Interns contributed to aerosol modeling research to better understand airborne virus
DOE/Brookhaven National Laboratory
When Cathrine Hamilton and Alison Robey, fall interns at the U.S. Department of Energy s Brookhaven National Laboratory, first signed on to collaborate with their mentor Laura Fierce, an associate scientist in the Environmental and Climate Sciences Department, they didn t imagine they would be contributing to widespread research tackling the COVID-19 pandemic.
Instead of collaborating on climate models, the interns supported the development of simulations in order to study the probability of infection by tiny virus particles traveling in the air.
The research, which is among several COVID-19-focused efforts at Brookhaven Lab, aims to connect the tools of mathematical modeling with aerosol expertise and the expanding body of coronavirus literature. The goal is to provide more accurate insights on the effects of particle size, evolution, and behavior on the chan
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.