On April 10, 2020, a joint research team led by Rao Zihe, Distinguished Adjunct Professor at SIAIS (Shanghai Institute for Advanced Immunochemical Studies), ShanghaiTech University, Wang Quan, Assistant Professor at School of Life Science and Technology (SLST) and SIAIS, ShanghaiTech University and Lou Zhiyong, Research Professor at Tsinghua University, published their research findings in Science, entitled “Structure of the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase from COVID-19 Virus”. In this research, the joint team reported a 2.9 Å cryo-EM structure of the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase from COVID-19 Virus together with cofactors, which is a major target for antiviral agents, such as Favipiravir and Remdesivir.


Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) virus is spreading rapidly across the world and has been announced as a “global pandemic” by the World Health Organization (WHO) on March 15, 2020. Globally, https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2020/04/09/science.abb7498