June 06, 2013 
Comprehensive effort to map out body's response in sometimes deadly infections
RICHLAND, Wash. - Viruses such as Ebola, West Nile and Influenza all have the potential to kill people they infect, but antiviral drugs either don't exist or are losing effectiveness. A new $18 million study led by pathobiologist Yoshihiro Kawaoka at the University of Wisconsin-Madison with support from the D.O.E.'s Pacific Northwest National Lab looks for to provide a detailed molecular understanding of how humans respond to these viral pathogens. The study's goal is to design and develop new drugs to thwart infection.
The project is ambitious, seeking to build virtual models of organs the viruses attack -- the liver and the lung -- and to validate their accuracy with experiments in animals in 5 years. To acquire enough molecular data to create the models, PNNL researchers will perform high-throughput experiments that allow them to make thousands of measurements at a time. About a 3rd of the funding, or $6.6 million, will support the PNNL team's effort to gather data and model the data on computers.
Computational scientist Katrina Waters and analytical biochemist Richard D. Smith will lead the PNNL team. Research teams from Wisconsin, Washington University in Saint Louis and Rocky Mountain Labs in Hamilton, Mont., will infect mice and cell cultures and prepare the samples in Labs with the appropriate safeguards. The samples will be sent to PNNL and EMSL, the DOE's Environmental Molecular Sciences Lab on the PNNL campus.
At PNNL, researchers will explore 4 different molecular profiles of the animal tissue and cell culture samples that show:
- Which proteins are produced by genes within the cells;
- Which proteins are active based on the most common molecular accessory found on proteins, a phosphate. Traditionally, researchers have chosen many successful drug targets based on this fact;
- Which cellular processes are occurring based on metabolic products;
- The collection of fats that serve as either structural components, energy stores or as signals within cells.
All this data will paint a picture of what is going on during infection. To see that picture, the team will combine these and other accessible data in state-of-the-art computer models. By predicting how bodies behave when infected by the viruses, these computer programs will help researchers find new approaches to prevent or fight infection.
Click here to read the entire release from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Tags: Fundamental Science, Computational Science, Biology, Health Science, Proteomics
EMSL, the Environmental Molecular Sciences Lab, is a national scientific user facility sponsored by the D.O.E.'s Office of Science. Located at Pacific Northwest National Lab in Richland, Wash., EMSL offers an open, collaborative environment for scientific discovery to researchers around the world. Its integrated computational and experimental resources enable researchers to realize important scientific insights and create new technologies. Follow EMSL on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.
Interdisciplinary teams at Pacific Northwest National Lab address many of America's most pressing issues in energy, the environment and national security through advances in basic and applied science. PNNL employs 4,500 staff, has an yearly budget of nearly $1 billion, and has been managed for the D.O.E. by Ohio-based Battelle since the laboratory's inception in 1965. For more information, visit the PNNL News Center, or follow PNNL on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.
