Longevity science

Help may be on the way for people with compromised immune systems, severe allergies, or who otherwise have to be wary of airborne nasties. A team of scientists have created something known as a soft x-ray electrostatic precipitator, or an SXC ESP for short. It filters all manner of bacteria, allergens, viruses, and ultrafine particles from the air – plus, it kills everything it catches.

Scientists have developed a new technology that allows them to view live viruses in their natural habitat, as opposed to isolated frozen specimens.

Researchers at the University of Florida have created nanorobots that can attack the very mechanism of viral replication.

It acts on a cellular level as a tiny particle destroys the mechanism that reproduces the proteins related to the disease 9in this case, hep C).

Scientists believe the genes of virus-resistant and long-living wild bats might hold clues to treating cancer and infectious diseases in humans.

The theory is that when bats started flying millions of years ago, something changed in their DNA that provides resistance to viruses and helps give them a relatively long life. The researchers hope a better understanding of bat evolution could lead to new treatments for disease and aging in humans.

Imperial College London scientists have developed a prototype ultra-sensitive sensor that would enable doctors to detect the early stages of diseases and viruses with the naked eye.

Although the flu virus actively keeps the immune system from detecting it for a few days, giving it time to gain a foothold, the researchers have found that a powerful synthetic protein, known as EP67, can kick start the immune system so that it reacts almost immediately to all strains of the virus.

Previously, EP67 had primarily been used to help activate the immune response by being added to a vaccine. But Joy Phillips, Ph.D from San Diego State University and her colleague Sam Sanderson Ph.D. from the University of Nebraska Medical Center, saw potential for the protein to work on its own.