Genetic switch to guard against escaped ‘superviruses’

Flu scientists disagree over experiments to make the H7N9 bird influenza virus even more dangerous.

Some argue that “gain of function” experiments to make the virus more infectious, more deadly and drug resistant in ferrets – the best available test animal for human flu – offer up vital information that could help us defend against a pandemic.

Other scientists are concerned that deliberately creating a supervirus could provide a weapon to bioterrorists.

Now, a team led by Benjamin tenOever, at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, has devised a genetic failsafe that would switch off mutant strains if they escaped from the lab and infected humans.

Read the full, original story here: Genetic switch to guard against escaped ‘superviruses’

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