(Science) – Now, researchers have devised a strategy to circumvent that problem. Reporting in Nature, scientists say they have equipped human cells with custom-designed receptors that the viruses can bind to and use to sneak inside a cell. The study uses “cutting-edge work at the intersection of virology, immunology, biochemistry, molecular modeling, and cell biology,” says Arturo Casadevall, a microbiologist and immunologist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health who was not involved with the work.

A byproduct of the approach, however, could be many more studies of newfound coronaviruses, and therefore a greater risk of accidentally infecting lab workers or even triggering an outbreak, critics say. (Read More)