Scientists Map Key Protein Structure of Hepatitis C virus
Published:30 Oct.2022 Source:Scripps Research Institute
A team led by scientists at Scripps Research and the University of Amsterdam has achieved an important goal in virology: mapping, at high resolution, critical proteins that stud the surface of the Hepatitis C virus (HCV) and enable it to enter host cells.
The discovery, reported in Science on October 21, 2022, details key sites of vulnerability on the virus -- sites that can now be targeted effectively with vaccines.
"This long sought-after structural information on HCV puts a wealth of previous observations into a structural context and paves the way for rational vaccine design against this incredibly difficult target," says study co-senior author Andrew Ward, PhD, professor in the Department of Integrative Structural and Computational Biology at Scripps Research.
The study was the product of a multi-year collaboration that included the Ward laboratory, the lab of Gabriel Lander, PhD (also a professor in the Department of Integrative Structural and Computational Biology at Scripps Research); the lab of Rogier Sanders, PhD, of the University of Amsterdam; and the lab of Max Crispin, DPhil, at the University of Southampton.