This news item is about: For many viruses, the first step to invading a cell is finding and attaching to just the right variety of sialic acid, a type of sugar molecule that is found on the surface of most animal cells, including those of humans. To understand the roles that sialic acids play in viral infections, Dr. Colin Parrish’s group at the Baker Institute for Animal Health are using new techniques to explore the variation, diversity of expression, and evolution of sialic acid molecules in different animals.