News releases   CONTACT: Yoshihiro Kawaoka, (608) 265-4925,
MADISON - The deadly Ebola virus, an emerging public health
concern in Africa and a potential biological weapon, ranks among
the most feared of exotic pathogens.  Due to its virulent
nature, and because no vaccines or treatments are available,
scientists studying the agent have had to work under the most
stringent biocontainment protocols, limiting research to a few
highly specialized labs and hampering the ability of scientists
to develop countermeasures.  Now, however, a team of researchers
from the University of Wisconsin-Madison has figured out a way
to genetically disarm the virus, effectively confining it to a
set of specialized cells and making the agent safe to study
under conditions far less stringent than those currently
imposed.  "We wanted to make biologically contained Ebola
virus," explains Yoshihiro Kawaoka, a professor of
pathobiological sciences in the UW-Madison School of Veterinary
Medicine and the senior author of a paper descri