Physics of viruses
Physical properties of viruses
Martin Castelnovo,Cendrine Moskalenko, Fabien Montel
In this area of research, we focus on quantifying the physical properties of viruses, particularly the stability and robustness of their capsids. Understanding these properties is crucial because it provides insight into the environmental conditions that influence the disassembly and assembly of viral proteins into capsids, as well as the mechanical stability of these molecular structures. Our approach combines experimental and theoretical methods. In the lab, we run experiments on Adeno Associated Virus (AAV), as well as on Hepatitis B Virus (HBV), as our model capsid structure. For these viruses, we evidenced recently the ability of AFM to quantify stiffness inhomogeneities at the surface of viral capsids. from the modeling point of view, we also demonstrated recently the relevance of topological defects at the surface of viral capsids in order to relax the inherent mechanical stress dictated by the curved geometry of the viral shell Multiscale modeling of viral infection, from molecular to cellular levels complete our experimental approach