Lab didn't tell police 22 vials stolen (Re: former researcher accused of smuggling Ebola into US)

[Turborama]

Source: Winnipeg Free Press

Former researcher in U.S. custody accused of cross-border smuggling

By: Jen Skerritt

No one from Winnipeg's National Microbiology Laboratory bothered to report the theft of 22 vials of biological material to police, despite an international uproar over a former researcher accused of smuggling the substances across the U.S. border.

On Wednesday, scientific director Dr. Frank Plummer confirmed RCMP alerted lab staff about the stolen materials on May 5 -- the same day a former vaccine researcher was arrested by FBI special agents after U.S. Customs discovered the vials stuffed in a glove in the trunk of his car at the Manitoba-North Dakota border crossing.

Some of the vials included genes from the deadly Ebola virus, but local scientists say the material is not infectious.

Konan Michel Yao, 42, faces U.S. criminal charges for smuggling and is currently in the custody of a U.S. marshal.

Read more: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/lab-didnt-tell-police-22-vials-stolen-45078877.html

[druidity33]

1. WTF?

At least none of it is "infectious"...

:shrug:

K&R

[northernlights]

2. the genes would need to be encapsulated

within viral proteins to enable entry into host cells. Plus critical parts of the viral genome would be needed to enable reproduction and make it disease-causing.

[Turborama]

4. Not knowing anyhting about micro biology, I have a question

Can they be used to genetically modify other types of virus?

I suppose what I'm really asking is, is there a potential threat if someone got through with such material?

They didn't even know this stuff was missing for 4 months, apparently.

[stray cat]

5. you could legally have any number of companys artificially synthesize the DNA

[mrs_p]

8. virologist in training here

Ebola is in the filovirus family, which are enveloped, negative-sense single-stranded RNA viruses. not that that clears anything up but, generally, the virus would need to be converted to positive-sense RNA by an RNA polymerase to be infectious (in this case, would have been done using molecular techniques, then grown up in eggs or cell culture, and then it MAY be infectious if the researcher had everything just right and knew what s/he was doing). definitely, this should be done in a highly secure, biosafety level 4 lab.

your first question is difficult to answer. i guess the answer from me would be it depends on the Ebola strain, what virus you want to modify, virulence factors, what techniques you use, etc. there would be many, many, many steps in between making the virus and using it to modify another virus . but why even use Ebola? it would be too much work and too much hassle. a lab can already genetically modify the viruses on which they work. if you want to make something more virulent, there are easier ways...

[northernlights]

10. putting Mrs. P into regular english,

oossibly, but it probably depends on exactly which genes were in the vials and which genes were not, and would take more effort than is probably worth if you're trying to make a bioweapon. They don't state that they had the entire ebola genome, which would include many genes. Just some genes.

All genes actually do is chemically code to manufacture proteins, or make their rna antithesis (rna is one strand of the double-stranded dna. - rna codes for + rna and vice versa. The matching + and - intertwined and bonded, along with "promoter" genes comprise the famous dna double-helix).

So - rna codes for its + strand (which now codes to make - rna strands that make up little baby virion) and for proteins. They use the host's ribosomes (machinery), amino acids and nucleotides to manufacture the proteins and virion. Some of the proteins it codes for make the cover that encapsulates the baby virion. In the case of membrane-coated viruses, other proteins that it makes float out to the host cell membrane where they replace host proteins. The baby virions recognize and bind to those proteins and exit the cell (forget the exact term for the type of exit) by wrapping themselves in that membrane.

[stray cat]

3. It should be titled bringing DNA from an Ebola virus into the US - clearly not even a virus

[frustrated_lefty]

6. Link to Yao's research

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19390586?ordinalpos=7&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DefaultReportPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

Note the publication date was April, 2009.

Just a guess, but this sounds like Yao only lost his job recently and was trying to just sneak some of the research materials with him to a new job. Whether that was done with the knowledge of his previous employer is anyone's guess. That seems unlikely. Slightly more plausible, Yao may simply be a disgruntled employee who didn't want his previous employer to receive sole-credit for the work.

Also a guess, but the protocol for transferring individual gene sequences from Ebola in the US are extremely time consuming, requiring months of paperwork. As of 2005, it also required examination of the work-site by the FBI, clearance for each and every individual who might have access to the materials, security modifications at the work site, etc. If Yao was terminated on short term notice, I can easily see attempting to sneak the materials in so the research could be continued uninterrupted, while planning to deal with the red-tape at a later time.

[Aviation Pro]

7. Ah, so....

...this would account for the second 'fluids' check on the jetways of some airports I've been too in the last two weeks.

[Barack_America]

9. Eh. Not a big deal.

The issue here is (potentially) theft from the university. There is no threat from the DNA itself.

[Javaman]

11. sometimes....

"Some of the vials included genes from the deadly Ebola virus, but local scientists say the material is not infectious."

yeah, ebola is only...contagious!!! Who the fuck wrote this goddamn article anyway??

:banghead:

[and-justice-for-all]

12. Ebola is not something to be fucking around with...nt