There’s that old adage, better to be prepared than to be sorry. Researchers have made it possible to be prepared in the case of a pandemic outburst of the H5N1 virus, otherwise known as the avian flu.

A team of US researchers announced on Sunday that they have developed a new protein that they say can be a vital tool in the battle against global influenza epidemics.

Project allows new forms of client software to join genetic surveillance

Dr Julian Hiscox and Dr John Barr of the University's Faculty of Biological Sciences are working with the Health Protection Agency Porton (HPA) to build a bank of molecular signatures that will help identify the severity of virus infection from characteristic changes seen in cells.

Changing medicine in the Lab! Scientists are looking at ways to help identify the severity of virus infections by looking at the way the cells change within that virus.