Researchers at the University of Virginia School of Medicine have discovered that the deadly ebola virus uses a "molecular fist" to punch its way out of vesicles - the secure pockets that cells keep captured viruses and other unwanted agents in until they can be disposed of. Once it has punched its way out of the vesicle, the virus escapes into the fluid environment inside the cell - the cytoplasm - where it wreaks havoc by converting the cell machinery into a virus-replication factory.