The latest research into RNA virus treatments was the topic of discussion at this month's Science Café meeting, held at Norman Public Library West last Dec. 1 and attended by approximately one dozen students from the University of Oklahoma.
In addition to providing scientific enlightenment to the public, the event also helped in furthering the training of future scientists by allowing them to present their research in public. Numerous studies were presented such as treatments for Ebola, Dengue fever, HIV, Hepatitis and MERS.
Susan Schroeder, a professor of biochemistry (and the professor of the students present that evening) and researcher on "RNA Structure" at Oklahoma University, claimed that the research has incredibly increased technologically in the past several decades, reducing the time of study and therefore the cost.
"That is what it make research exciting to study, adding recent epidemics such as Zika and Ebola encouraged companies, states, and ONGs to invest more in new treatments," as stated by Susan Schroeder.
The research focused on trying to stop the contamination of humans by insects carrying a type of virus commonly called "Arbo Virus" such as the Dengue. Courts said the research team tried to recode the genome of the Dengue virus so that the virus prefers insects over humans.
"It is a promising method to build a future vaccine. The vaccine needs to pass through several steps such as animal testing and clinical testing before it can be approved. This process could take several years," added by Susan Schroeder in an interview.
According to the "U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention," as many as 400 million people are infected yearly, with no vaccine, Dengue is a worldwide problem. The method will also able to treat others "Arbo Viruses" such as yellow fever and Zika.
The new model uses a method to humanize the mouse by crossing human's antibody with mouse's antibody, a technic simpler than the conventional method. It thereby permits to simplify the process and therefore reduce the time and cost of the creation of a new vaccine.