APS 2008: A viral pace
Although the conference has now passed its middle point, I've met few physicists who've shown any visible signs of exhaustion. Perhaps it's the chummy receptions each evening, or maybe everyone has just gotten used to the overwhelming flood that is 120 sessions a day. Some folks I've spoken with admit they've been spending more than a little time outdoors, enjoying sunny days that top 22 C.
Still, the conference must go on, and interesting work keeps popping up. Following a press conference this afternoon, I caught up with Bodgen Dragnea who has been studying a crystal system composed of virus capsids and gold. Dragnea, a chemist at Indiana University Bloomington, studies virus proteins that self-assemble to form capsid shells. Ordinarily these shells protect a virus' key RNA or DNA, but last year Dragnea's lab reported they had created a system of virus shells with gold nanoparticles inside. Because these 'virus-like particles' are so uniform, they also self-assemble, forming a uniform lattice.
Since his last publication, Dragnea's lab has begun using Raman scattering to measure slight changes in the distance between gold cores on the lattice. Capsid shells may swell, compress, or denature entirely depending on the chemical properties of their environment. Those changes in the virus shell would then show up in measurements of the lattice. Dragnea says he should eventually be able to identify particular conditions that make for especially stable shells. "Then the next question is if there is a place in the cell that has that same environment," he says.