Our teams work tirelessly to develop vaccines and medicines that address the current public health crisis.

As populations worldwide face COVID-19, the deadly disease brought on by the novel coronavirus, Scripps Research scientists race to understand and counteract it. We’re confronting the virus at every turn – from tracing its origins and stemming its spread, to designing vaccines and much-needed therapeutics.

Our leading researchers are investigating the genetic lineage of the novel coronavirus, enabling health authorities to understand how it is transmitting in the human population and the measures needed to improve containment. Other teams are working out how the virus infects our cells and replicates, wherein they can search for small molecules that disrupt this process.

Virologists study the immune system response to coronavirus, with the goal of developing an effective vaccine or other therapies for COVID-19. Our structural biologists are exposing weak points in the virus building blocks that can be recognized by our defensive system of antibodies. And by screening donor blood samples from former COVID-19 patients, researchers are identifying antibodies that may protect others from the fast-spreading disease. Antibody-based approaches join thousands of other potential antiviral medicines being tested, many of them in our high-throughput, robotic screening facility, which is dedicated to repurposing drugs already known to be safe in humans.

By partnering with information technology organizations, Scripps Research is harnessing powerful computer resources to identify chemical compounds from virtual simulations. And now, an app-based study paired with people’s wearable activity trackers is empowering individuals across the nation to become citizen scientists by sharing the data collected by their devices, allowing researchers to potentially flag the onset of viral illness.