Caught in The Act

A striking 3-D snapshot of the AIDS virus reveals weak spots in its armor

Stories about AIDS research these days tend to fall into one of three categories: promising treatments, oversold developments or elegant science. This one has elegance written all over it and a rather striking picture to boot. A team of researchers led by scientists at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston and Columbia University in New York City reported last week that they had for the first time deciphered the three-dimensional structure of a key portion of the AIDS virus. Their results, which are likely to be the topic of much discussion at the 12th World AIDS Conference in Geneva next week,...

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