Non pathogenic viruses

[brett]

>HELP!!
>
>        I am a high school science research student interested in working
>with viruses. My first plan was to work with the respiratory syncytial
>(spelling?) virus, but because it is a pathogen I can't. I would really
>like to be in the Medicine and Heath catagory. If any one out there has
>any ideas they would be greatly appreciated!
>                                        Thanks,
>                                            Kristi Tomlinson

Kristi,
 Hello! You might want to try bacteriophages to start with, such as lambda,
T-phages, or even Q-beta. These would be very easy to manipulate on the bench,
are relatively harmless, and their substrate (ie host cells) are much more
easy to grow than eukaryotic viruses. Check out a good text on virology
from the library (ther are several), and find what interests you on these
viruses. If you still want to work with eukaryotic viruses, you could try
emcv, a mouse picornavirus, or Sindbis, a non-human pathogenic alphavirus.
However, you will need special tissue culture facilities for growing cells.
Feel free to write back.



Brett Lindenbach
    
Program in Immunology                              
Washington University - St Louis                  
brett at borcim.wustl.edu                             

"I own my own pet virus. I get to pet and name her." - Cobain