The University of Texas in Austin and the United States National Institute of Health they created the first 3D anatomical map at the scale of the part of coronavirus responsible for infecting human cells, a achievement that they consider fundamental for the development of a future vaccine.
In a statement, the institution considered that the ability to reproduce this Map of the spinal protein of COVID-19, such as World Health Organization (WHO) has called this virus, “is an essential step for researchers around the world to develop vaccines and antiviral medications to fight this disease“.
This work, of which the result was published last Wednesday, February 12, 2020, has been coordinated by Jason McLellan, an associate professor at the university who already had experience in the research of others. coronavirus, As the SARS-Cov and the MERS-Cov.
That paved his work and that of his colleagues, since they had already developed methods to obtain the spinal protein of the coronavirus to facilitate their ability to be analyzed and used for the development of vaccines.
“We knew exactly what mutations keep in mind because we already knew what mutations they work for a lot of others coronavirus“said this professor from the University of Texas at Austin.
bioRxiv, Feb 11, 2020
Daniel Wrapp, Cryo-EM Structure of the 2019-nCoV Spike in the Prefusion Conformation.
The University of Texas at Austin, Austin and National Institutes of Health.
(2020.02.11.944462v1.full) pic.twitter.com/BAAzlzB5bq– Gang Shu (@ seas0116) February 19, 2020
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In the process, scientists have produced a molecule which represents only a portion of the protein; even so this is enough to get a immune response in humans, which can be used in the development of the vaccine.
The next step that McLellan intends to carry out is to use this molecule to study how to isolate naturally produced antibodies by those who have suffered the new coronavirus and have successfully recovered.
In large quantities, these can help prevent a possible infection for him cornavirus to those who are exposed to him, like the medical staff that works in high areas infectivity.
China has registered 2 118 dead and 74 576 infected to date COVID-19, of which cases have been diagnosed in about thirty countries and some deaths in Taiwan, Japan, France, Philippines Y Hong Kong, besides now Iran.
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