Virus traps: Weapons of mass deception
- 20 October 2007 by Janet Ginsburg
- Magazine issue 2626
IMAGINE walking through an unfamiliar city on the lookout for a place to eat. You come across a beguiling venue with a menu by the door, rave reviews posted in the windows and a friendly waiter eager to show you to a table. You walk in and - Slam! - the door shuts behind you and heavy bolts slide into place. You find yourself in a bare room with no way out.
You would be hugely unlucky if it actually happened to you, but for the bugs that invade your body this may become a familiar experience. Two teams of biologists - one at the University of Massachusetts and the other at Yale University - are independently hunting for ways to spring this trap on viruses such as HIV. Using a little molecular chicanery, they believe they can lure viruses into decoy "restaurants" and entrap them for good.
The strategy ...
