Dr. Anthony Harrelson is the CEO and Founder of White Oak Industries. Through his company, Dr. Harrelson works with his teams to create vaccines to fight life-threatening viruses like Ebola or HIV. Though most people are aware of viruses, and of the lethal impact of those like Ebola, many do not understand what viruses are or how they impact the human body.
If you have ever had a cold or the flu, you have had a virus. Common viruses like the flu or the common cold spread throughout the world and they seem to be unavoidable in the workplace, in school or at public outings.
A virus requires a host cell, which can be plant, animal or bacteria, to survive because it does not contain the correct chemical composition for self-sustained life. With a host cell, a virus can live and reproduce, but without a host cell, it cannot function. Viruses lie in wait to encounter a host so that they can enter a cell and replicate within the cell to infect even more host cells. This is known as the lytic cycle.
The lytic cycle begins when a virus attaches itself to a host cell. Next, the virus releases a genetic “manual” into its host cell via genetic material. This genetic material then recruits the enzymes within the host cell. The recruited enzymes build parts to make additional virus particles. After the particles are created, they assemble into new viruses. Finally, the lytic cycle ends when the new viruses exit the host cell, killing it, only to begin the cycle again when each virus finds a new host cell.
Viruses can exist for an extended period without a host cell. They can be spread through carriers like fleas or mosquitoes, they can spread by floating through the air, they can spread via direct bodily fluid transfer and they can spread by touching surfaces on which bodily fluids have dried. The last method of spread, via surfaces on which bodily fluids have dried, is an oft-underestimated form of virus transfer. For example, if a woman carrying a virus sneezes into her hands, wipes them briskly on her shirt and then opens a door, she might leave bodily fluids on the door handle. A minute later, Anthony Harrelson might walk to the door, contact her bodily fluids while opening the door, transfer them to the straw of a coffee he purchased and then place the straw in his mouth. In theory, Dr. Harrelson could have now contracted the virus from the woman.
Dr. Anthony Harrelson’s teams are making promising progress toward creating vaccines for HIV, Ebola and other dangerous viruses that can spread just as easily as in the example above.
If you have ever had a cold or the flu, you have had a virus. Common viruses like the flu or the common cold spread throughout the world and they seem to be unavoidable in the workplace, in school or at public outings.
A virus requires a host cell, which can be plant, animal or bacteria, to survive because it does not contain the correct chemical composition for self-sustained life. With a host cell, a virus can live and reproduce, but without a host cell, it cannot function. Viruses lie in wait to encounter a host so that they can enter a cell and replicate within the cell to infect even more host cells. This is known as the lytic cycle.
The lytic cycle begins when a virus attaches itself to a host cell. Next, the virus releases a genetic “manual” into its host cell via genetic material. This genetic material then recruits the enzymes within the host cell. The recruited enzymes build parts to make additional virus particles. After the particles are created, they assemble into new viruses. Finally, the lytic cycle ends when the new viruses exit the host cell, killing it, only to begin the cycle again when each virus finds a new host cell.
Viruses can exist for an extended period without a host cell. They can be spread through carriers like fleas or mosquitoes, they can spread by floating through the air, they can spread via direct bodily fluid transfer and they can spread by touching surfaces on which bodily fluids have dried. The last method of spread, via surfaces on which bodily fluids have dried, is an oft-underestimated form of virus transfer. For example, if a woman carrying a virus sneezes into her hands, wipes them briskly on her shirt and then opens a door, she might leave bodily fluids on the door handle. A minute later, Anthony Harrelson might walk to the door, contact her bodily fluids while opening the door, transfer them to the straw of a coffee he purchased and then place the straw in his mouth. In theory, Dr. Harrelson could have now contracted the virus from the woman.
Dr. Anthony Harrelson’s teams are making promising progress toward creating vaccines for HIV, Ebola and other dangerous viruses that can spread just as easily as in the example above.