In a virology lab.
(Illustration) -
Fabien Dupoux / SIPA
The Russian laboratory Vektor announced on Tuesday to launch a search for viruses dating from the Paleolithic.
The state establishment will work from animal tissues of this time that have been preserved in ice.
The laboratory wishes "to find paleoviruses which will make it possible to start the development of paleovirology in Russia and to carry out cutting-edge research in the field of the study of the evolution of viruses," said a press release.
The project is carried out in collaboration with the University of Yakutsk.
Mammoth tissue under study
This project "will allow an assessment of the diversity of microorganisms, whose DNA and RNA could be conserved in the material under study," said Vektor.
It will also make it possible to "determine the epidemiological potential of currently existing infectious agents".
The first tissues were extracted from a prehistoric horse nearly 6,500 years old, discovered in 2009 in the Siberian region of Yakutia, where remains of Paleolithic animals, including mammoths, are regularly found.
The project plans to study the tissues of mammoths, elks, dogs, partridges, various rodents, hares and other prehistoric animals.
A former center for the development of biological weapons in Soviet times, the Vektor laboratory is one of only two structures in the world to contain the smallpox virus.
It also contains, among other things, the Ebola virus.
Vektor has developed a vaccine against the coronavirus, EpiVacCorona, licensed in October in Russia.
Its mass production is due to start in February.
World
Coronavirus in the UK: When Boris Johnson can't pronounce "tocilizumab"
World
Coronavirus in South Korea: Cats and dogs can also be tested in Seoul
Prehistory
Science
Virus
Russia
Laboratory