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'Virus Sponge' Could Improve Flu Treatments, Diabetes Care, Vaccine Development

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the many-pegs-in-many-holes dept.

University of Maryland researchers have announced a new "virus sponge" that could aid in the treatment of, among other things, avian flu. The sponge woks similar to kidney dialysis, filtering the harmful virus from the blood. "The virus sponge is based on a technology called molecular imprinting. In molecular imprinting, researchers stamp a molecule's shape into a substance (in this case, a hydrogel--a sponge-like material). When the specific molecule filters through the hydrogel, it fits in the imprint hole and is trapped."

4 of 67 comments (clear)

  1. Eh by ShooterNeo · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I honestly have no idea how this is even a practical technique, much less a breakthrough. Rather than this dodgy "aerogel" technique, you could use the molecules that nature has used for millenia : antibodies. All you need is an antibody against an epitope of the virus (a unique molecular pattern somewhere on it's surface), and then you bind the antibodies to a medium. Or, there's a way to generate the membrane bound antibodies present in B cells, and to adhere those to a surface. In any case, such a "filter" has existed for years, though as far as I know, this technique hasn't been used to filter the blood of a living patient.

    Then again, neither have these researchers : they are just claiming it is practical.

  2. A neat idea, but... by HaloZero · · Score: 3, Interesting

    ...it's only a short-term solution. It's great if the patient is to be kept isolated, away from any other source of new infection (after the 'sponge' is removed). The sponge works to remove the active contaminant from the patient's bloodstream - it does not, however, allow the patient to build up an autoimmune response to the target contaminant. Neat idea, tho.

    --
    Informatus Technologicus
  3. Not just for viruses by brianerst · · Score: 3, Interesting
    While the article focuses on the ability of these imprinted hydrogels to filter out viruses, or ingestible versions for blocking glucose in diabetics, a whole host of other uses come to mind.

    For instance, why not use it to filter out cholesterol or arterial plaque? Go in to the clinic once a month and clean out the pipes. Or an ingestible version that binds with saturated or trans-fats? Granted, there's problems with having too much undigested crap (anal seepage, anyone?), but a lot of that is because current fat blockers use a shot-gun approach that knocks out good and bad fats. If you can just bind the trans or saturated fats and let the unsaturated ones in, that could be an amazing boost to the health of all Slashdotters - pepperoni pizza suddenly becomes a health food...

  4. not practical, publish/perish by digitalderbs · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Selectivity is most important. It's great that this gel can 'capture' virus proteins, but does it bind them more tightly than other proteins? This could be very problematic if it removes native proteins in the human serum. Many proteins look alike structurally at low resolution -- nm resolutions. If this system doesn't discriminate based on other factors like electrostatics, then this couldn't possibly be an effective filter.

    The next problem is accessibility. I'm assuming that this gel only traps proteins outside of cells. I'm not a virologist (I'm structural biologist & biophysical chemist), but it seems to me that if a virus has integrated itself into your genome or populated most of your cells, you're screwed.