Can a computer algorithm beat viral diseases?

The Bernholz Prize will be awarded to a doctoral student from the Hebrew University for developing a computational tool that led to the discovery of a new mechanism for evading viruses from the immune system

A unique computational technique developed by a doctoral student from the Hebrew University led to the discovery of a mechanism by which viruses evade the immune system. The discovery, announced by the journal "Nature Medicine" as "one of the most important discoveries of 2007", holds important applications such as a new direction for antiviral treatment or the possibility of suppressing the immune system of patients with autoimmune diseases and transplant recipients.

Thanks to her work in this field of research, doctoral student Naama Elephant, a student of Prof. Hana Margalit from the Faculty of Medicine at the Hebrew University and a fellow of the Azrieli Program, will receive the Bernholtz Prize for creativity and originality in applied science. The award, named after Prof. Yehezkel Bernholtz from the Cancer Research Institute at the Hebrew University's School of Medicine, was awarded to her and other researchers at a ceremony held on June 4, 2008, as part of the 71st session of the Hebrew University's Board of Trustees.

Elephant's research, done in collaboration with Dr. Yael Altovia from the Faculty of Medicine at the Hebrew University, focuses on microRNA molecules, which are molecules that participate in the control of protein production, the building blocks of the human cell. According to Elephant, "Many studies deal with microRNA molecules, but it is still not entirely clear how they fulfill their role, and in which genes they inhibit protein production." To answer these questions, Elephant developed a computer algorithm, designed to predict which genes the microRNA molecules act on.

While Elephant was developing the algorithm, it was discovered that viruses also contain microRNA molecules. This discovery led Elephant to hypothesize that viruses might use these molecules against the proteins of the human immune system. "The proteins of the immune system play an important role in protecting the body from viruses," says Elephant, "and now that we know that microRNA inhibits protein production and that it is also present in viruses, it was interesting to check if it is used to inhibit the proteins, thus disrupting the human ability to inhibit the The viral attack".

Elephant ran the algorithm on the microRNA molecules of viruses, and indeed, the algorithm predicted that the production of an important protein in the immune system is inhibited by the microRNA of the virus. This prediction was tested in a series of experiments conducted by Prof. Ofer Mandelbaum from the Faculty of Medicine at the Hebrew University and his doctoral student, Noam Stern-Ginosar, and was found to be accurate. The experiments showed that indeed the virus uses microRNA to lower the activity of the immune system, thereby increasing its chance of survival. According to Elephant, "this discovery places the viral microRNA as an important player in the ongoing battle between humans and viruses."