Getting to the ‘Point’: Powerful Computing Helps Identify Potential New Treatments for Coronaviruses

A team of researchers have been searching for locations on coronavirus spikes where antibodies have a better chance to attach and stop infections of human cells. “We tested and compared seven known antibodies, and some of them work well in grabbing onto the exposed part of the spike protein,” says Atanu Acharya, assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry and member of the BioInspired Institute. “Different antibodies target different spots on the spike protein.” As a co-first author, Acharya recently published a study in Communications Biology with lead author James C. Gumbart, associate professor in the School of Physics at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Acharya performed this research while a postdoctoral fellow at Georgia Tech and is continuing his studies of coronavirus antibodies at his Syracuse University lab. Read more.