VIROLOGY:
New Target Against Flu Virus May Extend Vaccine Potency
Research that started out with the goal of creating an antiviral
for treating avian influenza has resulted in the discovery of a hidden vulnerability
in all influenza viruses. Wayne Marasco and Jianhua Sui discovered that a concealed
pocket in the virus contains complex, critical, and well-conserved machinery.
They also identified antibodies that interfere with this machinery. The discovery
might lead to broadly effective antivirals and possibly even a durable replacement
for seasonal vaccines. Not only might the work, described in the March Nature
Structural and Molecular Biology, lead to more effective weapons against
the virus, it also defines a reliable approach to uncovering similar vulnerabilities
in other viruses.
NEURODEGENERATION:
Cancer-linked Gene Plays Role in Neuron-wasting Disease
A gene with a penchant for breaking and reattaching in a cancer-causing
way has another disease-promoting habit. HMS researchers working with
scientists from other institutions have discovered that slight alterations
in the sequence of a gene with a cumbersome name—fused in sarcoma/translated
in liposarcoma (FUS/TLS)—can cause heritable forms of
the motor neuron–wasting disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis,
or Lou Gehrig’s disease. The findings by Thomas Kwiatkowski (pictured),
Robert Brown, and colleagues appear in the Feb. 26 Science.
PUBLISHING:
New Open-access Policy Under Discussion
A university’s most valued role is creating new knowledge for
the benefit of society. A policy under discussion to make HMS research
articles freely available online could help inform patients and their
families, encourage collaboration with other scientists, and support
the educational mission, says Alexa McCray of the Countway Library.
In the meantime, a Countway team, including Scott Lapinski, is helping
researchers make NIH-funded articles available to the public.
NUTRITION:
Cutting Calories, Not Juggling Menu, the Key to Weight Loss
You can lose weight by eating the kinds of food you like—this is
not a new diet pitch, it’s science. Popular diets often emphasize
either fat, protein or carbohydrate over the other food types.
Yet a large clinical trial led by researchers including Frank Sacks and
Katherine McManus shows it is not the type of food but the amount of
calories that matters. The researchers put more than 800 people on four
different diets with diverse rations of fat, protein and carbohydrate,
but with an equal calorie reduction from the subjects’ usual menus.
Two years later, the four plans proved equally effective. “We gave
each of the diets an equal chance to be the winner, and you might say,
they are all winners,” said
Sacks.
Copyright 2009 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College