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HCV Tested in Space
Crew members of the International Space Station are performing experiments on crystallized hepatitis C virus proteins in microgravity conditions to identify new targets for treatment, according to a news release.
Akram Amin Abdellatif, a graduate student at the German university Technische Universität München (TUM), and Hanaa Gaber, a doctoral student at the TUM Institute of Virology, are winners of the International Space Station (ISS) Research Competition. Their prize will be to watch the ISS crew perform experiments aboard the space station using two viral proteins they had isolated from HCV genotype 4.
“The hepatitis C virus is a major problem in our home nation of Egypt,” Abdellatif said in the release. “We developed this project to learn more about the virus and find its weaknesses.”
Egypt has one of the highest rates of HCV infection in the world, affecting approximately 15% of those aged 15 to 59 years, according to the Egyptian Ministry of Health. HCV genotype 4 infection is prevalent in that country.
Figure 1. Akram Amin Abdellatif, Ulrike Protzer, MD, and Hanaa Gaber (from left to right) are winners of the Space Florida International Space Station (ISS) Research Competition.
Image: TUM Mitarbeiter
Abdellatif and Gaber’s project, “Egypt Against Hepatitis C Virus,” was one of eight chosen from more than 600 submissions. Theirs was the only project from outside the United States to be selected and the first experiment involving Egyptian scientists to be conducted aboard the ISS. The competition is hosted by Space Florida and NanoRacks LLC, which is supplying a limited number of special transport containers, called NanoLabs, to carry scientific research to the ISS.
Abdellatif and Gaber selected the viral proteins NS5B and NS3, both of which are considered essential to viral replication. The researchers said they wanted to send the proteins to the ISS so the protein crystals can be generated in space. Reports have indicated that crystals produced in microgravity conditions are superior to those generated on Earth.
“Identifying the precise structures could help us to find new points of attack for medications in the future,” Ulrike Protzer, MD, head of the Institute of Virology, said in the release.
The shuttle carrying the proteins to the ISS lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Fla., on Sept. 20. The samples are expected to return 4 weeks later. Meanwhile, the same proteins will be crystallized in a laboratory on Earth for comparison. Scientists will then utilize X-ray technology to decode the molecular structure of the proteins.
“We hope that the project will be successful and that the crystals produced in space will represent a giant leap forward,” Gaber said.