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SwRI's Rhodium evaluates drug compounds for possible treatment of coronavirus

Drug discovery software at Southwest Research Institute is expanding the capacity to virtually screen drug compounds for possible treatment of coronavirus and other infectious diseases. SwRI's Rhodium™ virtual screening tool recently evaluated 2 million drug c

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Drug discovery software at Southwest Research Institute is expanding the capacity to virtually screen drug compounds for possible treatment of coronavirus and other infectious diseases.

SwRI's Rhodium™ virtual screening tool recently evaluated 2 million drug compounds in a few days, hoping to identify high-probability drugs that may have efficacy against the coronavirus with minimal adverse side effects. Institute scientists initiated the molecular modeling research with SwRI internal funding.

In line with SwRI's mission of developing medical countermeasures for both natural and manmade threats, we are using this proprietary molecular modeling software to help the research community screen drug candidates for future coronavirus research." Dr. Jonathan Bohmann, SwRI principal scientist leading the research

Based on the modeling results, SwRI will team with local research partners, including the Texas Biomedical Research Institute, for the next phase of studies to determine the most efficacious candidates for further drug development and ultimate deployment to virus-affected regions.

Prior to the recent coronavirus outbreak, SwRI increased the capacity of its Rhodium software to scan 250,000 drug compounds per day, up from its prior limit of 25,000. Researchers enhanced the capability with new graphical processing, software updates and machine learning techniques. A 3D model of a coronavirus was used to evaluate potential drugs from a vast library of compounds.

"This advanced processing capability is demonstrating that virtual screening can rapidly increase the pace of drug discovery, especially in pandemic situations," said Dr. Shawn Blumberg, an SwRI research scientist assisting with the effort.

Virtual screening applies computational techniques to evaluate small molecules and predict how protein structures in infectious diseases will bind with drug compounds. Drug makers have been turning to computational screening as a safe, efficient and cost-effective alternative to evaluating physical samples in a laboratory in the early stages of drug development.

"Rhodium, for example, can be used to find highly probable compounds from databases with hundreds of thousands of drug candidates prior to bench testing in a laboratory," Bohmann added.

Rhodium uses drug compound libraries to predict how protein structures in infectious diseases will bind with compounds or a series of compounds known as ligands. Rhodium's high throughput 3D analysis of protein docking efficiently selects ligands to predict how a compound interacts with the protein structure. Its machine learning tools interpret rank order analysis of results for faster data analysis.

SwRI scientists use Rhodium to interpret binding data from X-ray crystallography, a technique commonly used to obtain the 3D structure, visualizing how it bonds with a protein.

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Source: www.news-medical.net ↗
02What are carbs?

Your weight loss plan should keep you healthy and strong as you lose the extra weight. Many plans include a diet low in carbohydrates. Carb cycling is a method of optimizing your carbohydrate intake to meet your needs while dieting, fasting, and working out. When you're carb cycling, you consume carbs to meet your needs on some days and avoid them on other days. The aim of carb cycling is to consume carbohydrates when your body needs them and exclude them at other times. Such strategies in your diet plan can help your weight loss efforts. Carbohydrates, or carbs, are a significant part of the average human diet. Along with proteins and fats, they make up the bulk of your daily meals. Most carbohydrates are broken down by your body into glucose to provide energy for your cells and tissues. Carbohydrates in your diet are of three types — sugars, starches, and fiber. Sugars are simple carbs. Glucose, sugar (sucrose), lactose found in milk, and fructose found in fruits, are naturally occurring sugars. Your body metabolizes these molecules rapidly to yield energy. Starches are complex carbs. They're large molecules that consist of hundreds of molecules of simple sugars joined together. Your body needs to break them down to release energy. Starches are found in bread, potatoes, peas, corn, cereals, and pasta. Fiber is also a complex carbohydrate. Human bodies can't break down these large molecules, so they provide no energy. They're usually excreted as they are in the feces. They add bulk to your meal, so you feel full. Fiber in the diet helps avoid constipation and lowers blood sugar and cholesterol levels. Carbohydrates are an essential part of your diet. A typical diet provides 45% to 65% of its calories from carbohydrates. If you have 2,000 calories a day, you should have about 275 grams of carbohydrates. Always try to choose healthy foods for your carb intake:

Source: www.medicinenet.com ↗
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Source: www.news-medical.net ↗
05How does vitamin D strengthen the immune system?

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Source: www.news-medical.net ↗
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Peptide Therapy Guide Editorial Team

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