
How COVID-19 Shape-shifting Could Aid Vaccine and Drug Development
We at Newton Colmore Consulting like to keep up-to-date with important news in our key markets; medical devices and biotechnology.
Here is an interesting article on Fierce Biotech which shows detailed insights into how understanding coronavirus mutations and shape-shifting could aid the development of vaccines and drugs.
A team led by specialist scientists at Yale University have used new imaging techniques to determine how the coronavirus’ spike protein changes its shape in response to COVID-19 antibodies. The Yale scientists have identified two methods antibodies can use to interfere with the virus’s entry into human cells for infection.
Here is a quote from Maolin Lu, an associate research scientist at Yale.
“The spike protein constantly changes shape, [and] this shape-shifting feature not only allows the virus to enter host cells, it also helps the virus escape from being attacked or recognized by antibodies,”
The team at Yale are utilising high performance computing algorithms that run multiple simulations simultaneously, as the research team were able to identify the glycans that are responsible for activating the S protein, according to a release about their presentation at the Biophysical Society annual meeting.
It will be interesting to learn the outcome of this work, in the fight against COVID-19.
You can read more here; https://www.fiercebiotech.com/research/insights-into-how-coronavirus-changes-shape-could-aid-development-covid-19-vaccines-drugs
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