General Virology- Multiplication of Viruses

SYLLABUS
GENERAL VIROLOGY – MULTIPLICATION OF VIRUSES
Oncology / Microbiology / Plant Pathology 640
FALL SEMESTER, 2018

1:20 pm Mon, Wed, Fri   /  Room 125 McArdle Bldg, 1400 University Ave  (not WIMR)

Number of credits per semester:  3

How credit hours are met by the course:  Traditional Carnegie Definition – Per credit, one hour (i.e. 50 minutes) of classroom or direct faculty/instructor instruction and a minimum of two hours of out of class student work each week over approximately 15 weeks, or an equivalent amount of engagement over a different number of weeks.

Instructors

Paul Ahlquist              841A Bock Labs;  Tel: 263-5916;  Email: ahlquist@wisc.edu
Professor                     Office hours: Monday and Wednesday 2:10-3:00 PM

Robert Kalejta             641A Bock Labs;  Tel: 265-5546;  Email:  rfkalejta@wisc.edu
Professor                     Office hours: Monday and Wednesday 2:10-3:00 PM

Nathan Sherer           501A Bock Labs;  Tel: 890-2551;  Email: nsherer@wisc.edu
Assoc.  Professor        Office hours: Monday and Wednesday 2:10-3:00 PM

Discussion Leader      Office hrs: Mon and Wed 2:10-3:00 PM.  Exam review sessions will be arranged.

DATE                         TOPIC

(Sessions in regular type are led by Ahlquist, in italics by Kalejta; in bold by Sherer; others as indicated)

Wed    Sept 5              Course Introduction / Why and how we study viruses                

Fri       Sept 7              Viruses in the Real World:  Ebola – Peter Halfmann and Amie Eisfeld

Mon     Sept 10            Icosahedral virion structure

Wed    Sept 12            dsRNA viruses

Fri       Sept 14            dsRNA viruses

Mon     Sept 17            Picornaviruses   (Poliovirus, rhinovirus, hepatitis A virus, etc.)

Wed    Sept 19            Picornaviruses / Zika virus

Fri        Sept 21            Alphaviruses  (Sindbis, chikungunya, various encephalitis viruses, etc.)

Mon     Sept 24            Alphaviruses

Wed    Sept 26            Coronaviruses  (SARS, MERS, etc.)

Fri        Sept 28            Exam 1 (100 pts)

DATE                         TOPIC

Mon     Oct 1               Papillomavirus

Wed     Oct 3               Papillomavirus/Adenovirus

Fri       Oct 5               Adenovirus

Mon    Oct 8               Retroviruses/HIV

Wed    Oct 10             Retroviruses/HIV

Fri       Oct 12             Retroviruses/HIV

Mon    Oct 15             Retroviruses/HIV

Wed     Oct 17             Herpesviruses

Fri       Oct 19             Herpesviruses

Mon     Oct 22             Herpesviruses

Wed    Oct 24             Exam 2 (100 pts)

Fri       Oct 26             Rhabdoviruses

Mon    Oct 29             Rhabdoviruses 

Wed    Oct 31             Filoviruses

Fri        Nov 2              Orthomyxoviruses

Mon     Nov 5              Orthomyxoviruses

Wed    Nov 7              Pandemic flu preparations

Fri        Nov 9              Plant viruses – initiation and spread of infection

Mon     Nov 12             Plant resistance responses: relation to animal innate immunity

Wed    Nov 14             Plant & invertebrate resistance responses: RNAi

Fri       Nov 16             Genetic variability in viruses

Mon     Nov 19             Exam 3 (100 pts)

Wed    Nov 21             Antiviral Drugs

Fri        Nov 23             –  Thanksgiving recess, no class  –

Mon     Nov 26             Intrinsic immunity

Wed     Nov 28             Intrinsic immunity

Fri       Nov 30             Innate immunity

Mon     Dec 3               Innate immunity

Wed     Dec 5               Adaptive immunity    

Fri       Dec 7               Vaccines     (TA)

Mon     Dec 10             Poxviruses  (TA)

Wed    Dec 12             Emerging viruses

Fri        Dec 14             Comprehensive Final Exam  (150 points)

2:45 pm – 4:45 pm

125 McArdle

[The final covers the last 9 lectures (~75 pts)

plus comprehensive questions on earlier material (~75 pts).]

Course Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, students should be able to:

• Identify the major classes of viruses infecting animals and plants, and summarize their basic replication strategies.
• Identify the major innate and adaptive antiviral immunity mechanisms of animals and plants, and examples of viral countermeasures against these.
• Summarize the burdens and threats of viruses to public health, agriculture, etc.
• Identify the major approaches and challenges to virus control at the single organism and host population levels, including why viruses are generally harder to control than bacteria, and major steps in developing new antiviral agents.
• Illustrate beneficial uses of viruses and their genes in research, biotechnology and medicine.
• Read and evaluate primary literature papers in virology.
• Design and evaluate basic experiments to address specific questions in virology.

Suggested Texts and References

Principles of Virology: Molecular Biology, Pathogenesis, and Control (Fourth Edition, 2015)

Flint, S. J., Racaniello, V. R., Rall, G.F., Skalka, A. M., Enquist, L. W.  ASM Press.

Fields Virology (Sixth Edition, 2013)

Knipe, D. and P. Howley (editors).  Lippincott, Williams and Wilkins.

Selected Websites

“All the Virology on the WWW”

http://www.virology.net/

Universal Virus Database of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ICTVdb/index.htm

NCBI Viral Genomes Resource

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/genomes/VIRUSES/viruses.html

Virus World – Structures and Images (UW–Madison Institute for Molecular Virology)

http://rhino.bocklabs.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/virusworld/virustable.pl?

Grading

• Grading is based on exam performance.
• There are three hour exams (100 points each) plus a comprehensive final exam (150 points) for a total of 450 points.
• Separate curves are used for graduate and undergraduate students.
• Examples of prior year exams can be found on the course website. To access this, log on to the MyUW portal at  http://my.wisc.edu/ and click on your academic tab.  In the list for current courses, this course should contain a link for “library/reserve.”

Sample Distribution of Test Scores and Letter Grades in Previous Years

The following grades and scores are listed for illustration only and do not necessarily reflect how grades will be given this year.

	Year	% of total course points required for indicated grade
		A	AB	B	BC	C	D
Graduate	2017	88	82	72
	2016	86	83	73	67
	2015	86	82	70	66
	2014	83	81	72		56
	2013	89	85	75	65
	2012	85	82	72	63	56
	2011	87	82	72	65
	2010	86	81	72
	2009	83	80	70	65	56
Undergrad	2017	85	77	67	63	55	45
	2016	83	80	70	60	54
	2015	83	80	66	63	51	42
	2014	81	77	69	60	55	43
	2013	85	81	70	63	55
	2012	82	76	66	60	52
	2011	82	75	67	60
	2010	81	76	67	60	50	45
	2009	80	75	66	60	53	45
		Number of students with indicated grade
		A	AB	B	BC	C	D
Graduate	2017	9	8	2
	2016	2	3	3	2
	2015	5	5	7	1
	2014	7	2	8		1
	2013	10	4	5	1
	2012	7	4	10	1	1
	2011	5	8	18	3
	2010	6	7	3
	2009	14	2	11	5	1
Undergrad	2017	7	7	6	2	3	1
	2016	5	4	5	6	1
	2015	5	4	10	3	4	1
	2014	7	1	6	3	1	1
	2013	2	4	5	4	5
	2012	4	5	9	3	3
	2011	5	4	3	2
	2010	7	1	6	2	2	2
	2009	5	4	3	2		1