FSU professor takes close look at influenza virus
Originally published December 2, 2006
By Diane Hirth
DEMOCRAT SENIOR WRITER
Influenza is getting a heck of a close-up, which may lead to chances to eradicate the virus.
By measuring distances between atoms in a single molecule of the skin of type-A influenza, chemistry professor Tim Cross of Florida State University is painstakingly building computer images of the flu virus.
"We've got a pretty good idea of the shape of the molecule. Instead of using light, we use radio frequency," Cross, director of the nuclear magnetic resonance program at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, said in an interview this week.
"This molecule is, say, a thousand atoms. It's really small. No microscope at the present time will give you such a detailed picture of that structure," he said.
His "camera" is the lab's giant 15-ton, 900-megahertz magnet. The nuclear magnetic resonance technique used is similar to giving an MRI to a patient.
And by deciphering what Cross calls "the miserable, greasy skin" of the virus, mysteries of how the flu works are slowly being revealed.
Doing the basic scientific research to spark medical breakthroughs is one of the mag lab's missions, and Cross also leads a team studying tuberculosis.
Meanwhile, Florida is seeing more flu than a year ago, including Panhandle activity, Fernando Senra, state Department of Health spokesman, said Friday. There is plenty of flu vaccine available, though, and people are urged to get flu shots before the February flu season peak, he said.
The flu annually sickens millions of people and kills up to half a million people worldwide. Its constant mutations can lead to epidemics like the 1918 Spanish influenza that killed an estimated 20 million to 40 million people. Currently, avian flu is being closely tracked to ensure it doesn't spread to humans.
After 10 years of work, Cross and his student researchers have discovered key components of the protein doughnut-like holes or channels in the surface of the flu virus where acids are exchanged. This ultimately may uncover how the virus distributes its genes into host cells and shed light on the flu's reproductive habits.
This part of the virus' skin already is known to be a target for drugs used to combat the flu.
"If you can block that function or inhibit that function, you can disrupt the life cycle of the virus and prevent its symptoms," Cross said.
While his job is guiding the project, doctoral students provide "the hands and the brains" to do the flu investigative work, said Cross, adding, "It's all about helping these students to become imaginative, creative and thoughtful scientists."
"It's quite cutting edge. Definitely, it's really exciting, plus there's the added effect that what we're doing has application to everyday life," said Ph.D. student Mukesh Sharma, who often works 10 hours a day on the project.
Other collaborators on the flu research include: Huan-Xiang Zhou, an FSU physicist, Riqiang Fu, an FSU staff scientist and David Busath, a biophysicist at Brigham Young University.
The $2 million, five-year National Institutes of Health grant for the research is listed in the bio-defense category because of the deadly and ever-shifting capabilities of the flu virus.
"I would hope that we would be in a position within the next five years of handing information over to the pharmaceutical industry" to develop better flu drugs, Cross said.
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