Make A Honey Trap For Viruses
By Hayley Birch
Today is Valentine’s Day, so I want you to put yourself in the mindset of ‘sssexy’. You’re hot stuff. A babe slayer, no less.
Now, stay with the hot stuff... you’re a cell and you’re out to bag yourself some viruses (okay, it was tenuous but stick with it). And these being viruses, we’re talking slaying in literal terms.
So how are you going to reel them in without arousing their suspicion? How does a cell get to be sssexy? Well clearly you’re going to need to look the part. You need to look like a virus magnet.
The trouble is that viruses have one track minds. All they want to do is reproduce and, to that end, like men on baby-making missions, they reject anything that doesn’t seem like a sure fire bet.
Ingenuously, scientists are now exploiting the picky nature of viruses to lure them into cell ‘traps’. Professor Paul Turner is even optimistic that research at Yale University could yield an innovative new treatment for HIV.
HIV is only attracted to cells flaunting a marker molecule called CD4, which is only found on certain types of white blood cell. However, researchers now think they might be able to fool the virus into entering other cells by smothering them in CD4.
So far, however, proof of principle has only been shown in bacteriophages – viruses that infect bacteria. Once inside the disguised cells, the viruses were unable to reproduce or escape; the cell equivalent of a honey trap.
Of course, when it comes to Valentine’s Day, this translates quite nicely into human terms – all you have to do is find out what you need to smother yourself in to arouse their attention…
Hayley's homepage - a great place to go. And watch out for our gadget shop coming soon that, amongst other things, will be selling fluffy viruses.
Now, stay with the hot stuff... you’re a cell and you’re out to bag yourself some viruses (okay, it was tenuous but stick with it). And these being viruses, we’re talking slaying in literal terms.
So how are you going to reel them in without arousing their suspicion? How does a cell get to be sssexy? Well clearly you’re going to need to look the part. You need to look like a virus magnet.
The trouble is that viruses have one track minds. All they want to do is reproduce and, to that end, like men on baby-making missions, they reject anything that doesn’t seem like a sure fire bet.
Ingenuously, scientists are now exploiting the picky nature of viruses to lure them into cell ‘traps’. Professor Paul Turner is even optimistic that research at Yale University could yield an innovative new treatment for HIV.
HIV is only attracted to cells flaunting a marker molecule called CD4, which is only found on certain types of white blood cell. However, researchers now think they might be able to fool the virus into entering other cells by smothering them in CD4.
So far, however, proof of principle has only been shown in bacteriophages – viruses that infect bacteria. Once inside the disguised cells, the viruses were unable to reproduce or escape; the cell equivalent of a honey trap.
Of course, when it comes to Valentine’s Day, this translates quite nicely into human terms – all you have to do is find out what you need to smother yourself in to arouse their attention…
Hayley's homepage - a great place to go. And watch out for our gadget shop coming soon that, amongst other things, will be selling fluffy viruses.
Image: Gabriel T/GiantMicrobes/Mark buggering about.
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