3 ms·

There's a Lot We Don't Know About Ebola

59 points by mikecarlton 11y ago

pcunite 11y ago
I know this is probably already being work on but ... wouldn't it be nice if we could create our own robotic (programmable) cells that travel the body looking for other objects that matched their internal database of known pathogens? Upon discovery, destroy those sorry cells! My little girls play with dolls and love to care for them. They also ask me what I do. Why not merge the two interests? We need more people working on this instead of "medicine" and drugs.
- maxerickson 11y ago
  If you squint a lot, that is one approach that is being pursued. ZMapp is designed to bind to Ebola virus particles, preventing them from binding to cells. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZMapp https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZMapp
- tstactplsignore 11y ago
  That sort of system would be a pretty lofty goal, but realize that all of the challenges here are biological or biophysical. How do you recognize a pathogen? How do you target and deliver to specific tissues? How do you avoid the host immune system and degradation? Even if the nano-scale tech were there for the computational aspect, the real challenges would be the same ones scientists currently face, except on a larger scale.
- spasms 11y ago
  looking for other objects that matched How fast? Very fast! Searching is instantaneous! Incredible! internal database of known pathogens Built out of DNA, of course! Right? I agree. Playing with dolls is an important passtime. Asking questions is important too. Merge those two things! Ask dolls questions for discovery.
- teod 11y ago
  That's sort of not too far off from how the human immune system works. The internal database would be your collection of antibodies[1] which match epitopes[2] presented by MHCs[3] on cell surfaces. The presence of Pathogen Associated Molecular-Pattern[4] should trigger a response. In terms of adding to the database, I think monoclonal antibodies[5] have been used to that end. I'm not entirely up-to-date and this is very simplified, so take with a grain of salt. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antibody https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antibody [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epitope https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epitope [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_histocompatibility_complex https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_histocompatibility_compl... [4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pathogen-associated_molecular_pattern https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pathogen-associated_molecular_... [5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monoclonal_antibody#Therapeutic_treatment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monoclonal_antibody#Therapeuti...
- pvaldes 11y ago
  Is called "leucocytes", we program it with vaccines since many years ago, and they work fine in most of the cases.
ars 11y ago
Is it possible to harvest some immune cells/antibodies from blood, then inject them in the spaces they normally don't get to, to clear the virus from those areas?

59 points by mikecarlton 11y ago

I know this is probably already being work on but ... wouldn't it be nice if we could create our own robotic (programmable) cells that travel the body looking for other objects that matched their internal database of known pathogens? Upon discovery, destroy those sorry cells! My little girls play with dolls and love to care for them. They also ask me what I do. Why not merge the two interests? We need more people working on this instead of "medicine" and drugs.

maxerickson 11y ago
If you squint a lot, that is one approach that is being pursued. ZMapp is designed to bind to Ebola virus particles, preventing them from binding to cells. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZMapp https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZMapp
tstactplsignore 11y ago
That sort of system would be a pretty lofty goal, but realize that all of the challenges here are biological or biophysical. How do you recognize a pathogen? How do you target and deliver to specific tissues? How do you avoid the host immune system and degradation? Even if the nano-scale tech were there for the computational aspect, the real challenges would be the same ones scientists currently face, except on a larger scale.
spasms 11y ago
looking for other objects that matched How fast? Very fast! Searching is instantaneous! Incredible! internal database of known pathogens Built out of DNA, of course! Right? I agree. Playing with dolls is an important passtime. Asking questions is important too. Merge those two things! Ask dolls questions for discovery.
teod 11y ago
That's sort of not too far off from how the human immune system works. The internal database would be your collection of antibodies[1] which match epitopes[2] presented by MHCs[3] on cell surfaces. The presence of Pathogen Associated Molecular-Pattern[4] should trigger a response. In terms of adding to the database, I think monoclonal antibodies[5] have been used to that end. I'm not entirely up-to-date and this is very simplified, so take with a grain of salt. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antibody https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antibody [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epitope https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epitope [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_histocompatibility_complex https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_histocompatibility_compl... [4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pathogen-associated_molecular_pattern https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pathogen-associated_molecular_... [5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monoclonal_antibody#Therapeutic_treatment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monoclonal_antibody#Therapeuti...
pvaldes 11y ago
Is called "leucocytes", we program it with vaccines since many years ago, and they work fine in most of the cases.

ars 11y ago

Is it possible to harvest some immune cells/antibodies from blood, then inject them in the spaces they normally don't get to, to clear the virus from those areas?