somewhat off-topic - See HIV infect human cells!

[Guest guest]

I was inspired by the link sent us showing our place in the solar system to forward this wonderful link that allows you to see the first stages of HIV infection in human cells:

http://tigger.uic.edu/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/newsbureau/cgi-bin/index.cgi?from=Releases & to=Release & id=332 & start=1033412652 & end=1041188652 & topic=0 & dept=0

In stunning color images using time-lapse microscopy, researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago have for the first time captured the very earliest stages of HIV infection in living cells. The researchers filmed individual HIV particles as they traveled to the nucleus of a human cell and began taking over its genetic machinery -- the first step in the destruction of the body's immune system that leads to AIDS. The movies not only offer tantalizing glimpses of HIV in action, but provide visual proof that HIV enlists the assistance of its host to wreak havoc on the body's defenses. The virus can be seen traveling along a part of the host cell's own skeletal framework of microtubules as it makes its way from the outer membrane to the nucleus. The virus hitches a ride aboard a multi-unit protein called dynein, commonly referred to as a molecular motor.