A New Virus Blocking Chemical Has Been Produced

[SolarpunkFan]

http://www.fastcompany.com/3059782/ibm- ... er-viruses

Soon your bathroom might have antimicrobial soap that doesn't just kill bacteria, but also wipes out Ebola, Zika, dengue, or herpes. That's the promise of a new chemical just announced by IBM and the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN) in Singapore. Such a soap is just one of the potential uses of this "macromolecule," says James Hedrick, one of the lead researchers on the project at IBM's Almaden Research Center in San Jose, CA. If taken as a medication, the macromolecule would also have two ways to protect cells from any virus that does get past the first defense.

"It's almost a daunting task to design any kind of therapeutic for a virus," says Hedrick, because they are so varied. Some use DNA to carry their genetic instructions, and some use RNA. Some come wrapped in a membrane, some don't. But all viruses mutate quickly, sidestepping chemicals designed to precisely attack them. Working with a bunch of research institutions, IBM and Singapore's IBN instead invented a chemical that attacks something fundamental to all viruses—something that mutations don't change.

TRIPLE THREAT
"We began to think, how can we move forward and kind of attack the virus in a very different way," says Hedrick. "Instead of going after its RNA or DNA, we looked at the glycoproteins that surround…the virus." No matter what the virus and how it mutates, it's going to have these substances on the surface; they have electric charges (some positive, some negative) that a chemical can stick onto. What the researchers developed is a polymer that adheres to the virus, blocking it from hooking onto a victim cell in the body. That’s step one.

Full article at link.

[Zixinus]

With articles like this, it would be better if you copy and paste the whole article.

The thing is curious. The real question of course whether it works in vivo.

[SolarpunkFan]

With articles like this, it would be better if you copy and paste the whole article.

Sorry, I'll do that next time.

[FireNexus]

With articles like this, it would be better if you copy and paste the whole article.

The thing is curious. The real question of course whether it works in vivo.

It doesn't have to to be useful. You can put it in a spray cleaner with some antibacterial chemical like triclosan that is unlikely to break it down (to keep bacteria from getting fat on it, if it is organic) and spray it on surfaces. It'll at least minimize transmission. Coating condoms with it or adding it to something like a Nuva ring might also be beneficial.