According to a press release, scientists at Case Western Reserve University, Duke University, and Rutgers University who study the coronavirus genome have identified compounds that may prevent its ability to replicate.

The researchers — whose results were published in the journal Science Advances on Friday, November 26 — pointed out that this discovery may lead to the treatment of other viruses in the future.

“We infer that the unique shape of the viral RNA genome provides an opportunity to target it with small molecules that may have the potential to slow the spread of the virus. Early results are encouraging,” Blanton S. Tolbert, Rudolph and Susan CWRU The Rense chemistry professor and one of the researchers who led the project said in a provided statement.

Amanda Hargrove, a professor of chemistry at Duke University, said in a press release that this work provides untapped therapeutic potential for the fight against COVID-19.

Gary Brewer, a molecular biologist and virologist at Rutgers University, and Meiling Li, a molecular biologist at Rutgers University, as well as other collaborators and researchers from Washington University, St. Louis University School of Medicine and University of Nebraska-Lincoln Joined Talbot and Hargrove. According to the press release, the University of Michigan and the University of Glasgow.

Hargrove said in a provided statement: “These are the first molecules with antiviral activity, specifically targeting viral RNA, so in this sense, this is a completely new mechanism.”

Talbert said in the press release that the collaboration began in an informal meeting in February 2020, with three main research groups from CWRU, Duke University, and Duke University Rutgers University.

“We have formulated the first step to suppress SARS-CoV-2 because the team anticipates that the virus may become a greater public health problem than initially thought,” he said.

According to reports, other participating CWRU researchers came from Tolbert’s laboratory: postdoctoral student Le Luo; and post-graduate graduate students Christina Haddad, Jesse Davila-Calderon and Liang Yuan-Chiu.

According to the press release, this work builds on the first research conducted by Hargrove, Tolbert, and others in 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic begins to spread. The press release states that the team is already studying potential drug candidates , To combat enterovirus 71, another RNA virus and common causes of children’s hand, foot and mouth disease.

Hargrove said in a press release that the researchers are applying for a patent for their method, and they plan to modify these compounds to make them more effective, and then conduct animal tests “to see if this might become a viable drug candidate.”