There's literally endless ramifications for this work. There are diseases that you hope you're never going to get caused by miscreant proteins that we would like to cure, yes. But also viruses are fragments of protein, and we live every day under the threat of some virus pandemic breaking out and wiping us off the face of the planet. If there's a chance some of the work can tell us more about viruses and how to combat them, that would be reason enough.
It's about survival, this work could help you stay alive some day. It could help the human race stay alive.
It would be a shame if all our ET friends found when they got here for a visit was a plaque saying. "Oops sorry, AIDS virus mutated into an airborn strain and we died out, doh!"
Road Warrior