mmWave technology joins the
fight against viral outbreaks
Expanding the capabilities of MMW technology is helping to provide
insight into the mechanics of viral transfer, offering potential treatments
for COVID-19 and similar viruses, as New Electronics discovers
T he next breakthrough in the
fight against deadly viral
outbreaks may be just a higher
frequency away. While millimeter
wave (MMW) devices are more
commonly associated with military
applications, remote sensing, security
screening and next generation
telecommunications, there is an even
more pressing need for this technology
- breaking down barriers in research
in order to gain new insight into the
mechanics of viral transfer.
Curt Dunnam, Director of
Operations for the ACERT National
Biomedical Center at Cornell
University, works with a research team
looking to perfect biomedical research
devices that operate at the higher end
of the MMW spectrum.
Initially limited by the physics of
waveguide technology, the research
team has used advanced componentry
and quasi-optical techniques that can
now enlist mmWave technology in the
search for viral treatments.
ACERT’s investigation into
constituents of the coronavirus is part
of a collaboration with other university
teams that has been deemed critical
to the coronavirus research effort. So
much so that even though the main
Cornell campus - located in Ithaca,
New York - was forced to completely
shut down nonessential services
for a number of months, the ACERT
centre remained operational so that
the team could advance their research
throughout the current pandemic.
“Our research is significantly
involved in SARS-CoV-2 spike-protein
studies,” said Dunnam. “A new
on April 6, 2020 by collaborating
researchers Susan Daniel,
Associate Professor of Chemical and
Biomolecular Engineering, and Gary
Whittaker, Professor of Virology at the
College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell
University – described biologists’
dependence on leading edge
technology.
“The spike protein, specifically the
fusion peptide, allows these viruses
to infect cells by transferring their
genome,” explained Daniel. “Blocking
the fusion step is significant because
the fusion machinery doesn’t evolve
and change as fast as other parts of
the protein do. So, if you can develop
antiviral strategies to reduce that
efficiency, you could have potentially
very broadly-acting treatments.”
Daniel points out that the virus’
activities can be difficult to parse
through traditional approaches
because the fusion process is
dynamic and flexible, and the spike
protein changes its shape drastically
during fusion. Therefore, they needed
a means to study this microscopic
process in vitro.
“We have unique facilities for
doing such confirmation dynamics of
proteins,” explained Dunnam. “We
send out very short, well defined
pulses, but at mmWave wavelengths.
The induced electron spin resonance
signals exhibit an intrinsically high
SNR and bandwidth, resulting
in several orders of magnitude
improvement in speed and resolution
over NMR methods.”
Virginia Diodes (VDI) built the
world’s highest power solid-state
coherent 240GHz source that puts
out 500 milliwatts (a record at this
frequency) for Cornell’s ACERT
centre. Based in Virginia, VDI is a
manufacturer of state-of-the-art test
generation of high-field, highfrequency
electron spin resonance
spectrometers hold the future promise
of more closely analysing fusion
peptide structure and function in the
current coronavirus as well as other
similar viral proteins.”
Biochemistry meets
electro-magnetic physics
This wouldn’t be the first time that EMdriven
magnetic resonance has come
to the rescue of biomedical science.
Thanks to nuclear spin resonance
technology, NMR and MRI devices
have long been the gold standard for
determining molecular structure and
diagnosing soft tissue abnormalities
such as tumours.
Similar, but more advanced,
microwave base electron-spinresonance
(ESR) technology
now promises to enable medical
researches to identify a chink in the
coronavirus armour.
A contemporary research paper,
Coronavirus Membrane Fusion
Mechanism Offers a Potential Target
for Antiviral Development – published
Below: The Cornell
Science Laboratory
16 9 February 2021 www.newelectronics.co.uk
/www.newelectronics.co.uk