In our most recent research, we are investigating the mutation landscape of SARS-CoV-2. As of March 2020 SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for the COVID-19 disease, has mutated and expanded across the human species; a total of 214 haplotypes (i.e. sequence variations) and 344 different strains have been identified. Most of these variations, gained through mutation, recombination, and natural selection, have been found in the Spike (S) protein. We are developing a computational pipeline that estimates the mutation landscape of the SARS-CoV-2’s S protein, and simultaneously are measuring binding of the S protein to the human receptor ACE2 using cryo-electron microscopy.
