Scientists at the Scripps Research Institute in Palm Beach County say they have found a possible way for drugs to treat COVID-19.
Led by Matthew Disney, a chemistry professor at Scripps' Jupiter campus, the researchers did this by offering a map for how to complicate the coronavirus' ability to replicate, the Palm Beach Post reports.
Their findings from the proof-of-concept study were published Wednesday in ACS Central Science, an open-access peer-reviewed scientific journal.
The study focused on a site within the coronavirus, called its frameshifting element, that is critical in how the virus replicates itself using RNA genetic material after infecting a cell. The element functions like a clutch in a car, enabling the production of different proteins that help the coronavirus make copies of itself, according to Scripps.
