Targeting SARS-CoV-2: A Suite of Assays to Accelerate Drug Discovery
Scientist
Date: November 5. Time: 1:00 PM EST.
To support the drug discovery community with the challenge to identify efficacious COVID-19 drugs, we have developed specific assays to block SARS-CoV-2 virus entry and replication. In this presentation we looked at biochemical protease assays we have in our COVID panel, including host proteases which enable viral entry (TMPRSS2, Furin, and Cathepsin L), as well as viral proteins involved in viral polyprotein processing (PLpro and Mpro). Next, we discussed our SPR assays for targeting viral entry by testing molecules that can block the interaction between the viral Spike protein (specially looking at the receptor binding domain in this work) and the host protein ACE2.