He figured out how the virus deactivates the innate antiviral system. The finding, published in the journal PNAS, could improve vaccines.
"It's a battle, a war. The dengue virus wants to infect the cell. The cell brings out its innate defense system, the virus, its mechanisms to disable that system. They come and go. Only one wins," says Andrea Gamarnik, a researcher at Conicet Institute in Buenos Aires. "We are facing a challenge with enormous plasticity," he adds.