Influenza virus attacks us every year and occasionally can cause pandemics with high morbidity and mortality. This virus is the object of study team led by researcher John Ortín the National Center of Biotechnology, CSIC, Madrid.

Juan Ortín explained in a conference within IDIBELL seminars on 8 November, the progress of his research on the mechanisms of gene expression and replication of the virus.

“The defining characteristic of the influenza virus is its unpredictability” Ortín says, explaining that his lab work “combines structural, biochemical and genetic studies in order to understand how the machinery of the virus works and eventually to design inhibitors that affect more rationally than current vaccines the virus”.