Virus hunters
Richard Hall and Matthew Peacey are virus hunters using new methods to discover emerging diseases in humans and animals.
Listen to this RNZ Our Changing World audio from May 2011: Virus Hunters.
Duration: 12:50
Watch their colleague, Wendy Williamson, explain a few of the challenges faced by virus hunters – and how technology is coming to their aid.
Viruses in the environment
ESR scientist Dr Wendy Williamson describes some of the difficulties she has to overcome in developing a method for detecting viruses in our waterways. Detecting viruses in the environment is very difficult because there are so many different types of viruses present and they are often in very low numbers.
DNA sequencing to identify viruses
A pathogen is a disease-causing agent, like a virus or bacteria. Richard Hall and Matthew Peacey are virus hunters at ESR (Environmental Science & Research). In collaboration with Thomas Briese and other researchers from Columbia University, New York, they’re using techniques such as MassTag PCR, microarray and next-generation sequencing to try and discover new or emerging pathogens in both humans and animals. Working with doctors and veterinarians, this information can potentially be used to help treat diseases and stop them spreading.
Detecting viruses in the environment
ESR scientist Dr Wendy Williamson describes how modern molecular polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tools have made it possible to detect viruses in the environment. Previously used methods of detection, such as culture, work well in a medical situation but are unable to detect viruses in the environment. PCR also makes it possible to distinguish between even closely related viruses.
Hunting for a yellow-eyed penguin virus
To see what’s involved in tracking down a virus, Ruth Beran goes to ESR’s Clinical Virology Laboratory in Upper Hutt, where the hunt is on for the pathogen causing stomatitis in yellow-eyed penguins.
It’s estimated that every vertebrate species has 20 viruses that are unique to that species. Currently, only 1,700 vertebrate viruses have been characterised, leaving a huge number of viruses still undiscovered.
Programme details: Our Changing World.
Useful link
In this 2022 Radio NZ Our Changing World programme Investigating the virosphere discover the work being undertaken on a range of native New Zealand species to find out what viruses are associated with them. The goal is to build on our knowledge of virus diversity and to help us figure out how viruses jump to new hosts.
