Sconesnatcher Posted May 8, 2009 Share Posted May 8, 2009 Is the technology advanced enough to manufacture and modify viruses to perform specific tasks? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Skeptic Posted May 8, 2009 Share Posted May 8, 2009 Yes. We are already doing so, in fact. We use bacteriophages (viruses that attack bacteria) as a way to kill bacteria. However, there are concerns about dosage, potential horizontal gene transfer, and our own immune response that prevents them from being widespread yet. http://www.nature.com/nrd/journal/v2/n6/abs/nrd1111.html Actually, the above works with non-GM viruses as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cameron marical Posted May 8, 2009 Share Posted May 8, 2009 They have tried to use retroviruses for gene therapy i think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GDG Posted May 8, 2009 Share Posted May 8, 2009 Is the technology advanced enough to manufacture and modify viruses to perform specific tasks? Some viruses, yes. Baculovirus provides an expression system commonly used for protein production in insect cells by biotech companies. Bacteriophage (viruses that infect bacteria) are commonly used as cloning vectors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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