WHO Geneva: awareness of a viral problem

“The next pandemic will not wait for us, whether from a flu virus like H5N1, another coronavirus, or another family of viruses we don’t yet know about,” Dr Tedros told the meeting. “But all the ingredients are in place to meet the objective of countries to negotiate a generational pandemic agreement. The world needs hope that it is still possible for countries to find common solutions to common problems. You can provide that hope.”

https://www.who.int/news/item/20-09-2024-governments-progress-on-negotiations-for-a-pandemic-agreement-to-boost-global-preparedness-for-future-emergencies

project GRFT continues our efforts to prepare for future emergencies. We hope that these efforts will help to realize our common goals of keeping our future free of pandemics. 

Mpox

 There's currently a Mpox virus outbreak.  Mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, is a virus that transmits from animals to animals and also from animals to humans (zoonotic transmission) and from humans to humans.  It has been observed in humans since 1970.

Many of the human to human transmissions come from exchange of bodily fluids through sexual contact, however there are also other pathways for infection to occur.

This virus is mutating and is often lethal so it's a real cause for concern.

A number of antivirals are being tested against Mpox

Could GRFT stop the progress of this epidemic?

We don't have an answer to that question as we haven't seen any research being done on GRFT vs Mpox yet.

If anyone has information regarding research being done using the anti-viral properties of GRFT to stop Mpox, please pass that on to us.

It seems probable that as Mpox is an enveloped virus, GRFT should be able to stop transmission into cells but we are waiting for the research to confirm this hypothesis.

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Nipah Virus: the next epidemic?

 A 14 year old boy has been reported to have died from a Nipah Virus infection.  This happened in Kerala state in India.  This location is an area of concern and there have been multiple deaths from Nipah virus since 2018.  

There is a high potential for an outbreak originating in the Kerala area to become an epidemic. 

Can GRFT (griffithsin) play a role in preventing the spread of this lethal virus?  

A 2020 paper published in The Journal of Infectous Diseases details in vitro research and from the results of this study concludes "Our findings, taken together with the favorable pharmacokinetic and safety profiles of GRFT, make Q-GRFT an excellent candidate for further preclinical evaluation against NiV infection."

sources:

 https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj50d7e9vp6o

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7199786/

Year of the elusive plasmid

 For the last year, starting in July 2023, we at CCL have been attempting to assemble and verify a plasmid to use in the transformation of rice plants.  Two scientists from Johns Hopkins University visited us last July.  They brought the insert containing the gene to express GRFT.  Having no previous experience with plasmid assembly, this task involves a learning curve for me.  There have been multiple fails which are among other things, teachers.   We try not to repeat the same mistakes and like to think we are making progress.  

The situation with CCL seems more hopeful than it was during the last post I made here.  CAST is stepping in to see if they can purchase the Omni Commons.  In that case our lab is secured from having to wander about looking for a new home.   

It's an interesting summer that hasn't left much time for posting on this blog.  We're still alive and kickin'.

  

vicissitudes of the space we inhabit

 This year is presenting project GRFT with new sets of challenges.  

Research work has been done at several locations by a small group of friends.

The project originated in Counter Culture Labs, a community biolab located in the Omni Commons Building in Oakland, CA

Counter Culture Labs is a 501 (c) 3 non-profit and project GRFT is one of CCL's several projects.

Omni Commons fell into financial instability, largely due to the pandemic. Now the historic building is facing forclosure in the near future. 

We do volunteer work on project GRFT every week.  If the building is sold, it could mean that it will be torn down and developers will build a condo like the one directly across the street. 

Our lab there would be history.  CCL would have to move out. 

Would that mean the end of project GRFT?  

It would be a serious setback.  We are, however, survivors.  We know how to improvise.  We are used to living on the edge, and with having limited resources to work with.  The road may get steeper, and this may slow us down, but it won't stop us.  We'll meet the challenges as they arise.  Project GRFT is here for the long haul and we are fortunate to have a wonderful crew of friends that we know are going to push forward with us even when it becomes more difficult.  You know who you are.  A huge thank you flies out to all of you. 

Early DuPont Gene Gun

When the method of particle bombardment was developed, the first gene guns used a powder charge to propel the DNA coated metal microparticles into the cells of organisms.  Here is a report by the head of gene gun hardware technology, Dr. Johnson on one of these early and now obsolete models of the gene gun.  It's a real piece of gene gun history.  

Gene Gun by DuPont

A.D. Johnson, 5 Mar 2024

This is a first-impression description of the gene gun that was brought to CCL March 3 2024.

It is a very early version of DuPont ‘bioloistics’ devices: it uses a .22-caliber rifle cartridge to generate pressure to accelerate microparticles. The explosion is triggered by an electrical circuit and fires into a chamber through a burst disc. The chamber is evacuated by a vacuum pump through two ports.

   

 

The gene gun consists of two steel enclosures: it is well-engineered and skillfully machined. The left chamber is a pump with (I assume) an exhaust port on the front and two tubes connecting the vacuum pump to the acceleration chamber on the right, closed by a plastic door with O-ring seals. On top of the acceleration chamber is the gun consisting of a cartridge chamber and a box containing the firing mechanism. Mounted on the side of the vacuum pump is a box with a push-button. This box is wired to the

top of the firing mechanism, so I assume it fires a solenoid that extends the firing pin so that it strikes the cartridge and triggers the release of energy.

Cartridge chamber into which is inserted a 22-caliber shell.

Burst-disc holder that is mounted on a shelf in the vacuum chamber

 

The legend says that this is a biolistic DuPont gene gun model BPG

This machine represents an important piece of history. The design was developed by geneticist Dr. John C Sanford working with Edward Wolf and Theodore Klein in 1983 and was purchased from them by DuPont. The history is documented in papers available through Google scholar. Here is a link to a memoir by Dr. Sanford.

http://www.ask-force.org/web/Bt/Sanford-Biolistic-2000.pdf 

Project GRFT is fortunate to have physicist Alfred David Johnson, PhD on board as part of our small but excellent team.  He has built 2 helium powered gene guns for project GRFT to use in the transformation of rice to express griffithsin, a method based on the research of Evangelia Vamvaka, PhD.

Dr. Johnson has solid background in particle physics.  He is the founder, director, and president of TiNi Alloy Company.  With his company he did extensive research in shape-memory alloys for practical applications.  He has several patents on his discoveries (one of which went up to the planet Mars). 

Prior to founding TiNi Alloy Company, Dr. Johnson was employed as a physicist at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory. Accomplishments include software for bubble chamber experiments of Luis Alvarez and pattern recognition and track reconstruction programs for the magnetic detectors at Stanford Linear Accelerator Center in which the charmed particles were first discovered. As a member of the SLAC-LBL collaboration he coauthored numerous papers in high-energy physics. 

Because of Dr. Johnson's diligent hard work we now have the pipeline in place to transform rice using particle bombardment.  

Deep gratitude!

Turning plants red with UBQ:RUBY at CCL

 

Here's a photo of a nicotiana rustica plant that has been transformed with agrobacterium to express the reporter UBQ:RUBY.  RUBY converts tyrosine to red betalain, easily visible without any UV light or other special equipment or procedures.  

The nicotiana rustica plant was transformed at CCL by participants in a plant molecular biology workgroup/

project GRFT is also working with UBQ:RUBY in transforming rice.  

photo by Ian C.