Johns Hopkins researchers pinpoint how tiny protein could make deadly Ebola virus contagious

Two Johns Hopkins materials science graduate students and their professors played a key role in a multi-institution research project that pinpointed how a tiny protein seems to make the deadly Ebola virus particularly contagious. This finding, published recently in the Journal of Virology, could steer scientists toward a treatment targeting the protein, called a delta peptide. Such a treatment would curb Ebola’s ability to spread quickly from infected patients to family members and healthcare workers. This characteristic contributed to more than 28,000 cases and 11,000 deaths recorded in the during 2013-14 Ebola outbreak that ravaged West Africa. More recently, a smaller outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo reminded health officials that learning how to contain Ebola must remain an urgent goal. The delta peptide’s likely role in spreading the disease was uncovered by researchers from Tulane University, Louisiana State University and the Johns Hopkins University Institute for NanoBioTechnology, or INBT. The team members...