Computer Scientist Creates Kill-Switch for Biological Viruses

&#62;<i>For his PhD thesis, he proved that a working hot fusion reactor would either consume more energy than it generates or spew as much radiation as existing nuclear power plants—a finding that did not endear him to many physicists and cut off some career options.</i><p>The science field doesn't really work like this, does it? You'd think if he definitively proved a particular thing there wouldn't be any animosity about it toward HIM. I can understand being pissed your funding gets cut off and irritated a thing you've been pursuing for years turns out to be a wild goose chase. But are the punitive measures alluded to in that last paragraph normal?<p>edit: Also wouldn't a "kill switch" be counterproductive with flu and other environmentally persistant diseases? Isn't the point of vaccinations that we train our body to fight the disease? I suppose in emergency situations you'd want to kill the virus outright, but I don't think being able to kill an arbitrary viral outbreak excludes the need for vaccinations and other public health programs.

"By splicing jellyfish genes into white blood cells—nature’s front line against viral invaders—he created a biological sensor that glows in the presence of disease."<p>That is so awesome. :D

<i>For his PhD thesis, he proved that a working hot fusion reactor would either consume more energy than it generates or spew as much radiation as existing nuclear power plants—a finding that did not endear him to many physicists and cut off some career options.</i><p>This is a bit of a tangent, but I admire anyone willing to follow through on what the facts tell them rather than switch gears in order to ensure better career mobility.

The science was previously posted here - <a href="http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2847675" rel="nofollow">http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2847675</a> (extensive relevant discussion included).<p>I think the biographical info here is fascinating though!

Forget the virus kill switch, what I found fascinating from the article were his accomplishments. Usually a lot of great things come out of the intersection of deep knowledge from two different fields (say, medicine and software). If you combine EE, CS, Physics and Biology, well, it is pretty awesome.

We don't know of any viruses that are directly beneficial to the human body, as we know of beneficial bacteria; so it's an amazing idea.<p>On the other hand, Nathan Wolfe <a href="http://www.gvfi.org/wolfe/" rel="nofollow">http://www.gvfi.org/wolfe/</a> , virus expert, believes that if all viruses were wiped out, humanity would not last long at all. If this drug were excreted or discarded into water supplies, we may begin destroying our viral population, with unintended effect.<p>Still, leads one to wonder what more highly targeted applications could be created. Parasites, specific bacteria, etc. Exciting times.

Here's the paper: <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0022572" rel="nofollow">http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjourna...</a>

Something that is not explicitly stated in the article, other than "virus kills the host cells, anyway", is that the drug works by finding host cells containing viral (specific) RNA, and then killing the host cells (I assume apoptosis means rupturing lysosomes - digestive enzyme packets).<p>The article mentions the two active "tags" and what they do, but not the context and effect: kill infected cells to stop further infection.

"It appears to have few negative consequences..."<p>I invoke the law of unintended consequences. A fine example would be "so sorry it killed test subject 1337, apparently that particular genetic mutation in his DNA looked like a disease."

The ability to eradicate numerous diseases may be one of the greatest achievements of mankind. I do not think this story is one to be overlooked if his achievements are applicable to humans.

This is how almost every movie about an apocalyptic mass pandemic starts.

He sounds like a Feynman in formation.