Journal of Undergraduate Research
Keywords
humanized mouse, human herpesvirus 6, HHV-6, lytic strain
College
Life Sciences
Department
Microbiology and Molecular Biology
Abstract
While working on this project, we had several unforeseen setbacks. Human herpesvirus 6 (HHV- 6) proved much more difficult to work with than we had supposed. It was tricky to propagate (make it replicate) and hard to quantify. It does not behave like other viruses we have worked with and had a few tricks up its sleeve. We were expecting a dormant virus but were surprised to see a lytic strain. The cells we used to propagate HHV-6 kept dying, so we spent time looking for protocols and reading up on what others have done to maintain the virus. I spent several months culturing the virus and working with it, getting familiar with its behavior. We learned to feed the culture fresh cells weekly in order to maintain viral replication. We did eventually optimize propagation and we were able to harvest virus stock to be used for experiments.
Recommended Citation
Carlson, Stephanie and Berges, Dr. Bradford
(2014)
"Humanized Mouse Model for the Study of Human herpesvirus 6 Infections,"
Journal of Undergraduate Research: Vol. 2014:
Iss.
1, Article 796.
Available at:
https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/jur/vol2014/iss1/796