Reverse genetics used to create new vaccine

Using reverse genetics, a group of researchers at St. Jude's in Memphis has inactivated the avian flu virus and used it to successfully vaccinate ferrets. Researchers said that the vaccine also worked against two other strains, raising the prospect that the therapy could be used against mutated versions of avian flu. Reverse genetics also offers a new way to produce large amounts of vaccine in relatively short periods of time. No one knows when or if a pandemic may erupt, but avian flu has helped generate an intense burst of new research that may help revolutionize the decades-old technology that is now used in the labor-intensive vaccines business.

- here's the article from UPI on the vaccine research