The coronavirus infects its host cell by first binding one of its spike proteins and then fusing its helical core to the host cell. The virus makes its own molecular version of the mythical Jacob’s Ladder that reaches for the heavens.

It builds a far-reaching ladder-like apparatus from core helical amino acids that latch on to its host cell, leading to infection. Scientists don’t yet fully understand the details of how the coronavirus binds and fuses.

Numan Oezguen is an instructor at the Microbiome Center of Texas Children’s Hospital and also at the Baylor College of Medicine. He’s developed a model simulating coronavirus binding and fusing on Longhorn, the graphics processing unit subsystem of the Frontera supercomputer at the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC). Dr. Oezguen joins host Jorge Salazar on the TACC podcast.

Story Link: https://www.tacc.utexas.edu/-/corona-s-ladder
Music Credit: Raro Bueno, Chuzausen freemusicarchive.org/music/Chuzausen/