Rapid discovery of therapeutic antibodies for SARS-CoV-2 and other viral pandemics

Humans are susceptible to many threatening viruses such as HIV, influenza and Ebola. The current coronavirus pandemic is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and was recognized as a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) on March 11, 2020. The surface of SARS-CoV-2 is covered with Spike (S) protein, which binds to the ACE-2 receptor to infect human cells. Antibodies that bind the Spike protein may block binding of the virus to ACE-2, which could result in neutralization of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.