Università Roma Tre

The course describes and compares the replication cycles of different animal viruses that infect vertebrate hosts to gain insight into: origin of viruses, structure, evolution, strategies of replication, virus-cell interactions, host defense mechanisms and strategies of viral immunoevasion, methods of detection, identification and titration, antiviral drugs and profilaxis of viral infections. In particular, it will be described viruses of the following viral families: Parvoviridae, Poliomaviridae, Papillomaviridae, Adenoviridae, Herpesviridae, Poxviridae, Picornaviridae, Flaviviridae, Coronaviridae, Ortomixoviridae, Rabdoviridae, Retroviridae, Hepadnaviridae. In addition, introduction to applied virology will be provided (i.e., vaccine development, viral vectors and oncolytic viruses). Students will be able to apply the acquired knowledge to understand in-depth texts and experimental data related to the discipline.

All the detailed list of topics covered during the lessons, the PDF files of power point presentations used during the course and supplementary material for exam preparation are available in the Moodle platform of the course.

Adopted text book:

- Leonard Norkin – Virology: Molecular Biology and Pathogenesis - ASM (American Society for Microbiology) Press (this text book is more detailed to study the different virus life cycles)


Students are received at the end of the lessons or by appointment via email (elisabetta.affabris@uniroma3.it).