Local study pinpoints how viruses invade cells

[wdlove]

Local scientists have discovered how a family of dangerous viruses invades healthy cells, a finding that promises new treatments for dengue fever, West Nile, and other diseases that infect more than 50 million people every year.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/01/22/local_study_pinpoints_how_viruses_invade_cells/

 

[MrMacMan]

No one thought of this before?

Wow... that kinda... late.


'How do Viruses Break through a Cell Membrane?'

That question was never asked?


Geeez.

 

[topicolo]

Originally posted by MrMacman
No one thought of this before?

Wow... that kinda... late.


'How do Viruses Break through a Cell Membrane?'

That question was never asked?


Geeez.

Ummm... you don't seem to realize how hard it is to crystallize a protein to prepare it for X-ray crystallography. Especially for large proteins, it's a process of trial and error involving up to thousands of different combinations in creating a solution with the proper concentrations of different chemicals which will be enough to form the proper crystal protein aggregates to use in X-ray crystallography.

This process alone can take years to work.

 

[wdlove]

Originally posted by topicolo
Ummm... you don't seem to realize how hard it is to crystallize a protein to prepare it for X-ray crystallography. Especially for large proteins, it's a process of trial and error involving up to thousands of different combinations in creating a solution with the proper concentrations of different chemicals which will be enough to form the proper crystal protein aggregates to use in X-ray crystallography.

This process alone can take years to work.

That was my thoughts exactly. They needed the advances in technology. As you said much of scientific investigation is trial and error. Also many discoveries occur by accident. They may be studying one than that can lead to many other avenues of knowledge.

Many things in medicine tend to be more of an art rather than pure science.