A study by Kong-Thon Tsen of Arizona State University along with researchers at Johns Hopkins University shows how strong blasts of visible light from a low-power laser can kill viruses. The laser technique appears to be more successful than other methods at killing viruses, while also posing less harm to healthy tissue. In their study, the researchers blasted a virus with a quick pulse of purple laser light. The laser, which only shines for 100 femtoseconds (a femtosecond is one millionth of a billionth of a second), causes the viruss capsid (its outer shell) to vibrate and become damaged. Essentially, the virus becomes deactivated while the area around the virus remains unharmed. The treatment doesnt cause viruses to mutate either, which is a problem in other virus treatments and can lead to viral resistance. While the treatment is still in testing, it presents an array of potential applications. Serious diseases like HIV/AIDS and hepatitis could be blasted with laser light. Scientists could cleanse blood samples of viruses and other pathogens, making them safer to handle. Scientists could also combine the laser therapy with current blood dialysis treatments. In that case, blood would be cycled out of a patients body, lasers could eliminate any pathogens in the blood and the blood would be cycled back in.
Posted on: Tue, 24 Jun 2014 07:21:56 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015