• Scientists from The Scripps Research Institute and the Army’s Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases have isolated and analyzed an antibody that neutralizes Sudan virus, a major species of ebolavirus and one of the most dangerous human pathogens. The findings of the study, which was led by Scripps Research associate professor Erica Ollmann Saphire and Army virologist John M. Dye, were reported Nov. 20 in Nature Structural & Molecular Biology. They show the antibody attaches to Sudan virus in a way that links two segments of its coat protein, reducing their freedom of movement and severely hindering the virus’s ability to infect cells. The new study suggests this may be the best way for vaccines and antibody-based therapies to stop ebolaviruses. • Researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have developed a way to use patients’ own cells to potentially cure sickle-cell disease and many other disorders caused by mutations in a gene that helps produce blood hemoglobin. The technique uses cells from a patient’s skin to generate induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), which are capable of developing into various types of mature tissues -— including blood. The scientists say their method, which repairs the beta-globin gene, avoids gene therapy techniques that can introduce potentially harmful genes into cells. The new technique, which will soon be tested as a therapy in animals, also appears to be much more efficient than other methods tested to date, the researchers say. • New research by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute has underlined the power of an endogenous anti-stress peptide in the brain to prevent and even reverse some of the cellular effects of acute alcohol and alcohol dependence in animal models. The work could lead to the development of novel drugs to treat alcoholism. The new study, led by Scripps Research associate professor Marisa Roberto and published in Biological Psychiatry, illuminates the cellular mechanisms that govern the transition from alcohol use to alcohol dependence. Specifically, the study examined the interaction between two competing agents — one a stress peptide that promotes excessive alcohol drinking, the other an anti-stress peptide that opposes it. The results confirm that drugs derived from the anti-stress peptide nociceptin could play an important role in treating a complex and multi-faceted disease. Scientists are seeking to attack the disease from a variety of angles, and are investigating the many different areas of the brain that appear to play a role in the use and abuse of alcohol.