Scientists photographed the exact doorway a deadly virus uses to enter our cells

Andes virus is the only hantavirus known to pass from person to person, and there is still no approved vaccine or treatment for it. Now a team at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, with the Institut Pasteur in Paris and LSU Health Shreveport, has pictured — atom by atom — how the virus's spike grips a human cell protein called PCDH1, using cryo-electron microscopy and an AI-designed scaffold to hold the fragile spike together. The images, published in Nature, reveal a deep pocket at the spike's heart: too narrow for bulky human antibodies, but a perfect target for slim, designed molecules that could block the doorway shut.

SDG 3 · Good health and well-being — Mechanism: tech innovation