Scientists in The Netherlands have identified a potential vaccine for the deadly chikungunya virus (CHIKV) that has spread to Europe recently.
Scientists in The Netherlands have identified a potential vaccine for the deadly chikungunya virus (CHIKV) that has spread to Europe recently.
CHIKV is a mosquito-borne virus behind epidemics in Africa, South-East Asia and India, which has recently emerged in Europe through Asian tiger mosquitoes. Symptoms of the virus include joint pain, vomiting and nausea, headaches, chills and fever, as well as skin rashes.
The study, published in the Virology Journal,1 investigated the expression of individual CHIKV E1 and E2 glycoproteins in insect cells as well as developing purification methods for secreted forms of these glycoproteins. The study used metal affinity chromatography and confocal laser scanning microscopy to identify and obtain purified, glycosylated and secreted CHIKV E2. CHIKV E2 induces neutralizing antibodies in rabbits, which, according to the study, “underscores the potential use of E2 in a subunit vaccine to prevent CHIKV infections.”
1. S.W. Metz, Virology Journal, 8(353) (2011).
Fundamentals of Benchtop GC–MS Data Analysis and Terminology
April 5th 2025In this installment, we will review the fundamental terminology and data analysis principles in benchtop GC–MS. We will compare the three modes of analysis—full scan, extracted ion chromatograms, and selected ion monitoring—and see how each is used for quantitative and quantitative analysis.
Characterizing Plant Polysaccharides Using Size-Exclusion Chromatography
April 4th 2025With green chemistry becoming more standardized, Leena Pitkänen of Aalto University analyzed how useful size-exclusion chromatography (SEC) and asymmetric flow field-flow fractionation (AF4) could be in characterizing plant polysaccharides.
This information is supplementary to the article “Accelerating Monoclonal Antibody Quality Control: The Role of LC–MS in Upstream Bioprocessing”, which was published in the May 2025 issue of Current Trends in Mass Spectrometry.