A result of a collaboration between labs in Northeastern University’s departments of physics and chemistry, this paper expands on our understanding of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Using optical tweezers, researchers gained “direct measurements” of the SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein, the “N” protein.

These new observations on the virus’s binding process set the stage for future attempts at disrupting the process entirely, targeting the nucleocapsid protein and striking at the virus’s interior.

See the full list of authors and read their research, “Structural domains of SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein coordinate to compact long nucleic acid substrates,” in Nucleic Acids Research.