Anika Chebrolu, a 14-year-old from Texas, was announced the winner of the Young Scientist Challenge 2020, a science and engineering youth competition administered by Discovery Education and 3M for high school students in the United States. , similar to the European Union Competition for Young Scientists. Its creation can be used as a possible therapy for Covid-19.
Anika's invention used in-silico methodology (performed on a computer or through computer simulation for biological experiments) to discover a lead molecule that could bind to the SARS-CoV-2 protein, known as the "spike protein". Spike protein is a transmembrane fusion protein that plays a crucial role in the onset of infection.
Anika completed the project when she was in eighth grade, but due to the Covid-19 pandemic, she changed the direction of the project to focus on the coronavirus. She told CNN she was inspired to find possible cures for the viruses after learning about the 1918 flu pandemic and finding out how many people die each year.
