My power word choice for “Power Words in the News” for this week is virus. Viruses are big in the news right now, whether the articles are about the Ebola Virus, or the Zika virus, these subjects are a hot topic. The article I ended up choosing is titled “Researchers Use Modified Rabies Viruses to Map the Brain” by Dave Gershgorn who is the assistant tech editor at Popular Science. This article explains that through the use of an altered rabies virus researchers can map the brain, and build better models of disease. The researchers modified the virus to make it stealthier and gave it bioluminescence, so that the host can live up to a month after being infected, and its spread can easily be identified. By following the spread researchers can see the path the virus takes to infect and spread the disease throughout the brain of the host. Being able to map the disease is a valuable tool in trying combat its effects. At this point in its trials the modified rabies virus is not safe for the human brain, however, it shows great promise in personalized  and targeted therapeutics that rely on specific maps of the patient’s brain for accuracy.

        This article was well written and easy to understand. The author Gershgorn was able to include background information about the rabies virus and explain things in layman’s terms, which is important for readers who are not familiar with the subject or rabies and brain mapping. Dave Gershgorn is not the most reliable source considering his expertise is in tech news, however, he referenced information from the Journal Neuron throughout, where this research was originally published. The utilization of quotations and information directly from the author of the original research makes this source more reliable. It is not peer-reviewed, but it is composed of facts taken from a peer reviewed journal source.

 

http://www.popsci.com/researchers-have-repurposed-rabies-virus-for-medical-research