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NIAID awards $420,000 to identify human susceptibility to Zika virus
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A researcher at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso has received a 2-year, $420,000 grant from the NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to determine which human genes allow the Zika virus to attack and eliminate human cells, according to a recent press release.
“Zika virus outbreaks pose a serious health challenge worldwide; however, very little is known about this virus, including how it replicates and kills host cells,” Haoquan Wu, PhD, associate professor at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso, said in the release.
Wu and colleagues will use a genomewide knockout screening tool, CRISPR-Cas9, which deactivates each gene in the human genome, to determine the genes involved by process of elimination, according to the release. They will infect cells with Zika virus after each gene is deactivated, and the cells that resist and survive infection will help identify which genes the virus uses to survive in humans.
The researchers hope to understand how the Zika virus uses certain properties of human cells to ultimately destroy them, according to Wu.
“With this information, we then could develop specific and effective treatments to stop Zika,” he said.
Disclosures: Infectious Disease News was unable to confirm any relevant financial disclosures at the time of publication.