Virtual drug-discovery internships provide opportunity for hands-on experience with real-world impact
December 28, 2020
Students working remotely during virtual fall internships at Brookhaven Lab helped identify molecules that may work to inhibit key functions of the virus that causes COVID-19. This image shows a computational model of a small molecule (blue and red stick figure) bound to the active site of the virus s Papain Like protease (PLpro, the green ribbon background molecule).
Two students working under the mentorship of Desigan Kumaran, a structural biologist at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory, have helped to identify molecules that could potentially lead to new antiviral drugs for treating COVID-19. Though the students conducted their fall 2020 internships remotely, the potential of their work is firmly planted in the real world and could have lasting impact.