Australian researchers have created the 3D model one of the viruses that causes the common cold which could lead to new treatments, according to news reports.

The new 3D model will be used to develop drugs that could kill viruses not just for the cold but also for polio and some types of viral meningitis, according to World News Australia.

They used Melbourne's synchrotron, a giant microscope, to look at the virus and a supercomputer to see how the virus moves.

"If you consider a virus as an organism, this is the first simulation of a whole organism, which is pretty exciting," Professor Michael Parker, deputy director of the St Vincent's Institute of Medical Research, The Sydney Morning Herald reports.

This is a first of its kind study that could help many people all over the world.

"No one has been able to do this before. It helps us understand how the virus works," he said to The Sydney Morning Herald.

"This could make a huge difference. For some people, it could be the difference between life and death," Parker notes to The Sydney Morning Herald.

The model, researchers say, will help them understand what causes the virus, although it is unlikely that this is the end of common cold because it is caused by so many different viruses.

"I don't believe you can get a cure for the common cold, because the common cold is caused by more than two hundred viruses. Rhinovirus itself has got 100 different types, so I think it would be a real challenge to develop a cure, or even a vaccine," said Professor Parker to World News Australia.