Scientists have developed a way of generating non-infectious Nipah virus-like particles (VLPs) in the laboratory.
Institute of Advanced Virology (IAV), Thonnakkal, scientists have developed a way of generating non-infectious Nipah virus-like particles (VLPs) in the laboratory.
This new method offers an alternate, safe and effective platform for developing neutralising antibodies against Nipah virus (NiV) in a biosafety level-2 (BSL) laboratory.
IAV scientists generated “HiBiT-tagged” Nipah virus-like particles (NiV-VLPs) using plasmid-based expression systems with the NiV structural proteins G, F, and M.
With this new technique, conducting tests crucial for developing vaccines in biosafety level-2 labs will be possible.
Now, such tests are done only in biosafety level-4 labs, because of the extreme precautions required.
Virus neutralisation assays are important for the development and evaluation of vaccines and immunotherapeutics.
The zoonotic virus Nipah is a highly pathogenic paramyxovirus. It has a fatality rate of up to 80% in affected humans.
