VECR Final Project
This year, I was so glad to be a part of the VECR program at Fred Hutch. Even though the pandemic inhibited our abilities to meet in person, the various Zoom meetings and break out rooms still allowed me to gain a lot from the experience and increase my knowledge on cancer and the organization as a whole. My favorite event that we did would be the Career Panelists. I loved hearing the stories about these women and how different their paths were to reach the Hutch. One takeaway I had from all their stories was to not be afraid to reach out and make connections. This played a fundamental role in shaping their careers, and I will carry this concept into college and beyond.
In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, I wanted to research the Hutch’s current actions on how they are focusing on the problem. One article, “What happens if the coronavirus spikes mutate?”, helped me to understand not only the Hutch’s work, but also the virus itself. The article focuses on the spiky parts of the COVID-19 virus as depicted in the various pictures circulating the news and internet. One part of these spikes is called the receptor-binding domain (RBD) and this part allows the virus to get attached to human cells and infect the host.
Coronavirus and closeup of the spike protein and specifically, the RBD. (Modified from Sanyal et. al. and CDC images)
Currently, Dr. Tyler Starr and Allison Greaney are leading Blooms’ research team to look at this part of the virus and come up with a vaccine by distinctly mutating the RBDs so that they hinder the virus's binding ability. Their research looks specifically into virus evolution and how best to combat it through basic and medicinal tactics. Alongside the COVID-19 research, the Bloom lab has made breakthroughs in observing viral fitness and how it can be leveraged to better forecast viral evolution in nature as well as sequencing viruses in single cells to better comprehend how viral mutations affect the induction on innate immunity. If these researchers can achieve a successful mutation, this can make significant strides towards finding a vaccine and potentially curing people of COVID-19.
Article Link: https://www.fredhutch.org/en/news/center-news/2020/06/coronavirus-spike-protein-mutations.html
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