Aplidin is extracted from Aplidium albicans, a sea squirt found off the coast of Spain.
“If you get a drug that targets a human protein, it would be incredibly hard for the virus to mutate away from being reliant on it,” said Nevan Krogan, the director of QBI.
A 3D printed model of a SARS-CoV-2 viral particle (blue) dotted with the spike protein (red) that enables the virus to infect human cells. The spike protein is the target of research efforts to prevent and treat COVID-19.
Team efforts at the School and beyond produce two potential treatments for COVID-19.