tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
Med Sci (Paris)
. 2020 Aug 5.
doi: 10.1051/medsci/2020124. Online ahead of print.
[A race against the clock: creation of SARS-Cov-2 in the laboratory, a month after its emergence!]
[Article in French]
Fr?d?ric Iseni[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Jean-Nicolas Tournier[SUP] 2 [/SUP]
Affiliations
Abstract
in En , French
SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2, which emerged in China at the end of 2019, is responsible for a global health crisis resulting in the confinement of more than 3 billion people worldwide and the sharp decline of the world economy. In this context, a race against the clock is launched in order to develop a treatment to stop the pandemic as soon as possible. A study published in Nature by the Volker Thiel team reports the development of reverse genetics for SARSCoV-2 allowing them to recreate the virus in just a few weeks. The perspectives of this work are very interesting since it will allow the genetic manipulation of the virus and thus the development of precious tools which will be useful to fight the infection. Even though this approach represents a technological leap that will improve our knowledge of the virus, it also carries the germ of possible misuse and the creation of the virus for malicious purposes. The advantages and disadvantages of recreating SARS-CoV-2 in this pandemic period are discussed in this mini-synthesis.
. 2020 Aug 5.
doi: 10.1051/medsci/2020124. Online ahead of print.
[A race against the clock: creation of SARS-Cov-2 in the laboratory, a month after its emergence!]
[Article in French]
Fr?d?ric Iseni[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Jean-Nicolas Tournier[SUP] 2 [/SUP]
Affiliations
- PMID: 32755538
- DOI: 10.1051/medsci/2020124
Abstract
in En , French
SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2, which emerged in China at the end of 2019, is responsible for a global health crisis resulting in the confinement of more than 3 billion people worldwide and the sharp decline of the world economy. In this context, a race against the clock is launched in order to develop a treatment to stop the pandemic as soon as possible. A study published in Nature by the Volker Thiel team reports the development of reverse genetics for SARSCoV-2 allowing them to recreate the virus in just a few weeks. The perspectives of this work are very interesting since it will allow the genetic manipulation of the virus and thus the development of precious tools which will be useful to fight the infection. Even though this approach represents a technological leap that will improve our knowledge of the virus, it also carries the germ of possible misuse and the creation of the virus for malicious purposes. The advantages and disadvantages of recreating SARS-CoV-2 in this pandemic period are discussed in this mini-synthesis.