Seeing Is Believing
By The Editors
Electron microscopy of viral proteins may help researchers develop new anticancer drugs.
June 28, 2022
From The Staff Biology Technology Virology
Lindsey Costantini says that what's cool about herpesviruses is that they have such a large genome that they encode all the proteins that they need, all of which are very similar to our own proteins. Costantini is an assistant professor of biological and biomedical sciences at North Carolina State University. Costantini's research agenda includes characterizing exactly how cancer-causing herpesviruses replicate in order to identify new strategies—including developing new anti-viral drugs—to prevent new viruses from being made.
On May 31, 2022, Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society, hosted a virtual presentation by Costantini as part of its Science by the Slice series (video and curated live tweets are below). In starting off her talk, Costantini gave an overview of size and scale of viruses and their components, and how methods of electron microscopy enable she and other researchers to see individual proteins.
One key component of Costantini's talk was to make the case for addressing virus replication in addition to preventing new infections. That's because some viral infections may go dormant and later be reactivated, including the the cancer-causing herpesvirus—called Kaposi's Sarcoma Herpesvirus—that Costantini studies.
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