Friday, August 12, 2022
News on Pathogens and Preparedness
Global Biodefense
  • Featured
  • COVID-19
  • Funding
  • Directory
  • Jobs
  • Events
  • Subscribe
No Result
View All Result
  • Featured
  • COVID-19
  • Funding
  • Directory
  • Jobs
  • Events
  • Subscribe
No Result
View All Result
Global Biodefense
No Result
View All Result
Home Biosecurity

Scripps Performs Crucial Research on Ebola Treatments

by Global Biodefense Staff
August 5, 2014
Scripps Research Institute on Ebola

Laboratories at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) are investigating antibodies to fight Ebola virus, including the three antibodies recently used to treat two American health care workers infected with the Ebola virus.

The condition of the American patients has reportedly improved since they received a highly experimental antibody cocktail called ZMapp, supplied by San Diego-based Mapp Biopharmaceutical.

The TSRI laboratories of Professor Erica Ollmann Saphire and Assistant Professor Andrew Ward are studying the structures of these antibodies using techniques called electron microscopy, which creates high-resolution images by hitting samples with electrons, and X-ray crystallography, which determines the atomic structure of crystalline arrays of proteins. Through these images, the team will discover exactly how the immune system molecules bind to the Ebola virus and stop it from functioning, a critical step in drug development.

Ebola virus causes an extremely virulent disease that currently leads to death in up to 90 percent of cases. The fast-moving virus is spread via the blood or other bodily fluids of an infected person,

“What we’re showing are sites of vulnerability on the surface of the virus,” said C. Daniel Murin, a graduate student in the Saphire and Ward labs. “These are the chinks in the armor of the virus and the places where you would want your anti-serum to target.”

The ZMapp treatment is still in experimental stages and has not yet been approved for use outside the two recent cases. According to Saphire, ZMapp is one of the best antibody cocktails currently known, but there may still be ways to improve it. She is currently leading a $28 million National Institutes of Health-funded consortium to test antibody cocktails from laboratories around the world, with the goal of finding the best for neutralizing Ebola virus and the many other viruses like it.

An ideal antibody cocktail would ease symptoms and improve the prognosis of infected individuals—it could even work as a preventative measure, protecting health care workers before they enter an infected area.

The work on the Ebola virus is part of a larger Vaccine and Global Health Initiative at TSRI (.pdf), which includes research on HIV/AIDS, influenza and tuberculosis.

Source: The Scripps Research Institute, adapted. Image: Scripps Research Institute Professor Erica Ollmann Saphire (right) heads a consortium to find the best antibody cocktail to treat deadly Ebola virus infections; Dafna Abelson (left), a research assistant in the Saphire lab at TSRI. Credit: TSRI

Editor’s Note: Please find below links to select publications by Dr. Erica Ollmann Saphire and colleagues:

  • Crystal structure of Marburg virus VP24
  • Ebolavirus VP35 coats the backbone of double-stranded RNA for interferon antagonism
  • Lassa fever in post-conflict Sierra Leone
  • Ebolavirus VP35 uses a bimodal strategy to bind dsRNA for innate immune suppression
  • Neutralizing Ebolavirus: structural insights into the envelope glycoprotein and antibodies targeted against it
  • Structural rearrangement of Ebola virus VP40 begets multiple functions in the virus life cycle
Tags: AntiviralsBioterrorismEbolaEmerging ThreatsLassa Fever

Related Posts

Influenza Transmission Spikes During Social Gatherings
Medical Countermeasures

New Universal Flu Vaccine Offers Broad Protection Against Influenza A Virus Infections

July 17, 2022
Adverse Events After Simultaneous COVID-19 mRNA Booster, Flu Vaccination
Medical Countermeasures

Adverse Events After Simultaneous COVID-19 mRNA Booster, Flu Vaccination

July 16, 2022
Tagged livestock in a row
Biosecurity

Consider Farmers at Individual Level When Controlling Livestock Disease Outbreaks

July 15, 2022
US Starts Clinical Trial for mRNA Nipah Virus Vaccine
Medical Countermeasures

US Starts Clinical Trial for mRNA Nipah Virus Vaccine

July 11, 2022
Load More

Latest News

Bacteria That Causes Melioidosis Confirmed in Environmental Samples in Mississippi Gulf Coast

Bacteria That Causes Melioidosis Confirmed in Environmental Samples in Mississippi Gulf Coast

July 27, 2022
Monkeypox Transmission: Virus Detected in Saliva, Bodily Fluids

Monkeypox Transmission: Virus Detected in Saliva, Bodily Fluids

July 17, 2022
Influenza Transmission Spikes During Social Gatherings

New Universal Flu Vaccine Offers Broad Protection Against Influenza A Virus Infections

July 17, 2022
Long COVID: National Academies’ Panel Examines Long-Term Health Effects of COVID-19

Long COVID: National Academies’ Panel Examines Long-Term Health Effects of COVID-19

July 17, 2022

Subscribe

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
  • Subscribe

© 2022 Stemar Media Group LLC

No Result
View All Result
  • Featured
  • COVID-19
  • Funding
  • Directory
  • Jobs
  • Events
  • Subscribe

© 2022 Stemar Media Group LLC

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are okay with it.OkPrivacy policy