Customized 'Wimpy' Polioviruses Designed: A New Path To Vaccines?
Saturday, June 28, 2008 - 22:14
in Biology & Nature
A team of molecular biologists and computer scientists at Stony Brook University has designed and synthesized a new class of weakened polioviruses. They used their synthesizing method with computer software to systematically re-code the poliovirus genome. In doing so, the team is the first to demonstrate that a synthetic weakened virus can immunize an animal. These results show promise in the creation of new attenuated ('live virus') anti-viral vaccines and are reported in the journal Science.