MST in Nature: Influenza virus binding to human receptors

The ease with which flu viruses are transmitted is determined in large part by how they bind to receptors on the surface of host cells. This is true for transmission both from avian and animal species to humans as well as from human to human. Hence there is a need to understand the species specificity of flu viruses, and this is a long term aim of flu researchers at NIMR.

MST used to study the transmissibility of influenza. Scientists at the MRC NIMR in London (Steve Gamblin, John Skehel, John McCauley, Stephen Martin and their colleagues) have used MicroScale Thermophoresis (MST) to further the understanding of how changes in a key interaction between virus and host can lead to increased transmission of pandemic flu viruses between humans. The publication in Nature can be found here.

Source: NIMR/MRC homepage