Who created SARS-CoV-2?
22 June, 2020
Ramón y Cajal, also a pioneer in vaccines
22 June, 2020
Ramón Hurtado Guerrero has a degree in Pharmacy, specializing in Organic Chemistry. Since 2009, he has worked at Unizar's BIFI.
The state of alarm is over, but not the alarm. The coronavirus continues to gravitate. Scientists also continue to investigate. In Zaragoza, Ramón Hurtado, at the Institute of Biocomputing and Physics of Complex Systems (BIFI), together with immunologist Julián Pardo, champions a project to avoid infections.
Why don't you shake my hand?
It is not convenient, and to give the elbow...
You are wearing two masks…
Exact. One, surgical. And the other, an FPP2. The safest is FPP2, although the surgical procedure also prevents infections.
Avoid infections. His project has just received 270.000 euros from the Government of Aragon.
It is a project with the immunologist Julián Pardo. He called me during confinement and told me that at the Clinic they needed protein S, which is in the crown of the virus, for serological tests. For this reason, we started working in my BIFI laboratory, on the Río Ebro campus.
Are they chasing a vaccine or a drug?
A drug. A vaccine is a preventative way to avoid disease. The drug is taken when one is sick. We seek to block the SARS Cov-2 virus that produces covid-19.
And how do they intend to do it?
Starting to work with nanoantibodies. In English, 'nanobodies'.
Of course, of course, if 'body' is body, 'nanobodies'...
We work on a nano scale. A nanometer is one millionth of a millimeter. That is, we work at the atomic level. Nanoantibodies are easier to work with than human antibodies.
Where are nanoantibodies found?
In the flames
In an Andean animal...?
That's how it is. Antibodies are extracted from the flame that we will then test with suitable models of human cells. The secret is to block the union between the virus and the human cell, therein lies our therapeutic strategy.
The benefits of dexamethasone have also been discussed.
It is an anti-inflammatory. In severe cases, it cures a third of the sick.
The race in search of a vaccine is frenetic...
There are already six or seven vaccines: two in the United States, one in China, in the United Kingdom, in Germany... The one in the United Kingdom is already in phase 3. It is the consequence of the work of a pharmaceutical company and the University of Oxford. We hope to do the preclinical phase in a year. We are in the phase of obtaining nanoantibodies, which Julián Pardo will test.
And then?
He will test them in cells and, if it goes well, in humanized mice.
Humanized mice…?
Yes. They are mice that contain the ACE2 protein, which is a human receptor protein for the virus.
Is it true that the analysis of protein sugars is essential?
Of course. I am a glycobiologist. That is, I study the sugars in proteins. Like all respiratory viruses, they love sugars. Sialic acid is the key. The information I am providing you is very recent. Specifically, from this same Tuesday.
Thank you. Information about the damn virus does not stop flowing…
Never in the history of humanity has there been so much information about a pathology in such a short time.
How important it is to support research!
It is very sad that in Spain only 1,2% of GDP is allocated...
But you don't give up!
I have never given up. I started in my homeland, in Melilla. I did my thesis in Granada. Then, Leeds, Dundee (my children were born there, in Scotland). From there I came to Zaragoza. I am an ARAID researcher. And also, visiting professor at the University of Copenhagen. There is no need to put limits on science...
