Biological Warfare

Discovery may help defang viruses

Published in Medical Letter on the CDC and FDA, September 16th, 2007

Researchers may be able to tinker with a single amino acid of an enzyme that helps viruses multiply to render them harmless, according to molecular biologists who say the discovery could pave the way for a fast and cheap method of making vaccines.

"We have successfully tested this technique with poliovirus," said Craig Cameron, the Paul Berg professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at Penn State. "And we think it is applicable to most other viruses." Viruses have a simple mission; infect a cell, make more viruses, and then break out of the cell to infect more cells. This calls for fast and efficient multiplication. Viruses do this with the help of an enzyme...

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Source: Medical Letter on the CDC and FDA (2007-09-16)

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