What is the research you are conducting?
The virus surface protein, termed spike S glycoprotein, plays an important role in mediating viral infection and is common to all HCoVs. The S proteins consist of two subunits, S1 and S2. The S1 subunit binds the cellular receptor through its receptor-binding domain (RBD) followed by conformational changes in the S2 subunit, which allow the fusion peptide to insert into the host target cell membrane. Both of these steps feature protein-protein interactions and we are developing inhibitors of these processes.