Led by Frazer, our T7 reverse genetics paper is now published! In it, the team showed that T7 based MNV reverse genetics can be performed without IVT or helper virus by co-transfecting plasmids encoding T7 RNA polymerase and vaccinia capping enzymes. They showed further boosts in the efficiency of this system by expressing the CD300lf receptor for mouse norovirus on the non-permissive BSR-T7 cells typically used for this work. You can read about this work in Viruses here.
We were also delighted to contribute to De Neck and colleagues’ study on CNS infection of K18-hACE2 mice, as a model for neural complications of SARS-CoV-2 infection. In the present study we used the K18-hACE2 model, intranasally challenged with SARS-CoV-2 ancestral and Delta isolates at low or medium doses, to address the hypothesis that the inflammatory response raised in the brain of infected mice is secondary to neuronal infection. The results obtained from our model indicate that SARS-CoV-2 infection of the neurons can result in limited neuroinflammation. These data can help to understand more fully the reaction of the CNS in COVID-19 patients, and neurotropic virus infections in general. You can read the preprint on bioRxiv here.
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