Designer molecule causes AIDS virus to destroy itself

Researchers have designed a synthetic molecule that tricks the AIDS virus into destroying itself. The compound, called DAVEI, was developed by researchers at Philadelphia’s Drexel University and causes the deadly pathogen to eject its contents before it can infect human cells. The AIDS virus uses protein spikes on its surface to fuse to healthy cells. Once attached, the microbe inserts its genetic material, turning the cells into little factories that crank out thousands of copies of HIV. But DAVEI hijacks the virus, mimicking its interaction with immune system cells. DAVEI binds to the pathogen’s outer coat, triggering a firing mechanism that breaches the wall of the AIDS virus, according to Irwin Chaiken, a researcher in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Drexel’s College of Medicine. Explaining how DAVEI works, Chaiken said, “so that the contents that are inside the virus that are small enough to go through the pores...