Ultrashort-Pulse Laser Shatters Viruses

[Guest guest]

This discusses destroying the virus capsid with resonance frequency

in the region of 60 to 90 GHz. Not sure how this relates to the 1-2

milliamp DC of godzilla, but it seems to be same approach to killing

pathogens with frequency/electricity. And now it is getting the

interest of scientists with labs and fancy equipment. Maybe they will

finally catch up with DIY! SammyJo

http://virology.wordpress.com/

A father and Son team have devised a revolutionary laser method that

disintegrates viruses without damaging surrounding cells.

s Hopkins University student Shaw-Wei Tsen was looking for

a new way to rid isolated blood of pathogens such as the HIV and

hepatitis C viruses. Current virucidal methods based on ultraviolet

irradiation often damage blood components.

With his father, physicist and laser expert Kong-Thon Tsen, they

developed a technique using ultrashort-pulse lasers to create a

forced resonance in the virus shell. The laser pulse mechanically

vibrates the capsid shell of a virus, which then shatters it, leaving

behind a harmless debris of just component molecules. Ultrashort-

pulse lasers (USPs) do not generate much heat, and tests have already

shown that viral capsid shells will disintegrate at energies far

lower than that which would harm adjacent cells.

They first considered using ultrasound resonance, but Kong-Thon Tsen,

a laser expert at Arizon State University realized that lasers are

better at penetrating the energy-absorbing water surrounding the

virus particles. This revolutionary new method should be effective in

destroying a wide range of viruses and bacteria.

When tested on bacteriophage viruses, the quantity of infectious

virions decreased by as mush as 1000-fold after laser treatment. They

are now testing the system on HIV and Hepatitis C virions.

The laser induces a dipole moment in the virus's capsid, which

creates a force within the virus, so that the virion becomes unstable

and breaks apart.