Tokiko Watanabe

TL;DR: A new reverse-genetics system that allows one to efficiently generate influenza A viruses entirely from cloned cDNAs is described, which should be useful in viral mutagenesis studies and in the production of vaccines and gene therapy vectors.

TL;DR: Results indicate that H5 HA can convert to an HA that supports efficient viral transmission in mammals, and will help individuals conducting surveillance in regions with circulating H5N1 viruses to recognize key residues that predict the pandemic potential of isolate, which will inform the development, production and distribution of effective countermeasures.

TL;DR: It is shown that CA04 is sensitive to approved and experimental antiviral drugs, suggesting that these compounds could function as a first line of defence against the recently declared S-OIV pandemic.

TL;DR: It is found that SARS-CoV-2 isolates replicate efficiently in the lungs of Syrian hamsters and cause severe pathological lesions in the lung of these animals similar to commonly reported imaging features of COVID-19 patients with pneumonia.

TL;DR: The feasibility of using genome-wide RNAi screens in Drosophila to identify previously unrecognized host proteins that are required for influenza virus replication is demonstrated and could accelerate the development of new classes of antiviral drugs for chemoprophylaxis and treatment.