Right now the race is on to find a cure or a vaccine for the coronavirus which is currently ravaging the world. However, it seems that help has come in the form of a discovery made by a 14-year old girl from Frisco, Texas by the name of Anika Chebrolu, whose discovery has won her the 2020 3M Young Scientist Challenge and netting her $25,000 in prize money.Chebrolu’s discovery is not the actual cure per se, but the discovery could help scientists better understand the nature of the virus, which could in turn help in the development of a cure or vaccine. Her invention uses what is known as in-silico methodology which led to the discovery of a lead molecule that can bind to the spike protein of the COVID-19 virus.
According to Chebrolu, her initial project was targeting the influenza virus in which there is still no cure today, only treatments and annual vaccinations. However, Chebrolu claims that due to the ongoing pandemic and seeing how many people it has affected, with the help of her mentor, she shifted her project’s direction towards the COVID-19 virus instead.
Her goal is to now hopefully work alongside scientists and researchers where hopefully her discovery could aid in the development of a potential cure. “My effort to find a lead compound to bind to the spike protein of the SARS-CoV-2 virus this summer may appear to be a drop in the ocean, but still adds to all these efforts. How I develop this molecule further with the help of virologists and drug development specialists will determine the success of these efforts.”
Filed in . Read more about Coronavirus, Covid-19, Health, Science and Social Hit. Source: edition.cnn