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Butler University researchers working to help fight coronavirus

butler coronavirus research.JPG
Posted at 5:28 PM, Feb 03, 2020
and last updated 2020-02-03 18:49:54-05

INDIANAPOLIS — Researchers at Butler University are working to help others create a coronavirus vaccine.

Students and professors are working together in a lab to study different types of coronaviruses. So far, they say they have made major strides to understand the scientific makeup of the virus.

"We are doing the basic virology of trying to identify what parts of the virus are important," Stobart said. "Then someone who is a biochemist or in pharmaceuticals would go and develop a chemical that would bind that part of this protein and use it as a drug and that could then be used to treat people who have active cases of corona virus."

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The work is showing students how important the work in this lab can be, Stobart says.

"It's exciting to contribute to something bigger than yourself," Benjamin Nick, a student, said. "We are focused on a very teeny tiny part of coronavirus in the scheme of things, but the implications can be so profound from such a small component."

The group is getting ready to publish their results and hopes it plays a role in prevention and treatment of the virus.