Breakthrough in Coronavirus Research Results in New Map to Support Vaccine Design

February 19, 2020 • by Marc Airhart
Two scientists, Jason McLellan and Daniel Wrapp, in white lab coats working in the lab

Jason S. McLellan, associate professor of molecular biosciences, left, and graduate student Daniel Wrapp, right, work in the McLellan Lab at The University of Texas at Austin Monday Feb. 17, 2020. Credit: Vivian Abagiu/Univ. of Texas at Austin.


This molecular structure of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein looks like a mushroom-shaped tangle of colored ribbons

This is a 3D atomic scale map, or molecular structure, of the 2019-nCoV spike protein. The protein takes on two different shapes, called conformations—one before it infects a host cell, and another after infection. This structure represents the protein before it infects a cell, called the prefusion conformation.

Two students, Nianshuang Wang and Daniel Wrapp, look at data on a computer screen

Nianshuang Wang, research associate, right, and Daniel Wrapp, graduate student, left, review cryo-EM images in the The Sauer Structural Biology Laboratory Monday Feb. 17, 2020 at The University of Texas at Austin.

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