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CORVALLIS, Ore. - As deaths from the latest Ebola outbreak mount, health care providers continue to search for effective treatments. One promising approach has been developed by a Corvallis company, Sarepta Therapeutics (formerly AVI Biopharma).

Patrick Iversen, now a professor at Oregon State University, led the development of a drug that targets the genetic machinery of the Ebola virus. At the Dec. 8 Corvallis Science Pub, he will review what scientists know about Ebola and how the new drug works. He'll also discuss how the basis for Sarepta's approach could signal a new way to treat infectious diseases. 

The Science Pub presentation is free and open to the public. It begins at 6 p.m. at the Old World Deli, 341 S.W. 2nd St. in Corvallis.

Iversen received his Ph.D. in pharmacology at the University of Utah in 1984. He was a professor in the University of Nebraska College of Medicine and on the staff of the university's medical center before moving to Corvallis to join AVI Biopharma Inc. in 1997. He is named as an inventor on 200 medical patents and is now a research professor (Environmental and Molecular Toxicology, Biochemistry and Biophysics) at Oregon State.

Sponsors of Science Pub include Terra magazine at OSU, the Downtown Corvallis Association and the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry.