“Previous research has mostly focused on changes in cell attachment and genome replication that are different between avian and human flu viruses, but our working hypothesis is that bird flu is subject to vastly different temperature and environment cycles upon transmission through the fecal-oral route than human flu, which is transmitted through aerosols and lung tissue,” said Tamm, of U.Va.’s Department of Molecular Physiology and Biological Physics. “Our international team of investigators will test the temperature hypothesis of host adaptation by looking at viral envelope remodeling as bird flu strains adapt to human transmission conditions.”