Zika Virus research at UC Davis featured in the news
The Aedes aegypti mosquito can transmit Zika virus. (Courtesy CDC)
UC Davis researchers are sharing their expertise on topics from mosquitoes and mosquito-borne diseases to maternal and fetal health in response to media inquiries about Zika Virus. A detailed list of campus experts is online.
California National Primate Research Center News
From Mice to Monkeys, animal models hold the key to battling Zika
“Dr. Koen Van Rompay and his colleagues at the California National Primate Research Center — a part of the University of California, Davis — have also infected a small number of rhesus macaques with Zika, and plan to move to pregnant monkeys soon. Van Rompay, who like O’Connor has studied HIV in monkey models, hopes to learn how frequently an infected mother transmits the virus across the placenta to the fetus, and whether an antiviral therapy could reduce that rate like it can with HIV. The primate studies could also help answer the question of whether Zika causes microcephaly and other defects.
History Makers: Dr. Koen Van Rompay vs. Zika Virus
“On February 1, 2016, the World Health Organization declared Zika virus a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC). Now Dr. Koen Van Rompay, a veterinarian specializing in using primate models to tackle HIV/AIDS treatment, is working with a team of experts to take on the Zika virus.”
UC Davis Primate Researchers Key on Zika Virus
“Researchers at the California National Primate Research Center at UC Davis will use some of their population of 4,500 monkeys to do crucial research in the fight against the Zika virus. Viral researcher Koen Van Rompay, who has done extensive work with the HIV virus and Rhesus Macaque monkeys, has taken on the task of gathering support from neuroscientists, virologists and fetal research experts to look at how the little known Zika virus works.”
Debating value, ethics of infecting monkeys with Zika virus
“Scientists at the California National Primate Research Center will soon infect pregnant rhesus monkeys with the Zika virus to determine whether it causes microcephaly in babies. Koen Van Rompay, Ph.D., a leading virologist at UC Davis who pioneered research preventing HIV transmission between pregnant mothers and babies, is leading the studies.”
KPCC→
UC Davis to research Zika virus in primates
“Scientists at UC Davis and the University of Wisconsin are using primates to study the Zika virus in the hopes of developing a vaccine and understanding the virus’s impact on developing fetuses. Koen Van Rompay, a prominent HIV researcher, is leading the effort at UC Davis’ California National Primate Center. He plans to use up to eight rhesus macaque monkeys to learn more about the poorly understood Zika virus.”
The Sacramento Bee→
This Doctor Helped Stop HIV in Pregnant Women. Can He Do It Again With Zika?
“A Belgian veterinarian turned virologist, Van Rompay was a part of the team who in the 1990s developed the most widely used antiretroviral drug word, Tenofovir. The drug was approved in 2001 (initially sold under the brand name Viread) and has since been administered to more than 10 million HIV-positive people. Tenofovir found a second life as one of the two active ingredients in a new prophylactic called Truvada.”
Scientists Investigate How Viruses Like Zika Cause Birth Defects
“The Zika virus has quickly gained Ebola-level notoriety as it has spread through the Western Hemisphere in recent months. Researchers in Brazil, where it was first detected in May, have linked infections in pregnant women to a condition known as microcephaly: infants born with undersize heads.”
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