Belgian, U.S. scientists look to llama in search for COVID-19 treatment
Reuters•May 6, 2020
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - A llama called Winter could prove useful in the hunt for a treatment for COVID-19, according to U.S. and Belgian scientists who have identified a tiny particle that appears to block the new coronavirus.
The scientists, from Belgium's VIB-UGent center for medical biotechnology and the University of Texas at Austin, published research on Tuesday in the journal Cell, with the llama in Belgium central to their studies.
The group began four years ago looking into antibodies that might counter the SARS virus, which spread in 2003, and the MERS virus that flared up in 2012.
"The work was a side project in 2016. We thought maybe this was interesting," said Xavier Saelens, joint leader of the Belgian part of the collaboration. "Then the new virus came and it became potentially more crucial, more important."
https://news.yahoo.com/belgian-u-scientists-look-llama-154735145.html
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