Designing from "inside" the COVID-19 viral protein:

Journey ‘inside’ the COVID-19 viral protein to attack a weak point

Join us for a live webinar with Dr. Andrey Kovalevsky, Senior R&D Scientist at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) as he shares the latest research into COVID -- a new structure that inhibits replication of the SARS-CoV-2 virus!

Andrey will also show how VR is revolutionizing research at ORNL by allowing scientists to step inside 3D renditions of the virus, virtually construct small molecules, and collaboratively visualize their interaction in real time.

Dr. Kovalevsky shows how his team used Nanome's Med Chem Tool in their COVID research

A novel chemical structure designed in VR

Researchers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) used Virtual Reality to discover an inhibitor, HL-3-68, that demonstrates superior ability to inhibit the SARS-CoV-2 virus from replicating. 

"This novel chemical structure is different than what has been previously studied by the global community and could open new avenues of research with exciting possibilities for combating SARS-CoV-2.”  -- Daniel Kneller, PhD, ORNL

Scientists used neutrons and x-rays to map the internal structure of the coronavirus to create a high fidelity 3D model of the main protease. They then loaded the model into Nanome's virtual reality platform and virtually constructed small molecules to find candidates that could bind to a key site on the Mpro enzyme surface and inhibit replication of the virus. The results of their research, “Structural, electronic and electrostatic determinants for inhibitor binding to subsites S1 and S2 in SARS-CoV-2 main protease," were recently published in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry.