Therapeutic Pseudovirus Particles to Target Superspreaders

Highly infectious "superspreaders" often drive the spread of infectious agents but are difficult to identify and treat. Leor S. Weinberger of UCSD and James Lloyd- Smith of UCLA will develop and test engineered pseudoviruses called Therapeutic Infectious Particles (TIPs), which conditionally replicate along with the pathogen as it spreads through populations, but have their virulence elements replaced with therapeutic elements that slow down disease progression and curtail transmission.