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The Scoop on Zirus from CEO David Perryman

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by Aaron Saenz on September 14th, 2009

If the Home Alone movies taught me anything (and that’s doubtful to begin with) it’s that defeating the bad guys goes hand in hand with well-laid traps. Well, there are few bad guys as agile, as devious, and as skilled as viruses. Now, Georgia based biotech firm Zirus has found a new way to fight viral infections: don’t target the virus, target the human host cell. Get ‘em where they hope to live. Whereas typical viral medications aim to attack a viral particle (virion) directly, Zirus is helping create medications that will make your cells inhospitable to viral infection. It’s a revolutionary new idea and I got to pick the brain of Zirus CEO David Perryman to learn more.

Zirus' approach to fighting viruses could work against strains as different as the HIV and Rhinovirus (common cold) shown here.

Zirus' approach to fighting viruses could work against strains as different as the HIV and Rhinovirus (common cold) shown here.

Zirus isn’t making medicine directly, they’re researching the way viruses exploit cells. But what kind of medications might Zirus’ research make possible? Well, treatments for the common cold for starters. Herpes, SARS, Hepatitis C, those could all be medicated. How about a single drug that could help you fight off Ebola, HIV, or the Flu. Yep, Zirus technology could be used to target not just one virus, but a whole family of viruses.

When you can target entire families of viruses, you can prepare for diseases that haven’t even developed yet. Vaccines and standard anti-viral meds can’t do that. As Perryman says, “There’s no way you can vaccinate against the unknown.” In this way, Zirus based meds are superior to vaccines. So now we may have a pro-active response to the threats of bio-terrorism. And in-vitro experiments show that the techniques developed by Zirus can prevent viral caused cell destruction with every virus tested to date. That’s right, these medications could be nearly universal in their application.

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New Device Can Detect Viruses In A Matter Of Minutes

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by Andrew Kessel on June 3rd, 2009

Hypochondriacs rejoice!  Researchers at the University of Twente in the Netherlands have created a prototype device that is capable of detecting viruses and bacterium within the body in a matter of minutes rather than the week or two that is commonplace nowadays.  The technique was first used to detect the Herpes Simplex Virus and scientists are now in the process of making it capable of detecting all known infectious diseases.  There goes the character-building suspense of having to wait for test results.

diagram of virus detection device

Light and Channels and Receptors, Oh My!

This device could be tremendously useful when an epidemic breaks out.  There would be no need for guesswork in outbreaks like the recent swine flu.  Once the disease itself is isolated and added to the database, patients could be told in mere minutes whether they are affected and quarantined so as not to spread the disease.  If these devices disseminated into home use, the results could be even more effective.  Parents would know immediately what their children are suffering from and could respond accordingly.  The entire family could be treated before symptoms are even seen.

Conversely, this system could also help to save money in the already bloated healthcare system.  Patients could test themselves at home for a disease and, if it just turns out to be the common cold, they would not need to go in and see their primary care physician.  There would be no need for extraneous visits to the doctor to run tests that will simply come back negative.  This device could be the biggest breakthrough since thermometers went from rectal to oral.

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Viruses – Batteries Now Included

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by Aaron Saenz on May 7th, 2009

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Microscopic workers of the world unite! There’s a trend floating around laboratories: designing tiny mechanisms that can build other devices from the atomic level up. The concept isn’t new, but we’re finally seeing some real progress in the field. When most people think of these tiny workers, there’s just one word on their mind: nanobots. But we’re here to tell you that the playing field is much wider than that. Biology is getting into the micro-worker game.

Virus-Built Batteries from MIT

Some could give you a cold, the Swine Flu, or Ebola, but viruses may just end up being humanity’s best tool. Researchers at MIT have created the next generation of battery assembled using special genetically engineered viruses. These batteries are close to out-performing the lithium-ion standards used today, and will soon exceed them in scale and power. Better yet, the virus built batteries are green-energy — constructed without hazardous chemicals or waste. Who knew that viruses could help save our environment?

Of course, no virus comes out of the wild willing to make batteries. You have to rewire the little guys to become happy workers.

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New Antibody Breakthrough Paves The Way For Near Universal Flu Vaccine

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by Drew Halley on March 5th, 2009

flu_vaccine_antibodyIt could be the only flu shot you’ll ever need.  Researchers have engineered a new cocktail of antibodies that protects against multiple strains of the influenza virus, including the much-feared bird flu and the 1918 Spanish flu that killed millions worldwide.  It may even hold the clue to sparing you the annual vaccination.

Influenza, commonly called “the flu,” is a virus that infects the respiratory tract.  Worldwide, the flu is responsible for up to 500,000 deaths annually and hospitalizes millions more, according to the World Health Organization.  Each year, the virus mutates into new forms resistant to flu vaccines and natural antibodies, making it extremely difficult to treat.  This is why vaccines must be re-engineered and re-administered for each yearly flu season, and even this strategy shows limited effectiveness.  But soon, a single shot could make you immune to the virus for the rest of your life.

A team led by researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute developed the new antibody treatment by drawing on a library of 27 billion human antibodies.  They injected one of several antibodies being studied into mice that had been infected with the H5N1 strain – the deadly bird flu – three days earlier.  Not only did the mice recover, but the antibody protected the mice from more than just that single strain.  “What surprised us is that the same antibody protected mice from a lethal infection with a very different virus such as the H1N1 subtype that causes seasonal human infections; this is really remarkable,” said Ruben Donis, chief of the Molecular Virology and Vaccines Branch at the Center for Disease Control.

Most flu vaccines are specific to a particular strain, and must be re-engineered every year in response to new mutations in the virus.  This new antibody treatment from the Dana Farber Cancer Institute is unique because it attacks a non-mutating section of the virus, preventing it from deploying the genetic material that infects the body’s cells and spreads the virus.  This provides the immune system with the weapons to target multiple strains of influenza, and to protect against newly mutated strains – including strains that haven’t even evolved yet.  Researchers say human testing of the drug could begin in time for the 2011-2012 flu season.

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IBM Research Creates 3D Microscope With 100 Million Times Finer Resolution Than Current MRI

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by Keith Kleiner on January 14th, 2009

IBM Research issued a major press release today announcing the creation of a microscope that can determine the 3-Dimensional structure of large molecules, bacteria, viruses and other nano sized structures with a resolution of 4 nanometers.  This breakthrough, published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), represents a powerful addition to the growing arsenal of tools allowing scientists to “see” the 3-Dimensional structure of the nanoworld.

The new microscope uses a technique called magnetic resonance force microscopy (MRFM) to achieve 100 million times the resolution of standard MRI.  Using this new device researchers were able to build a 3D image of the tobacco mosaic virus.  Although the current results are impressive, the researchers are confident that they can make the microscope a further 10 times more powerful in the coming years, allowing for resolution of 1 nanometer or less.

This microscope from IBM is an incredible scientific achievement that is poised to accelerate the ongoing revolution in the fields of biological research, new medical treatments, and nanotechnology.   3-Dimensional shape is crucial to the proper function of proteins, enzymes, and other molecules in the human body and thus several human diseases result from their malformation.  3-Dimensional shape is equally important in the manufacture and function of nanomachines and nanomaterials where atoms and molecules must be arranged in very specific locations. 

Below is a video of the microscope released by IBM, followed by further analysis:

 

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