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jan 24, 2019
'If we could prevent influenza virus crossing from wild birds into chickens, we would stop the next pandemic at source'
An attempt to create gene-edited chickens that are totally resistant to flu has been launched by scientists in a bid to avert the next global pandemic.
Knocking out genes that are vital for the virus as it infects a host could produce birds that act as an effective barrier between dangerous new strains developing in the wild and humans.
A massive outbreak of flu, which can be transmitted from other animals including birds is considered by experts one of the biggest dangers facing humanity.
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The first transgenic chicks that could stop a new form of bird flu before it reaches humans will be hatched later this year at the University of Edinburgh.
“If we could prevent influenza virus crossing from wild birds into chickens, we would stop the next pandemic at source,” said the project's leader Professor Wendy Barclay, a virologist at Imperial College London.
The project is based on previous work that found a gene present in chickens codes for a protein that flu viruses require to infect a host.
Tests conducted in the laboratory found cells without this gene could not be penetrated by the viruses.
'If we could prevent influenza virus crossing from wild birds into chickens, we would stop the next pandemic at source'
An attempt to create gene-edited chickens that are totally resistant to flu has been launched by scientists in a bid to avert the next global pandemic.
Knocking out genes that are vital for the virus as it infects a host could produce birds that act as an effective barrier between dangerous new strains developing in the wild and humans.
A massive outbreak of flu, which can be transmitted from other animals including birds is considered by experts one of the biggest dangers facing humanity.
(...............)
The first transgenic chicks that could stop a new form of bird flu before it reaches humans will be hatched later this year at the University of Edinburgh.
“If we could prevent influenza virus crossing from wild birds into chickens, we would stop the next pandemic at source,” said the project's leader Professor Wendy Barclay, a virologist at Imperial College London.
The project is based on previous work that found a gene present in chickens codes for a protein that flu viruses require to infect a host.
Tests conducted in the laboratory found cells without this gene could not be penetrated by the viruses.