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SLAC joins the global fight against COVID-19

SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory is responding to the coronavirus crisis by imaging disease-related biomolecules, developing standards for reliable coronavirus testing and enabling other essential research. As the world grapples with COVID-19, SLAC scientists are turning their attention to SARS-CoV-2, the virus behind the disease. The studies described in this video do not use infectious materials, such as live viruses.

as the world grapples with kovat 19

slack scientists are turning their

attention to SARS Kobe - the virus

behind the disease one thing they'd like

to know is the detailed structure of key

parts of the virus that could help

chemists design drugs that stop the

virus from infecting and hijacking

ourselves with slacks cryo-electron

microscopy scientists freeze bits of a

virus in place then fire electrons at

them to look at their atomic structures

and how those structures bend and twist

they can even look at an entire frozen

virus or cell which can reveal details

of how viruses infect cells and what

they do once inside at the Stanford

synchrotron radiation light source s srl

researchers shoot powerful x-ray beams

at proteins and other molecules

extracted from the virus to reveal their

atomic structure and see how their

shapes change as they bind to other

molecules for example these techniques

can help determine the shape of the

corona virus spike proteins that attach

to our cells and how to modify them to

prevent infection similar studies at

SLAC have contributed to our

understanding of viruses behind past

epidemics such as the original SARS

coronavirus and the Zika virus

slack's staff and other scientists who

use our facilities are only just

beginning their research on Tsarskoe be

too much of the work will be done

remotely with the help of automated

systems it will take many scientists at

organizations all over the globe to

fight Co vid 19 we are proud to be

joining them and look forward to

contributing to the world's

understanding of this deadly disease

Olivier Bonin/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

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SLAC is a vibrant multiprogram laboratory that explores how the universe works at the biggest, smallest and fastest scales and invents powerful tools used by scientists around the globe. With research spanning particle physics, astrophysics and cosmology, materials, chemistry, bio- and energy sciences and scientific computing, we help solve real-world problems and advance the interests of the nation.

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The lab is responding to the coronavirus crisis by imaging disease-related biomolecules, developing standards for reliable coronavirus testing and enabling other essential research.

SARS-CoV-2
news collection · Research at SLAC

COVID-19

SLAC is uniquely equipped to study viruses like SARS-CoV-2; in fact, we’ve been doing it for decades. This news collection gathers the latest information on COVID-19 research at SLAC.

A photo-collage featuring a technician at SLAC's cryo-EM facilities.
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