Question: would it be possible to create a virus that ay tame or destroy fatal illnesses?

A longer answer – Firstly scientists need to work out what is causing the illness or disease so they know how to treat it. Diseases can be genetic such as cystic fibrosis or haemophilia, both of these can be fatal. These diseases occur because of a genetic mutation – a mistake in the information that makes a protein. This can stop the body from function properly; e.g. in cystic fibrosis the lungs become clogged with a sticky mucus that the body would normally clear away , in haemophilia the body is missing a protein which helps blood to clot properly . The obvious way to treat these fatal diseases is to replace the ‘broken’ genes – this is known as gene therapy.
The next question is how do scientists get normal (working) copies of the genes into the cells of the body? This is where viruses can help. Viruses are like natural delivery men, they are very good at getting into (infecting) cells. Different viruses infect different cells in the body; some go straight to the liver and infect it while others might go to the lungs. Scientists take out the genes which make the virus dangerous and put in the one that is required in the body. The virus will then go in to the cell and pass on a working copy of the broken gene.
In the case of cystic fibrosis the virus will go to the lung and replace the broken gene. The lungs will then be able to clear the sticky mucus. If we consider haemophilia the virus would need to go to the liver and pass on the instructions to make the missing blood clotting factor. Scientists are trying to make both of these gene therapies and although some clinical trials have already happened in patients there is still more work to be done.
Other diseases are not because of a change in one gene but because a normal reaction in the body is happening when it isn’t required. This happens when blood vessels thicken which is what I work on. The vessels change because they have been damaged – a normal reaction in the body. However, if this continues for longer than required it leaves less space for the blood to flow in and can be dangerous. Although this doesn’t happen because of one single broken gene, like in cystic fibrosis, we can still treat it by using gene therapy. We just have to find a gene that will stop the reactions in the blood vessel wall which cause it to thicken. We know a few genes that might work. So then we use the virus as the delivery men to get the genes in to the blood vessel wall. This is harder than in the liver as we don’t currently know which viruses are naturally attracted to blood vessels.
My work is trying to find a virus that will do this job. I look at new viruses and discover which cell types in the body they are good at infecting. I also change the structure of known viruses to try and change which cells they infect. This means I change the DNA sequence and add bits which I think will make it infect blood vessels.
I think using viruses to treat diseases is cool because it takes advantage of their natural job. Viruses are naturally good at getting in to cells 

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