How are the flames helping to cure the coronavirus? This is what we know

As mentioned above, USU researchers have been working with specific antibodies known as camel and llama derived nanobodies, which may end the coronavirus pandemic. According to the United States Department of Defense, when handled in aerosol or liquid form, nanobodies can act as virus preventers and fighters. They weigh about 10 percent of a human antibody and can apparently recognize the virus’s proteins, latch on, and fight them.

Nanobodies are cheap and easy to work with in medical engineering, which is why USU researchers had been testing them for months. Eventually, they discovered that Cormac, the llama, was producing a certain type of nanobody, NIH-CoVnb-112, which is believed to prevent, detect, and disincarnate SARS-CoV-2 spike proteins. The scientists tested this by immunizing Cormac five times over the course of a few weeks, using low levels of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, and seeing how it reacted.

By doing this, the researchers found that Cormac was producing low levels of NIH-CoVnb-112 nanobodies, which attach to the COVID-19 protein and prevent it from entering the body’s cells. The nanobodies were then further tested in terms of infection prevention in Petri dishes, and finally tested via an inhaler used in asthma patients, which showed that it could work to treat patients in the form of aerosol, according to the National Institutes of Health.

“One of the cool things about nanobodies is that, unlike most normal antibodies, they can be aerosolized and inhaled to cover the lungs and airways,” said Dr. David Brody, director of the Center for Neuroscience and Regenerative Medicine of the USU and leader of the study. “This is promising in the sense that it could potentially be used to protect the lungs from infection.”