Establishment of Fruit Bat Cells (Rousettus aegyptiacus) as a Model System for the Investigation of Filoviral Infection

Marburg virus and several species of Ebola virus are endemic in central Africa and cause sporadic outbreaks in this region with mortality rates of up to 90%. So far, there is no vaccination or therapy available to protect people at risk in these regions. Recently, different fruit bats have been identified as potential reservoirs. One of them is Rousettus aegyptiacus. It seems that within huge bat populations only relatively small numbers are positive for filovirus-specific antibodies or filoviral RNA, a phenomenon that is currently not understood. As a first step towards understanding the biology of filoviruses in bats, we sought to establish a model system to investigate filovirus replication in cells derived from their natural reservoir. Here, we provide the first insights into this topic by monitoring filovirus infection of a Rousettus aegyptiacus derived cell line, R06E. We were able to show that filoviruses propagate well in R06E cells, which can, therefore, be used to investigate replication and transcription of filovirus RNA and to very efficiently perform rescue of recombinant Marburg virus using reverse genetics. These results emphasize the suitability of the newly established bat cell line for filovirus research

Polyelectrolyte microcapsule arrays: preparation and biomedical applications

In the need of development of versatile and flexible platforms for sensing and other biomedical applications, micro- and nanostructured particle arrays attract strong scientific interest. In this review we focus on fabrication of arrays of polyelectrolyte layer-by-layer assembled microcapsules and bio-related applications of such arrays. A cargo encapsulated in the microcapsules can be released on demand, thus opening perspectives for biosensing, diagnostics, controlled drug delivery, and tissue engineering. Here, we also consider a new composite systemmicrocapsules embedded into polymeric filmboth components are made by the LbL technique. Fabrication approaches and perspectives in the preparation and in the use of the microcapsule arrays are addressed