UAF scientist hopes to unravel secrets of rabies virus

A scientist and professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks is studying how rabies can alter the brain and affect its host’s behavior to increase the spread of the disease. Karsten Hueffer, lead author of the study and a professor of veterinary microbiology at UAF, said he hopes the research will help scientists understand the disease and improve treatment. The study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, discusses how the virus can bind to and inhibit certain receptors in the brain, which in turn affects the host’s behavior. Hueffer said he came up with the idea over dinner with a colleague. “I got started on this after chatting with a neurobiologist that works on these receptors, Marvin Schulte, who at the time was working at UAF,” Hueffer said. “During dinner we were wondering if binding of the virus to the receptor could change function of the receptor and alter behavior.” As it turns out, it...