At a time when scientists across the globe are searching for a cure to treat the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), a 14-year-old Indian-American has won a USD 25,000 prize for a potential treatment to COVID-19. Anika Chebrolu, a 14-year-old from Frisco, Texas has won the 2020 3M Young Scientist Challenge, with a reward of USD 25,000, for using in-silico methodology to discover a lead molecule that can selectively bind to the spike protein of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Anika's goal was to use in-silico methods to identify a lead compound that could bind to a protein of the influenza virus. "Because of the immense severity of the Covid-19 pandemic and the drastic impact it had made on the world in such a short time, I, with the help of my mentor, changed directions to target the SARS-CoV-2 virus," CNN quoted Anika as saying. She said that learning about the flu pandemic in 1918 inspired her to find the potential cure for viruses.

Source: dna October 19, 2020 12:00 UTC