RESEARCH: COVID-19
FOLDING PROJECT #13462 PROFILE

Researchers are using computer simulations to find new drugs that can fight COVID-19. Top candidates will be made in a lab and tested. The project is open source and anyone can help fund it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnyaAmM1nhE These projects are rapid sprints of relative alchemical free energy calculations for prioritizing compound designs from chemists from the COVID Moonshot for synthesis.

Top-scoring molecules will be made and tested in a laboratory by the COVID Moonshot as it works to develop an open science patent-free inexpensive therapy for COVID-19 that shuts down the essential SARS-CoV-2 main viral protease.

The COVID Moonshot has already made and tested hundreds of compounds, and is pursuing several good lead series.

You can see their progress in real time here:
https://covid.postera.ai/covid/submissions/compounds To learn more about what the Moonshot is and how it came about, you can read our blog post or watch this video. In addition to helping us prioritize compounds, you can help us purchase more compounds for synthesis at cost from Enamine by sponsoring our GoFundMe page for patent-free open science COVID-19 drug discovery! This is a radical new approach to drug discovery that aims to rapidly produce inexpensive new therapies. SARS-CoV-2 main viral potease (Mpro) with ligand bound, from the RCSB.

COVID Moonshot

A collaborative effort to develop affordable COVID-19 therapies.

The COVID Moonshot is a global initiative focused on rapidly developing and making accessible effective treatments for COVID-19. It utilizes open science principles and aims to create inexpensive therapies through collaborative research and development.

compound

A chemical substance with a specific structure and properties.

In the context of drug discovery, a compound refers to a molecule with potential medicinal properties. Scientists synthesize or screen for compounds that can interact with specific biological targets (like viruses or proteins) to achieve therapeutic effects.

synthesis

The process of creating a chemical compound.

Synthesis is the multi-step process chemists use to create new molecules. In drug development, synthesis involves assembling complex compounds that exhibit desired biological activity.

viral protease

An enzyme produced by viruses that is essential for their replication.

Viral proteases are crucial enzymes that viruses use to cut and process their proteins, allowing them to assemble new viral particles. Inhibiting these enzymes can be a strategy to stop viral replication.

SARS-CoV-2

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2

SARS-CoV-2 is the virus responsible for causing COVID-19. It's a type of coronavirus that spreads easily through respiratory droplets and can lead to severe respiratory illness.

Mpro

Main protease

Mpro is the main protease enzyme produced by SARS-CoV-2. It plays a vital role in viral replication by cleaving viral proteins into functional units.