CENTER FOR MICROBIAL PATHOGENESIS
Lead researcher awarded a $4.1 million federal grant to develop an antiviral drug targeting Ebola virus
Lead researcher awarded a $419,100 federal grant to study a virus similar to Ebola virus that causes disease in animals
Our Research
- Dr. Basler, 2018
Adding a mutation to Ebola could sap its infectious power
Creating mutations in a key protein that helps Ebola escape the body’s defenses can keep the virus from making its hosts sick and activate protective immunity, researchers report.
The mutated virus even works as a vaccine to protect animals from infection with the Ebola virus, they say.
The study suggests that VP35, a protein that enables Ebola virus to block early immune responses to infection, is critical for virulence and is a potential drug target.
"The big take-home message is that we can make an Ebola virus that grows, but if we disable this function, we can now make a virus that is very highly attenuated in the animals."
- Christopher Basler, Ph.D.