Thinking about how a bioterrorist might use the new advances in protein folding for nefarious purposes. My first thought is that they might be able to more easily construct deadly prions, which immediately brings up the question—just how infectious can prions theoretically become? If anyone happens to know the answer to that, I’d be interested to hear your thoughts
I don’t know the answer, but your question makes me think you might find it valuable to define what you mean by “infectious.” Zvi had a section in one of his recent COVID posts where he was struggling with the ambiguity over what it actually means that there might be a “more infectious COVID strain.”
With that definition in hand, it might perhaps be valuable to try a subreddit?
It would be interesting to consider the aspects of a disease mechanism that would make it more useful to a terrorist. I can think of a few characteristics. Deadliness, how easy it is to target, infectiousness, and ease of preparation all spring to mind.
Thinking about how a bioterrorist might use the new advances in protein folding for nefarious purposes. My first thought is that they might be able to more easily construct deadly prions, which immediately brings up the question—just how infectious can prions theoretically become? If anyone happens to know the answer to that, I’d be interested to hear your thoughts
Prions can only produce problem to the extend that existing proteins are suspectible to misfold into the shape of the prion.
The are also not a delivery vehicle.
Viruses and bacteria are both bigger problems because they can actually travel easier from host to host.
I don’t know the answer, but your question makes me think you might find it valuable to define what you mean by “infectious.” Zvi had a section in one of his recent COVID posts where he was struggling with the ambiguity over what it actually means that there might be a “more infectious COVID strain.”
With that definition in hand, it might perhaps be valuable to try a subreddit?
It would be interesting to consider the aspects of a disease mechanism that would make it more useful to a terrorist. I can think of a few characteristics. Deadliness, how easy it is to target, infectiousness, and ease of preparation all spring to mind.