Unit for Viral Host Cell Interactions
Encyclopedia
The Unit of Virus Host Interactions (UVHCI) UMI 3265 UJF-EMBL-CNRS was created in Grenoble
, France
, in January 2007 to develop the collaboration between the Joseph Fourier University
, the EMBL
Grenoble outstation and the CNRS. The UVHCI is located on the scientific Polygone (research campus of the ILL
, the ESRF and the EMBL), more specifically in the ILL20 and Carl-Ivar Bränden buildings. The CIBB is shared with the PSB (Partnership for structural biology).
Its objective is to pursue international standard research
in structural
and molecular biology
, focused, but not exclusively, on virus-host cell interactions and the development of associated techniques.
Themes:
Grenoble
Grenoble is a city in southeastern France, at the foot of the French Alps where the river Drac joins the Isère. Located in the Rhône-Alpes region, Grenoble is the capital of the department of Isère...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, in January 2007 to develop the collaboration between the Joseph Fourier University
Joseph Fourier University
Université Joseph Fourier , often known as UJF, is a French university situated in the city of Grenoble and focused on the fields of sciences, technologies and health...
, the EMBL
European Molecular Biology Laboratory
The European Molecular Biology Laboratory is a molecular biology research institution supported by 20 European countries and Australia as associate member state. EMBL was created in 1974 and is an intergovernmental organisation funded by public research money from its member states...
Grenoble outstation and the CNRS. The UVHCI is located on the scientific Polygone (research campus of the ILL
Institut Laue-Langevin
The Institut Laue–Langevin, or ILL, is an internationally-financed scientific facility, situated in Grenoble, France. It is one of the world centres for research using neutrons...
, the ESRF and the EMBL), more specifically in the ILL20 and Carl-Ivar Bränden buildings. The CIBB is shared with the PSB (Partnership for structural biology).
Its objective is to pursue international standard research
Research
Research can be defined as the scientific search for knowledge, or as any systematic investigation, to establish novel facts, solve new or existing problems, prove new ideas, or develop new theories, usually using a scientific method...
in structural
Structural biology
Structural biology is a branch of molecular biology, biochemistry, and biophysics concerned with the molecular structure of biological macromolecules, especially proteins and nucleic acids, how they acquire the structures they have, and how alterations in their structures affect their function...
and molecular biology
Molecular biology
Molecular biology is the branch of biology that deals with the molecular basis of biological activity. This field overlaps with other areas of biology and chemistry, particularly genetics and biochemistry...
, focused, but not exclusively, on virus-host cell interactions and the development of associated techniques.
Themes:
- Interdisciplinary research covering virus structure, virusVirusA virus is a small infectious agent that can replicate only inside the living cells of organisms. Viruses infect all types of organisms, from animals and plants to bacteria and archaea...
assembly and maturation, virus-host cell interactions, host and virus gene expressionGene expressionGene expression is the process by which information from a gene is used in the synthesis of a functional gene product. These products are often proteins, but in non-protein coding genes such as ribosomal RNA , transfer RNA or small nuclear RNA genes, the product is a functional RNA...
mechanisms, cell biologyCell biologyCell biology is a scientific discipline that studies cells – their physiological properties, their structure, the organelles they contain, interactions with their environment, their life cycle, division and death. This is done both on a microscopic and molecular level...
of infected cells, innate immunityInnate immune systemThe innate immune system, also known as non-specific immune system and secondary line of defence, comprises the cells and mechanisms that defend the host from infection by other organisms in a non-specific manner...
, anti-pathogenPathogenA pathogen gignomai "I give birth to") or infectious agent — colloquially, a germ — is a microbe or microorganism such as a virus, bacterium, prion, or fungus that causes disease in its animal or plant host...
drug design.
- Methods developments and technical platforms for structural biology. High throughput expression and crystallizationCrystallizationCrystallization is the process of formation of solid crystals precipitating from a solution, melt or more rarely deposited directly from a gas. Crystallization is also a chemical solid–liquid separation technique, in which mass transfer of a solute from the liquid solution to a pure solid...
, synchrotronSynchrotronA synchrotron is a particular type of cyclic particle accelerator in which the magnetic field and the electric field are carefully synchronised with the travelling particle beam. The proton synchrotron was originally conceived by Sir Marcus Oliphant...
X-ray and neutron diffractionNeutron diffractionNeutron diffraction or elastic neutron scattering is the application of neutron scattering to the determination of the atomic and/or magnetic structure of a material: A sample to be examined is placed in a beam of thermal or cold neutrons to obtain a diffraction pattern that provides information of...
methods and instrumentation, LIMS, electron microscopy.