Coexistence between human beings and viruses
During the session on 4/6/20 we studied various types of viruses which co-exist with us in nature. They are ultra microscopic particles able to infect all forms of life. There are several structures among the various groups: DNA and RNA viruses. They all contain a structure called capsid - an envelope, envelope proteins, a special capsid for the genetic material to protect their genome. They have enzymes and proteins which participate in the process of taking over the host cell.
We have discovered that the viruses are obligatory parasites, that their survival and proliferation depends on finding a compatible living cell as a host, then they take over the host’s genome replication mechanism in order to replicate their genome, and the host ribosomes to make the proteins necessary for replication and packaging of the new virions. Some viruses have a lipid layer in addition to the envelope, much like the novel corona virus. Sometimes RNA viruses have additional enzymes which are necessary for reverse transcriptase and integrase. We also briefly touched on the novel corona virus structure. We will continue to investigate its biology, replication and possible sites to use for curing the infection. More next time!
Album: Viral Counterpoint of the Coronavirus Spike Protein
Artist: Markus J. Buehler
Musical Genre: Trance
MIT researchers use artificial intelligence to merge proteins and viruses into music
Markus J. Buehler →
Cambridge, United States
Soundcloud Bio
Markus J. Buehler is the McAfee Professor of Engineering at MIT, and a composer of experimental, classical and electronic music, with an interest in sonification. Using an approach termed "materiomusic", his artistic work explores the creation of new forms of musical expression - such as those derived from biological materials and living systems - as a means to better understand the underlying science and mathematics. One of his goals is to use musical and sound design as a novel and abstract way to model, optimize and create new forms of matter from the bottom up, and to assess cross-system design relationships. He is also interested in research to explore relationships between classical music, mathematics, and the physical and biological sciences, an in the mapping of models of consciousness across systems. In recent work he has developed a new framework to compose music based on proteins – the basic molecules of all life, as well as other physical phenomena such as fracturing, to explore similarities and differences across species, scales and between philosophical and physical models.