UC Irvine lab makes coronavirus-crippling molecule, a first step toward a new drug

A team of UC Irvine chemists have created a molecule that acts as a false key to latch onto coronavirus particles to prevent them from spreading to other cells.
The recently announced discovery could be an important first step in developing a drug to treat COVID-19.
James Nowick, a professor of chemistry and pharmaceutical sciences who runs a lab that specializes in building molecules, described the coronavirus enzyme as a lock.
“The natural molecules that the enzyme binds to are sort