Yet on a genetic level, RNA viruses share common structural elements. The RNA of their genomes has strings, folds and knot-like features that interact with the human body and with medicines in potentially predictable ways. And according to a new Yale study, understanding these structures could open the door to a new way of developing vaccines and medicines to treat any emerging pathogen—beginning with norovirus, the world’s most common stomach bug.

The new research from the Yale labs of Anna Marie Pyle and Craig Wilen has resulted in a norovirus vaccine that has proven effective in mouse models and may be adaptable for other RNA viruses. Pyle is Sterling Professor of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology and professor of chemistry in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, and Wilen is an associate professor of laboratory medicine and immunobiology at Yale School of Medicine (YSM).