment discusses the various options being thought about for potential future drug development and evaluates their relative benefits.

 

Keywords: Chikungunya disease, Molecular docking, pharmacokinetics (PK) and pharmacodynamics

 

Biography:

He is Alireza Razavi, and as a fifth-year medical student at Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, he has been doing research on COVID-19 for almost 3 years. He has been studying this disease in molecular dimensions in immunogenetic laboratories for almost a year. The study of IFI27 gene expression as a prognostic factor, which involved a multinational cohort, is the largest project in which he has participated, and its preprint is available in MedRxiv. Currently, he is working on my thesis, which is to investigate the expression of two genes in COVID-19 patients. Examining all kinds of diseases in molecular dimensions will help a lot to solve the problems of the medical sciences.

 

Abstract:

Effectual medications are urgently demanded to combat the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). This study seeks to assess the outcomes of atorvastatin in comparison with routine care for adult COVID-19 patients.

 

Methods

This is a double-blind randomized trial on adult COVID-19 hospitalized patients. Patients were enrolled into the group receiving atorvastatin + lopinavir/ritonavir or a control arm receiving lopinavir/ritonavir alone. The primary outcome was hospitalization duration. The secondary outcomes include the need for interferon or immunoglobulin, receipt of invasive mechanical ventilation, and O2 saturation (O2sat), and level of C-reactive protein (CRP) which were evaluated at the onset of admission and on the 6th day of the intervention.

 

Results

Forty patients were assigned to the study with a 1-to-1 ratio in atorvastatin + lopinavir/ritonavir and lopinavir/ritonavir arms. Clinical and demographic features were equivalent between the two groups. CRP level was extremely reduced in the lopinavir/ritonavir + atorvastatin arm (P < 0.0001, Cohen’s d = 0.865) so that there was a significant difference in CRP level on the 6th day between the two groups (P = 0.01). However, there was no significant discrepancy in O2sat on day 6. Albeit the duration of hospitalization in the lopinavir/ritonavir + atorvastatin arm was significantly decreased compared to the control arm (P = 0.012), there was no considerable discrepancy in the invasive mechanical ventilation receiving and the necessity for interferon and immunoglobulin.

 

Conclusion

Atorvastatin + lopinavir/ritonavir may be more influential than lopinavir/ritonavir in managing adult COVID-19 inpatients.

 

Biography:

Sirwan Sleman is with the Unit of Herpesvirus and Molecular Virology, Key Laboratory of Molecular Virology & Immunology, Institut Pasteur of Shanghai, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200031, and China. Also College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Sulaimani, Sulaimaniyah Iraq.

 

Abstract:

Forkhead box O (FoxO) plays a critical role in many biological processes and metabolic diseases. Previous studies have demonstrated that FoxOs participate in the pathogenesis of some viral infections including herpesviruses. In our report, we found that human cytomegalovirus (HCMV), a beta herpesvirus member, drastically induced the expression of FoxOs in human fibroblasts. The induced FOXOs were translocated and aggregated into the viral replication compartments (vRC) in the nucleus of the infected cell at the late time post-infection. Besides, the FOXO depletion or exogenous expression remarkably affected viral late gene expression and viral replication but the effect on the viral DNA synthesis was limited to some extent. Our report highlights the new insights into the impact of the FoxO factor on HCMV infection.

 

Keywords- FoxO and Human Cytomegalovirus, FoxO transcription Factor, HCMV Late Viral Gene Expression, HCMV Infection

 

Biography:

He is Shivam Chowdhary, pursuing a Masters in Clinical Virology from the Manipal Institute of Virology, a constituent unit of the Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Karnataka, India. He has served various institutes of national repute like the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC, New Delhi, India), the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research Industrial Research- Centre Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (CSIR-CIMAP, Lucknow, India), and the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB, New Delhi, India). He is looking forward to pursuing my research in the disciplines of viral zoonosis and immunity, viral oncogenesis, antiviral research, and drug targets. He also belonged as a student member to the American Society of Virology, the British Society of Immunology, and the International Youth Neuroscience Association.

Abstract:

Zoonoses are the illnesses and infections that spread spontaneously between humans and vertebrate animals. Over the period of time the emerging and re-emerging diseases have quickly expanded due to several activities by humans in various geographical areas among the population. The rise of silent viruses along with threatening statistics has again compelled the scientific world. The combating strategies should be followed and tackled in such a way that the re-emergence of such pathogens can be avoided. Attempt in the advancement in the diagnostics, prevention and treatment should be made in the due course of time so that these zoonotic viruses can be put down to a greater extent