Researchers at UC-San Francisco may have found a way to prevent new cases of Covid-19, and mitigate existing ones. They have been working on how to keep SARS-COV-2 from invading human cells. Normally the virus attaches to the spikes on the cells’ surface of the Ace2 proteins. According to a paper posted this week on pre-print server BioRxiv, but not yet peer-reviewed, U-C-S-F researchers have synthesized a nanobody (which is derived from, and a lot smaller than, an antibody) that appears to bind to the coronavirus spike proteins, locking them down in an inactive position.
Reportedly, the synthetic nanobody, dubbed Aeronab 6, is so stable that it can be converted to a dry powder and aerosolized (as a nasal spray or inhaler), a formulation that the scientists are calling “AeroNabs.”
