Shining a light on viruses
19 Feb 2013
A new laboratory at Diamond Light Source will help advance research into serious viruses.
The UK’s national synchrotron facility, Diamond Light Source, has launched a new lab, Crystal, which will help scientists delve into the inner workings of pathogens and uncover the mechanisms of infection.
Diamond already has a strong track record of studying viruses at lower levels of containment.
The facility is the only one of its kind in Europe and one of only two in the world
In 2012, scientists determined the structure of the virus that causes hand-foot-and-mouth disease, which can cause severe central nervous system disease in children and poses serious public health threats across the Asia-Pacific region.
Some 1.7 million cases were reported by the Chinese Ministry of Health during 2010, and there is no vaccine or therapy available.
An Anglo-Chinese collaboration used the facilities at Diamond to solve the structure of the Human Enterovirus 71 (EV71), which is the root cause of the disease.
Using synchrotron light, the team were able to visualise the virus in different states and collect a series of structures, from which they were able to uncover a detailed picture of the virus’s actions in sequence - rather than being a rigid object, the virus appears to actually “breathe”.
Such visualisation requires specialist microscopes ten thousand times more powerful than standard laboratory microscopes.
The facility is the only one of its kind in Europe and one of only two in the world.
Dr Katherine McAuley, science leader for the facility said, “Crystal is a major advance, not just for the UK, but for Europe at large.
“Given the groundwork that has been performed at Diamond so far on viruses like the hand-foot-and-mouth, we are introducing a step change in research capabilities, so that more complex studies can be undertaken in a swift and effective way.”
