Author: Van Wilson

  • New  Predictive Biomarkers for Cardiovascular Disease

    Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a catchall term for any medical condition affecting the heart or the blood vessels. Serious cardiovascular health issues include heart attacks, strokes, and heart failure, events often preceded by hypertension (high blood pressure) and/or atherosclerosis (plaque in the arteries). Even with medical monitoring and a large array of cardiovascular drugs, CVD […]

  • Viruses and Gene Therapy

    There are around 6000 known genetic disorders that cause health problems with the number continuing to grow as more are discovered each year. The clinical effects can vary from just an increased risk for disease (e.g. breast cancer and BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations) to an inevitably fatal condition (e.g. progeria). Many of the more frequently […]

  • A Giant Among Us

    Bacteria are single-cell wonders. They live, grow, reproduce, and can perform all the functions of life as solitary organisms independent from their brethren. With rich and complex genetics, these microbes vary enormously in their properties and populate every possible niche from the frigid Arctic to the interior of our bodies. But one common feature is […]

  • Sonogenetics – Controlling the Brain with Sound

    My neuroscience colleagues have long been proponents of the technique known as optogenetics, a procedure that was named the scientific “Method of the Year” in 2010. For this method, brain cells are genetically engineered to respond to a specific wavelength of light. Typically this involves using a virus or other delivery system to augment brain […]

  • Viruses: Intimate Invaders

    My book on virology for the general public is now available at Springer as either an ebook or a softcover bound volume. It is also available on Amazon.

  • Epstein-Barr Virus and Multiple Sclerosis – Another Link

    In a recent post, I reported on a massive retrospective examination of military personnel records that strongly implicated the ubiquitous Epstein-Barr virus (EBV-the agent of infectious mononucleosis) as a major risk factor for the development of multiple sclerosis (MS). What was lacking in this epidemiological study was a mechanism by which EBV could physically initiate […]

  • The DNA Packing Problem

    I think everyone can relate to packing problems – how to get a cart full of groceries into the fewest bags or how to strategically organize the needed clothes and accessories into one carry-on suitcase? Packing problems abound in life from our personal needs to manufacturing concerns about how to fit the most items into […]

  • In Memorium – Luc Montagnier, The Discoverer of HIV

    I don’t know how well-known Luc Montagnier is to the general public, but in my field of virology he was both a giant and a controversial figure. I only met him once as my wife and I had dinner with him and several other scientists at a small HIV meeting in Austin, Texas in 2012. […]

  • Another COVID-19 Mystery

    SARS-CoV-2 has been circulating for over two years now with successive waves where cases surge dramatically and then recede over time. The most recent wave is dominated by the Omicron variant, a highly infectious though perhaps slightly less virulent strain. The U.S. and most of the world seem to be on the downhill side of […]

  • Viruses, Viruses Everywhere

    The 1918 influenza pandemic killed nearly 50 million people worldwide. Almost exactly 100 years later SARS coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) exploded into human populations leading to the COVID-19 pandemic that so far has infected nearly 400 million people and killed close to 6 million people. The COVID pandemic, in addition to being a horrendous medical crisis, has […]