It would be nice to see some discussion re the 're-purposing', including how the 're-purposing' is being evaluated for efficacy.
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First, two examples of the work being done...
A former client - a biotech firm - is researching the use of viruses as gene delivery systems.
Their work is similar to what's detailed in this 2005 DrugResearcher.com article:
New 'hitchhiking' virus has drug delivery potential
19/09/2005-
Researchers in the US have constructed a new virus-based gene therapy delivery system that has uses in cancer treatment. The findings are said to provide a solution to the problems that have hampered gene therapy treatments.
The research opens up new opportunities for using viruses therapeutically as this method of attachment allows researchers to not only target particular cells, but also to gain entry more easily into the cells. This must be achieved in order to deliver therapeutic genes to destroy tumours.
The researchers have become the first to exploit traits of retroviruses during the infection process of a cell in which attachment to the cell can occur in a non-specific way.
They concentrated on particles derived from the retroviruses. The viral particles attach to a specific kind of T cell in the immune system and "hitchhike" to the tumour because T cells home in on tumours naturally.
By hitching a ride on the T cells, the therapeutic particles can hit their tumour target while avoiding detection (and destruction) by the immune system.
Using mice, the team from the Mayo Clinic showed that retrovirus particles could successfully attach to the surface of primary T cells and then be carried through the bodies of mice that had fully functioning immune systems, evading detection by the immune system, to reach tumours and the sites of T cell accumulation.
[...]
full -
<http://www.drugresearcher.com/news/printNewsBis.asp?id=62628>
Recently, interesting progress has been made in using viruses to construct nanoparticles:
Virus used to make nanoparticles
UK scientists from Norwich have used a plant virus to create nanotechnology building blocks.
The virus, which infects black-eyed peas, was employed as a "scaffold" on to which other chemicals were attached.
By linking iron-containing compounds to the virus's surface, the John Innes Centre team was able to create electronically active nanoparticles.
The researchers tell the journal Small that their work could be used in the future to make tiny electrical devices.
The work is yet another example of how scientists are now trying to engineer objects on the scale of atoms and molecules.
At the nanoscale, materials can be "tuned" to display unusual properties that could be exploited to build faster, lighter, stronger and more efficient devices and systems.
[...]
full -
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4782152.stm>
The implications of these and similar research programs are non-trivial and require broad discussion.
It's my experience however that LBOTalk is not really the forum for that sort of thing. We are all, as far as I know, non-specialists (at least, this is true of the most active participants) so we couldn't discuss the finer technical points beyond the level of a well informed layman. This leaves the political and social area. To be honest, I don't think there's sufficient interest in discussing the impact these powerful bio-technologies are having and will continue to have on our present circumstances and future prospects to get a robust back and forth kicked off.
Perhaps I'm wrong.
.d.
--------- Sí, los terroristas son nihilists pero sus enemigos son nihilists también.