Two researchers from the University of Tennessee have discovered a chemical compound that soon will be further testedand ultimately couldlead to a possible cure for coronavirus.With the help of Summit, the world'smost powerful supercomputer,through a partnership between the University of Tennessee and the nearby Oak Ridge National Laboratory, researcherstested how more than 8,000 chemical compounds interacted with the virus, according to a report this week from Knoxville's WBIR-TV.

Jeremy Smith and Micholas D. Smith, a post-doctoral fellow and soon-to-be research professor at UT, began searching for molecules that could be used to stop thecoronavirus from binding and infecting healthy cells, according to Knoxville's WATE-TV.Their experiments found 77 compounds that had the potential to help with future research on the virus.

Jeremy Smith, Governors Chair at theUT and director of the UT/ORNL Center for Molecular Biophysics, told WBIR that the supercomputer made the recent research possible. Summit canoperate as fast as 100,000 laptop computers working at the same time.

Summit was needed to rapidly get the simulation results we needed," Jeremy Smith told the TV station. "It took us a day or two, whereas it would have taken months on a normal computer."

Jeremy Smith told WATE that thisquick, digital testing has workedin the pastin finding treatment for diabetes and osteoporosis.

The chemicals they researched stick to the part of the virus that connects with cells, interfering with the virus's ability to bind to cells and spread.Although the researchers' findingsmight not be a cure, they will help to guide future experiments on the virus.

The coronavirus is part of the same family of viruses as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, which surfaced in 2002, causing an international outbreak that resulted in hundreds of deaths. The researchersdecided to experiment with compounds, according to WBIR, by looking at chemicals that researchers used in the fight against SARS.

They ranked compounds of interest that could have value in experimental studies of the virus, according to a report from the Oak Ridger, and published their results on ChemRxiv.

The next step in the process is to test the digital remedy on an actual sample. That step includes an expert at the UT Health Science Center in Memphis, Colleen Johnson, according to WATE. The testing would be conducted on an actual coronavirus sample in the coming days in a controlled environment, according to the report.

According to WATE, theresearch has been slowed, ironically, because Johnsonand Micholas D. Smith both have been battling the flu throughout their work.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee declared a state of emergency Thursday as coronavirus continues to spread throughout the world, including Tennessee. The World Health Organization announced Wednesday that COVID-19 had become a global pandemic.

The virusresulted in the cancellation ofthe remaining games ofthe SEC men's basketball tournament in Nashville, Tenn., on Thursday. The SEC also has suspended regular-season competition in all sports through March 30.

View post:

University of Tennessee researchers hoping to cure coronavirus - 247Sports