Oct 28, 2020
Working on COVID-19? This
podcast is for you. This episode offers a valuable conversation
with a comprehensive yet detailed understanding of SARS CoV-2
pathogenicity.
Listen in as a front-line researcher discusses the
computational biology of
COVID-19 from three directions: the viral action, the human
response, and environmental influences on both.
Listen and hear
- The viral biology of pathways this particular coronavirus inhibits and disrupts, such as the RAS and Kallikrein systems,
- How this disruption leads to bradykinin storms and hydrogel formation in the lungs, which impede oxygen exchange and cause organ distress, and
- What therapeutics directly address these disruptions and other patterns they are hopeful this computational and systems biology will reveal.
Daniel A. Jacobson is a
computational systems biologist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
Oak Ridge is part of the national laboratory system in the U.S.,
and has access to world-wide data and top researchers. His lab is
tracking all the SARS CoV-2 sequence data from around the world and
finding significant patterns that may impact pathogenicity and
looking at evolutionary patterns that may give insights. He shares
an invaluable level and type of information with listeners in this
conversation, explaining exactly how COVID-19
infects cells and what pathways it disrupts.
For example, he explains how after looking at the "dynamic tension"
points in normal systemic pathways, they were able to identify how
this virus disrupts specific aspects of the RAS pathway, kallikrein
system, and vitamin D reception in infected patients. The resulting
bradykinin storm and increased hyaluronic acid leads to the
symptoms doctors find so difficult to overcome such as hydrogel in
the lungs.
But there's good news too:
they've identified a number of pharmaceuticals that can help in
these metabolic pathways, even down to vitamin D regulation.
Currently, researchers have identified three different drugs that
do what the lab's mechanistic models predicted and help patients
suffering from the virus. He adds that they are expanding their
list, hoping to identify a larger battery of drugs that will also
help.
He says there's a significant push to join forces with clinical
colleagues and explore multiple common therapies. He also discusses
the mutation patterns. They are identifying how the virus changes
over the course of the pandemic and trying to infer how those
changes will impact pathogenicity. Then they can observe how those
changes are promulgating in the human population.
Finally, they are also plugging in environmental
components.
Find their papers in
eLife, Molecular Biology and
Evolution, and
bioRxiv
and google them for more.
Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK