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Date: November18, 2011; Department: Science; Author: Petia Minkova
Bulgarian scientists in search for a universal flue cure
Scientists from the Institute of Molecular Biology perform a unique study with the Bulgarian supercomputer to find out similar sections in the genome of tens of thousands of flue strains. The discovery could aid the creation of a new type of vaccine or cure to attack precisely these sections.
"The virus is mutating as its genome is constantly mutating,” says Professor Ivan Ivanov from the Molecular Biology Institute at the BAS. “That’s why there are so many strains, mutating even within a single infected patient. Most probably, there is a ‘tolerance threshold’ for the virus and, once it is overrun, the virus ceases to exist as a strain. But there are genome sections that are vital to the virus and they
nevermutate
Theirmutationisexpectedtobelethal for the virus,” says the Professor.
SOLUTION: Besidesthebreathingmasksthereisnobetterwayto preventflue infection.
“Theideabehindallourstudiesistocomparethegenomesofallvirusesisolated in the global database in order to find out exactly these sections. Once they are defined, a targeted vaccine can be designed,” says professor Ivanov.
Presently, anti-fluvaccineshotsaimatthesuperficialmutatingviralantigens. Thus, naturally obtained antibodies are specific to only 2-3 strains and do not impact the rest. “Had we known the precise sections that do not mutate, we could have synthesized an artificial peptide to be used in creating antibodies against all flue viruses. This is our idea,” says professor Ivanov.
"Once the ion channel of a flue virus is blocked, for example, this virus might enter a cell but would not be able to release its genome.”
PERSISTENCE: Scientists study data amassed from 40 thousand flu strains.
It is the ion channel that maintains the рH in a cell so that a virus can be stripped naked,” says the Professor. he hopes that this team research can lead to
findingnewanti-fludrugs
"We hope to soon fin consensus sequences, common to all flu strains. We know where they are but it will take a lot of efforts in order to identify them. Hopefully, we’ll obtain financing under the PRACE programme, which was partially co-financed by the MEYS,” says Ivanov. He is convinced that another year of financing will help his team identify these important sections of the virus genome. “Thencomestheenormousexperimentalwork. Newstrainswillpopupbutwewillknowthatwhateverstraincomestolifeitwillcontainthesefragmentsthatwillnevermutateand
andtheycanbeattacked
withapotentialvaccine,” saysIvanov.
Teams from all over the world carry out their anti-flu projects within the WHO. Bulgarian scientists from BAS and the Technology University and the National Supercomputer Applications Center have united their efforts in carrying out this research. The Technology University designs the suitable research software and molecular biologists are responsible for the genome study. “Presently, we work with approximately 40 thousand virus genomes. This would have been impossible without the supercomputer,” says Ivanov.
We are now spending European funding on science
OverEURO 1.6 billionisalreadyspentonscienceunderthePRACE for supercomputer applications. The first stage of the programme was financed with EURO 28 billion for 21 organizations in 20 countries. BulgariawonanEURO 759 600 project. EURO375 486 wasfundedbyEuropeandtherestcamefromnationalco-financing. Forthesecondstageoftheproject, thereisEURO 35 billion and Bulgaria won EURO 866 775. EuropeanfinancingcoversupforEURO428 775 andtherestcomefromnationalco-financing, ofwhichBGN 136 thousand is funded by the Scientific Research Fund at the Ministry of Education. Theremainderover 85-87% isfundedbyuniversities, BASinstitutesandcompaniesparticipatingintheprogrammeimplementation. Scientists are convinced that if we are to implement the Italian model of higher government financing, many more successful projects could be developed.
Dr.GiovanniErbacci,
HeadoftheSupercomputerApplicationsCenter, Italy:
Wehavegovernmentfinancing
- Mr. Erbacci, the Bulgarian government finds it hard to finance research. How does the Italian government collaborate with your supercomputer center?
- Italy faces the same problem. The Italian government is in crisis but it has a special fund. The better part of the problems pertains to the European crisis. It is not easy. We have government financing allowing us to save some money for our next year investments. This is a way to secure the system and guarantee services. Besides, weareanon-profitconsortium. We provide services to universities and public activities as well as to industry which pays for such services. Theirpaymentsareourinvestmentsinservices.
- Who provides more payments, government or industry?
- It varies from year to year. Industry is not yet sufficiently aware of the importance of our real simulations and their advantages. This poses quite a problem. To our center it is important that companies know they can use our computer simulations, they can use this infrastructure to push their business forward and develop new products and research.
- Do you find your financing model beneficial for countries like Bulgaria?
- I think the supercomputer center is fundamental. The EC support is very important as well as the industry involvement in the use of supercomputers.