The Application of Viruses to Biotechnology

Viruses are microscopic agents that exist worldwide and are present in humans, animals, plants, and other living organisms in which they can cause devastating diseases. However, the advances of biotechnology and next-generation sequencing technologies have accelerated novel virus discovery, identification, sequencing, and manipulation, showing that they present unique characteristics that place them as valuable tools for a wide variety of biotechnological applications. Many applications of viruses have been used for agricultural purposes, namely concerning plant breeding and plant protection. Nevertheless, it is interesting to mention that plants have also many advantages to be used in vaccine production, such as the low cost and low risks they entail, showing once more the versatility of the use of viruses in biotechnology. Although it will obviously never be ignored that viruses are responsible for devastating diseases, it is clear that the more they are studied, the more possibilities they offer to us. They are now on the front line of the most revolutionizing techniques in several fields, providing advances that would not be possible without their existence. In this book there are presented studies that demonstrate the work developed using viruses in biotechnology. These studies were brought by experts that focus on the development and applications of many viruses in several fields, such as agriculture, the pharmaceutical industry, and medicine

Radiobiology Textbook:Space Radiobiology

The study of the biologic effects of space radiation is considered a “hot topic,” with increased interest in the past years. In this chapter, the unique characteristics of the space radiation environment will be covered, from their history, characterization, and biological effects to the research that has been and is being conducted in the field. After a short introduction, you will learn the origin and characterization of the different types of space radiation and the use of mathematical models for the prediction of the radiation doses during different mission scenarios and estimate the biological risks due to this exposure. Following this, the acute, chronic, and late effects of radiation exposure in the human body are discussed before going into the detailed biomolecular changes affecting cells and tissues, and in which ways they differ from other types of radiation exposure. The next sections of this chapter are dedicated to the vast research that has been developed through the years concerning space radiation biology, from small animals to plant models and 3D cell cultures, the use of extremophiles in the study of radiation resistance mechanisms to the importance of ground-based irradiation facilities to simulate and study the space environment

IMMUNOLOGY IN CROATIA 40th anniversary of the Croatian Immunological Society

This special issue is dedicated to the 40th Anniversary of organized activities of the Croatian Immunological Society. On this occasion the Annual Meeting of Croatian Immunological Society will be organized in [ibenik, October 9-12 2008, where this supplement will be introduced and distributed. The idea for such a collection of data was born (conceived) during my first presidency 10 years ago, when the first account of Croatian Immunological Society activities was published, in Croatian. This time, we have tried to include not only the founding and activities of Croatian Immunological Society but also all research groups working in the field of immunology in Croatia during the past 40 years. I wish to express my warmest thanks to all authors for their contributions. Especially for collecting all the relevant data, references and achievements of their research groups. From the collected data it is evident that Immunology in Croatia developed very fast (rapidly), and achieved a prominent place among scientific disciplines. Both national and international collaboration resulted in the establishment of new groups, not only at universities where immunology first started, but also at several institutes and hospitals in Zagreb and Rijeka. The number of Croatian Immunological Society members varies, being always more than one hundred and less than two hundred, but with a very good renewal rate of young members each year. We hope that, with improved financing policy of basic science in Croatia, more novices will be attracted, and that immunologists will remain as active as they were throughout this past 40 years, despite some quite untoward conditions. Sabina Rabatić guest edito