• Question: Harriet you look at the way viruses interact with cells , what does this help you to do ?-does it help you to determine whether viruses need cells to reprodue?

    Asked by zmzmzm to Harriet, Diva on 28 Jun 2012.
    • Photo: Harriet Groom

      Harriet Groom answered on 28 Jun 2012:

      Great question! First of all, viruses definitely need to reproduce – that’s the only thing they need to do really. When I look at how the viruses interact with cells it tells me lots of things:
      -what the virus needs to grow in the cell,
      -what bits of the virus are important for which stages of the growth
      -how the virus hides when it is in the cell
      -how the virus influences the cell so that it can grow better or hide better from the immune system

      All these things are important so that we can find new drug targets or design better ways to solve viral infections. They can also tell us about how our cells and immune systems work.
      I hope that answers your question 🙂

Comments