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Virology provides information on viruses, which are associated with several emerging infectious diseases in both animals and plants. Most of the viral diseases are not curable and developing treatment strategy for these diseases is the real tough challenge for the researchers. It is possible only when all the information on its structure, replication, mode of transmission and especially methods of cultivating viruses are easily available. This will pay the way for understanding pathogenicity and targets for drug development. Prevention is better than cure suits better with the viral infections. Hence this course is developed to provide knowledge on nature, host and replication of different group of viruses, spread and management of viral diseases. The course also provides information on beneficial aspects of virus, especially its use in medicine and agriculture. The syllabus is designed keeping in mind the recent developments in virology and will be useful to all those who want to learn and update their knowledge on viruses.
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Weekly Plan
Weeks
Day
Weekly Lecture Topics
First Week
Day 1
Discovery, nature, origin and evolutionary importance of viruses
Day 2
Structure of Viruses
Day 3
Isolation, purification and cultivation of viruses
Day 4
Viral taxonomy: Classification and nomenclature of different groups of viruses
Day 5
● MCQ ● Assignments
Second Week
Day 1
Diversity, classification and one step multiplication curve
Day 2
Lytic and lysogenic phages
Day 3
Regulation of transcription in lambda phage
Day 4
Phage phenotypes, phenotype mixing and phage therapy
Day 5
● MCQ ● Assignments
Third Week
Day 1
Principal events involved in replication: Adsorption, penetration and uncoating.
Day 2
Viral nucleic acid and protein synthesis
Day 3
Intracellular trafficking, assembly, maturation and release
Day 4
Host response to viral infection
Day 5
● MCQ ● Assignments
Fourth Week
Day 1
TMV and BBTV
Day 2
Herpes, Polio and Influenza virus
Day 3
SV40 and Adeno Virus, Poxviruses
Day 4
Hepatitis and Retroviruses
Day 5
● MCQ ● Assignments
Fifth Week
Day 1
Visualization and enumeration of virus particles
Day 2
Physical and biological methods of detection of viruses
Day 3
Immunological and molecular methods detection of viruses
Day 4
Characterization of viral product expressed in the infected cells
Day 5
● MCQ ● Assignments
Sixth Week
Day 1
General methods of propagation of plant viruses
Day 2
Purification of plant viruses using centrifugation, chromatography and electrophoresis techniques
Day 3
Methods employed in identification of plant viruses
Day 4
Viruses as biopesticides
Day 5
● MCQ ● Assignments
Seventh Week
Day 1
Common cold, SARS, Influenza
Day 2
Measles, Mumps, Rubella, Human papilloma
Day 3
Herpes, Polio, Rabies, Small pox
Day 4
HIV, Hepatitis, Dengue, Yellow fever
Day 5
● Quizzes ● Assignments ● Paragraph and essay questions
Eighth Week
Day 1
Introduction to oncogenic viruses
Day 2
Concepts of oncogenes and proto-oncogenes
Day 3
Understanding human carcinogenesis by using tumor viruses as experimental tools
Day 4
Prevention and treatment of virus induced cancer
Day 5
● MCQ ● Assignments
Ninth Week
Day 1
Host specific and nonspecific defense mechanisms involved in resistance to and recovery from virus infections
Day 2
Role of interferon in viral infections
Day 3
Viral Chemotherapy: Nucleoside analogs, reverse transcriptase inhibitors, protease inhibitors
Day 4
History of vaccines especially smallpox and polio. New methods: subunit vaccines, anti-idiotype and DNA vaccines
Day 5
● MCQ ● Assignments
Tenth Week
Day 1
Use of viral vectors in cloning and expression
Day 2
Gene therapy and Phage display
Day 3
Emerging and re emerging viruses
Day 4
Viruses and future
Day 5
● MCQ ● Assignments
Eleventh Week
Day 1
Exam preparation and assessment of assignments
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Twelfth Week
Day 1
Assessment at the end of the course, which comprises of 40% of Online or In-term assessment and 60% Proctored end term exam.
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
