Scientists simulate common cold virus in 3D for better drugs
Tuesday July 17, 2012 11:56:26 AM,
IANS
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Sydney: Researchers
are simulating the motion of the complete human rhinovirus causing
the common cold, in 3D, with the help of a supercomputer, paving
the way for new drugs.
Rhinovirus infection is linked to about 70 percent of cases of
aggravation of asthma, with more than 50 percent of these patients
requiring hospitalisation. Furthermore, over 35 percent of
patients with acute chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
are hospitalised each year due to respiratory viruses including
rhinovirus.
A new antiviral drug to treat rhinovirus infections is being
developed by Melbourne company Biota Holdings Ltd, targeted for
those with these existing conditions where the common cold is a
serious threat to their health and could prove fatal.
"Our recently published work with Biota shows that the drug binds
to the shell that surrounds the virus, called the capsid. But that
work doesn't explain in precise detail how the drug and other
similar acting compounds work," said Michael Parker, professor at
the St Vincent's Institute of Medical Research (SVI) and the
University of Melbourne.
Parker and his team are working on the newly installed IBM Blue
Gene/Q at the University of Melbourne with computational
biologists from IBM and the Victorian Life Sciences Computation
Initiative (VLSCI), according to a Melbourne statement.
"Supercomputer technology enables us to delve deeper in the
mechanisms at play inside a human cell, particularly how drugs
work at a molecular level. This work offers exciting opportunities
for speeding up the discovery and development of new antiviral
treatments and hopefully save many lives around the world," added
Parker.
In production from July 1, 2012, the IBM Blue Gene/Q is the most
powerful supercomputer dedicated to life sciences research in the
Southern Hemisphere and currently ranked the fastest in Australia.
"The IBM Blue Gene/Q will provide us with extraordinary 3D
computer simulations of the whole virus in a time frame not even
dreamt of before," Parker said.
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