Biomedical and Clinical Research

Virology

Virology is concerned with viruses and virus-like agents, including their taxonomy, disease-producing properties, cultivation and genetics. It is considered a part of microbiology or pathology. At the beginning this discipline was dependent upon advances in the chemical and physical sciences, but viruses soon became tools for probing basic biochemical processes of cells.

Viruses have normally been viewed in a rather negative context as agents responsible for disease that must be controlled or eliminated. However, viruses have certain good properties that can be exploited for useful purposes for example in gene therapy or Vaccinology.