Nanoparticle Antivirals
Dramatic reenactment of that fateful beer that Dr. Stedman and Dr. Mackiewicz had
Over a beer, Dr. Stedman and PSU Chemistry professor Marilyn Mackiewicz talked about the things they both love the most - viruses and nanoparticles. Knowing that there was evidence that nanoparticles could have antiviral and antimicrobial properties, the two decided to pursue a collaboration exploring whether silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) could inactivate SSVs and potentially act as a much cheaper alternative to vaccines and even antivirals.
Images from a 2005 paper by Jacaman et al., showing the binding of AgNPs to glycoproteins on the surface of HIV-1
Plaque assays using Saccharolobus solfataricus infected with WT SSV1. The plate on the left, incubated without AgNPs, shows a significantly higher number of plaques than the plate incubated with the AgNPs (plate on the right). These were the promising results that showed AgNps could be used as an antiviral.
Previous research shows that AgNPs attach to the glycoprotein knobs on HIV, the viral structure used to infect cells, leading to a lower rate of infectivity. When a similar experiment was carried out using the SSVs that our lab works with, AgNP treatment was found to decrease infectivity of the viruses by 50% after a 24 hour incubation. Currently research is underway using different types of nanoparticles to try and repeat these results using pathogenic viruses, starting with Yellow Fever Virus. Early results have been promising!
Key Publications
There are currently no Stedman Lab publications on this, but there are some in progress! Here are some other key references:
Researchers
Here's who is currently doing research on this in our lab:
Diana Demchenko, Undergraduate