Fighting Viruses with Chemistry!

A new field of chemistry has arrived to the medical scene - bioorthogonal chemistry - in which the medicines are made inside of a patient.  Carolyn Bertozzi, founded this field of chemistry around ten years ago at the 243rd National Meeting and Exposition of the American Chemical Society.  Bertozzi explains that the advantage of this new field of chemistry is that it allows medicines to be produced inside the patient, allowing proper dosage of drugs.  She gives the example in which bioorthogonal chemistry would solve the problem of various drugs that do not reach targeted tissues in high enough concentrations.  Not only would bioorthogonal chemistry help solve dosage problems, but it would also help fight viruses as well.  Bertozzi states that this new field allows us to create proteins, fats, and sugars without harming the actual cells.  Since viruses invade cells through glycans, one could prevent the infection of viruses using bioorthogonal chemistry

Here is a picture of Bertozzi explaining bioorthogonal chemistry:



I think that this new development is amazing.  First of all, just thinking of the medicine forming in your body just sounds so futuristic.  Secondly, this development will help solve problems that one would not be able to fix today such as the drug dosage issue Bertozzi raised and preventing the invasion of viruses.