Here are five things to know:
1. In the study, researchers used advanced computational designs to identify the factors which can be targeted to prevent viruses from spreading.
2. The team devised a website with open access for scientists to choose additional host-targets to develop the next-generation of anti-influenza drugs.
3. Researchers identified 20 previously unrecognized host proteins through the “Omics” databases. The proteins are required for IAV replication.
4. Through the databases, researchers identified one protein, UBR4, which the influenza virus uses to bud off from the host cell membrane and form spherical vesicles that transmit the virus within and between individuals.
5. “Our work illustrates how the computational analysis of large datasets from multiple independent studies can reveal novel host factors and networks involved in virus replication as potential targets for therapeutic intervention,” said Adolfo Garcia-Sastre, PhD, director of the Global Health and Emerging Pathogens Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. “‘Big data is no longer merely a catchphrase – it is a real tool to help scientists address the world’s most serious public health threats.”
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