Russian Scientists Probe Prehistoric Viruses Dug From Permafrost
Umer Jamshaid Published February 16, 2021 | 11:23 PM
Russian state laboratory Vektor on Tuesday announced it was launching research into prehistoric viruses by analysing the remains of animals recovered from melted permafrost
Moscow, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 16th Feb, 2021 ) :Russian state laboratory Vektor on Tuesday announced it was launching research into prehistoric viruses by analysing the remains of animals recovered from melted permafrost.
The Siberia-based lab said in a statement that the aim of the project was to identify paleoviruses and conduct advanced research into virus evolution.
The research in collaboration with the University of Yakutsk began with analysis of tissues extracted from a prehistoric horse believed to be at least 4,500 years old.
Vektor said the remains were discovered in 2009 in Yakutia, a vast Siberian region where remains of Paleolithic animals including mammoths are regularly discovered.
Researchers said they would probe too the remains of mammoths, elk, dogs, partridges, rodents, hares and other prehistoric animals.
Maxim Cheprasov, head of the Mammoth Museum laboratory at Yakutsk University, said in a press release that the recovered animals had already been the subject of bacterial studies.
But he added: "We are conducting studies on paleoviruses for the first time".
A former centre for the development of biological weapons in Soviet times, the Vektor laboratory in Siberia's Novosibirsk region is one of only two facilities in the world to store the smallpox virus.
Vektor has developed a vaccine against the coronavirus, EpiVacCorona, which was licensed in October in Russia and is scheduled to begin mass production later this month.
Scientists say the Arctic is warming twice as fast as the global average, endangering local wildlife as well as releasing carbon stored in the melting permafrost.
Related Topics
Recent Stories
HEC reviews curricula for environmental sciences degree programme
ICC Asia looking forward to an action-packed Asia Cricket Week
Yuvraj Singh named ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 Ambassador
Greece hands Olympic flame to 2024 Paris Games hosts
Two Kyiv hospitals evacuating over feared Russian strikes
World must act on neurotech revolution, say experts
Charles & Catherine's cancer diagnoses
Champions Alcaraz and Sabalenka through in Madrid Open
King Charles to resume some public duties during cancer treatment: palace
US defense chief announces $6 bn in security aid for Ukraine
Heavy rains cause damage to Spezand-Taftan railway track
Woman stabbed in Israel, attacker killed: police
More Stories From World
-
Taiwan hit by several quakes, strongest reaching 6.1-magnitude
8 minutes ago -
'Ballistic' Bairstow stars as Punjab pull off record T20 chase
8 minutes ago -
Tennis: ATP/WTA Madrid Open results - 2nd update
8 minutes ago -
Junta-led Burkina Faso suspends BBC, Voice of America for two weeks
1 hour ago -
Two Kyiv hospitals evacuating over feared Russian strikes
1 hour ago -
World must act on neurotech revolution, say experts
1 hour ago
-
Charles & Catherine's cancer diagnoses
2 hours ago -
King Charles to resume some public duties during cancer treatment: palace
2 hours ago -
US defense chief announces $6 bn in security aid for Ukraine
2 hours ago -
Woman stabbed in Israel, attacker killed: police
2 hours ago -
Israeli-fired unexploded bombs could take 14 years to clear: UN
2 hours ago -
US announces $6 bn in security aid for Ukraine
1 hour ago