Tobacco Could Hold the Key to Revolutionary Gene Therapy

[The Straight Story]

Tobacco Could Hold the Key to Revolutionary Gene Therapy
By Aaron Rowe EmailSeptember 03, 2008 | 4:43:36 PMCategories: Biotechnology, Chem Lab, Chemistry, Gene Therapy, Nanotechnology

Tobaccoscale_2 After centuries of giving humanity little more than nicotine and death, the tobacco plant may be the wellspring of a revolution in gene therapy.

Scientists are using a modified tobacco virus to deliver delicate gene therapies into the heart of diseased cells, with the potential to treat most cancers, viruses and genetic disorders.

The tobacco mosaic virus, which plagues the plant but is harmless to humans, is hollowed out and filled with "small interfering RNA" molecules, or siRNA, which some scientists consider to be the most significant development in medicine since the discovery of vaccines.

The virus' tubular shell provides a safe way to slip the delicate siRNA drugs into cells, serving as both a protective coating and a Trojan horse.

"This tobacco mosaic virus is literally a nano-sized syringe," says William Bentley, a professor of bioengineering at the University of Maryland, who is leading the study of the virus.

http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/09/tobacco-could-h.html

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. That sounds exciting!

[panader0]

2. "protective covering" "Trojan"

sounds like a condom to me.........