Studying Viruses in Their Natural Habitat

Dec-31-12 A new technique that allows scientists to study viruses in their natural habitat could lead to better ways of fighting viral infections.

The research team, from the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute, developed the technique by pressing together two silicon-nitride microchips with windows etched into their centers. The interior surface of the windows was coated with antibodies and the space between them—a gap measuring 150 nanometers—was then filled with a liquid similar to that in which the rotavirus lives. When a rotavirus was injected into the liquid, the antibodies attached to it and held the virus in place between the windows, allowing a transmission electron microscope to image the virus alive and in its natural medium.

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[GIZMAG.COM]
[VIRGINIA TECH CARILION]

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