Researchers studied where mutations were allowed in the soccer-ball-like structure made by 

the MS2 scaffold. Credit: Northwestern University

Northwestern Engineering researchers have developed a new way to manipulate a virus shell 

that self-assembles from proteins and holds promise as a carrier for disease detection, drug 

delivery, and vaccinations.

Viruses have shells  that  are built to survive in harsh conditions, protecting their cargo until 

they  find  a  cell  to  infect. The shell can  be used for good, however, because that stability 

makes it suitable for protecting more useful cargo, such as medications, that can be delivere

d to specifically-targeted cells.

The research focused on a protein used by a bacterial virus called the MS2 bacteriophage. 

This protein can self-assemble, creating a harmless scaffolding out of the viral shell, said 

Danielle Tullman-Ercek, associate professor of chemical and biological engineering at the 

McCormick School of Engineering. 

"In biology, everything has its place. Biology is great like that—except we don't know the 

rules," Tullman-Ercek said. "Our discovery was the method for determining those design 

rules."

The study, done in collaboration with chemistry professor Matthew Francis and his colleag

es  at  the  University  of California at Berkeley, took more than two years. The results were 

published on April 11 in the journal Nature Communications.