Scientist creates beer that can be used to vaccinate against polioviruses
An American virologist who discovered four of the 13 polyomaviruses that can infect humans has invented a vaccine that can be drunk in a mug of beer.
An American virologist who discovered four of the 13 polyomaviruses that can infect humans has invented a vaccine that can be drunk in a mug of beer.
Virologist Chris Buck works at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in Maryland, but he founded the fictitious company Gusteau Research Corporation for his own experiments, Futurism reports.
To make beer, Buck created a special strain of yeast loaded with particles similar to polyomavirus. Similar particles, introduced via purified insect chitin, successfully boosted antibody levels in rhesus macaques in India.
The yeast Buck created does not contain live viruses. Researchers agree that it is not suitable for creating oral vaccines because it simply disintegrates when exposed to stomach acids.
But the virologist and his team attached virus-like particles to live yeast and found that the organisms could carry the vaccine far beyond the stomachs of live mice. This had huge implications for vaccinating against polyomaviruses, which are mainly found in the urinary tract, said Chris Buck.
«We repeated this experiment [on mice] several times. I didn’t want to believe it. When I first saw the results, it was like an earthquake,» the scientist said.
Buck drank five pints of his beer vaccine himself, along with his brother and other family members. He claims that after consuming the experimental drink, antibodies to two of the four subtypes of BK polyomavirus in his blood reached a safe medical threshold for transplant patients.
The virologist’s actions have drawn criticism from some scientists who believe they could increase distrust of vaccines. Two separate groups of experts, the Research and Ethics Committee, have spoken out against Buck’s experiments on himself with his homebrew in his official capacity as a virologist (although he has since formed his own company to avoid these accusations).
Some researchers believe Buck’s experiments with oral vaccines are urgently needed, but they fear that his flippant attitude could backfire, making some anti-vaccination advocates even more suspicious. One noted that a beer vaccine could «spoil his good idea… doubts, fears, and anti-vaccination sentiment could easily undermine what could be a good thing.»
Chris Buck disagrees that this approach could make things worse for anti-vaccine activists. He says scientists have previously thought they could restore public trust in vaccines by demonstrating increasingly stringent safety standards, but this has backfired.
«Imagine if I decided to do a safety test on bananas, put on a protective suit and handled bananas with tongs… You would think, ‘Wow, apparently bananas can be as safe as nuclear waste,’» Buck pointed out.
Previously, dev.ua told about Roman Skrupnyk, Head of Content Inweb (Netpeak Group), who at one time was engaged in an educational email course on the topic of modern beer. The specialist told us where to start researching the drink in practice, which beer brands to pay attention to, what place Ukraine occupies among other countries on the beer map, and much more.
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