Have you heard about this
MIT research?
In a paper published July 27 in the journal PLoS One, the researchers tested their drug against 15 viruses, and found it was effective against all of them -- including rhinoviruses that cause the common cold, H1N1 influenza, a stomach virus, a polio virus, dengue fever and several other types of hemorrhagic fever.
That's amazing. The way a virus reproduces is by hijacking a cell and instructing it to produce more viruses. This process involves creating double-stranded RNA, which does not normally exist in our cells. The MIT researchers found a way to trigger cell death when this double-stranded RNA is present inside a cell. The infected cells are killed to prevent virus replication. Uninfected cells are not harmed. This could be so huge: imagine a cure for all viral diseases.
Oh by the way, your tax dollars at work!
This work is funded by a grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the New England Regional Center of Excellence for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases, with previous funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Defense Threat Reduction Agency, and Director of Defense Research & Engineering.
There are 3 private posts in this thread. You need
sign in to read them.
Why Join 4thKingdom?
Note that there are no ads here. Just intelligent and friendly conversation. We keep
the spam out, the trolls out, the advertisers out... 4K is just a low-key, old-fashioned
site with members from around the world.
This community began in 1998, and we continue to accept new members today.
If you're looking for a richer experience than Facebook or Twitter,
this is it.
Posted by Sir Four at 3:42pm Aug 15 '11
A cure for virus-based disease? - Sir Four 3:42pm Aug 15 '11
