Researchers find new Ebola clue

The Luban Lab at UMass was studying a protein that appears to inhibit HIV-1, which causes AIDS, when it began screening the protein against glycoproteins, or sugar-coated proteins, from other viruses, including Ebola. The experiments were a bust, said Dr. [Jeremy Luban]. The protein that apparently...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inTelegram & gazette
Main Author Eckelbecker, Lisa
Format Newspaper Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Worcester, Mass GateHouse Media, Inc 04.11.2016
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Summary:The Luban Lab at UMass was studying a protein that appears to inhibit HIV-1, which causes AIDS, when it began screening the protein against glycoproteins, or sugar-coated proteins, from other viruses, including Ebola. The experiments were a bust, said Dr. [Jeremy Luban]. The protein that apparently worked against HIV-1 did nothing against Ebola. "It's the protein that the virus uses to fuse," he said. "It has a membrane, so it approaches our cells, which have membranes, and the glycoprotein is a kind of molecular machine that fuses the two membranes together." The critical Ebola protein was the result of a genetic mutation that arose early in the outbreak, as the virus spread from person to person. That form of Ebola was also the dominant form of the virus during the outbreak, according to Dr. Luban.
ISSN:1050-4184