Scientist of US has announced that they had created the first 3D atomic-scale map part of the novel coronavirus that attaches to and infect human cells, a serious step towards developing vaccines and treatments which came as the death toll from the COVID-19 virus jumped past 2,000 almost all of them in mainland China where 74,185 cases of infection have been confirmed since it first emerged in late December.
The University of Texas at Austin’s team and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) which first studied the genetic code of the virus made publicly available, according to sources.  The imaged spike protein using cutting edge technology known as cryogenic electron microscopy, to publishing their findings in the journal Science. All the team members are sending the map of its molecular structure throughout to collaborators around the world so they can improve it by making it provoke a greater immune response. Their engineered spike protein is itself being tested as a potential vaccine by the NIH. The model can also help scientists to develop new proteins to bind different parts of the spike and prevent it from functioning, to treat those already infected. These are known as antivirals. To examine the atomic structures of biomolecules that are frozen to help preserve them and also cryogenic electron microscopy uses beam. There are three scientists who credited with developing the technology were awarded the 2017 Nobel prize in chemistry.
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