Viral infections affect millions of people every year and cause tremendous human suffering and costs to society

For ~70% of all WHO listed viruses, no treatment is available and the antiviral drugs that do exist must be applied very early to be effective

VIROFIGHT proposes a radically new approach to fight any viral infection, such as COVID19, HIV infection, influenza and hepatitis B

The Virofight Project

FIGHTING VIRAL INFECTIONS WITH ENGULFING NANO-SHELLS

 

Viral infections affect millions of people every year and cause tremendous human suffering and costs to society. For approximately 70% of all WHO listed viruses, no treatment is available and the antiviral drugs that do exist must be applied very early after infection to be effective. The current COVID-19 pandemic is only one such example. The VIROFIGHT consortium proposes a new approach to fight viral infections, to address the lack of broadly applicable antiviral treatments, and to create means for combating emerging pathogens.

VIROFIGHT Partners

Instead of targeting virus-specific proteins or enzymes by small molecules as current antivirals do, the Virofight consortium will construct synthetic nano-shells that can specifically recognize and engulf entire viruses to efficiently neutralize the pathogen.

The biocompatible nano-shells developed by the researchers combine DNA origami, protein design and in-vitro evolution. Their interior will be coated with a layer of virus-specific molecules for strong and specific virus binding. These binding effects will be tested at laboratory scale on a variety of viruses. To achieve this technological target, the interdisciplinary project integrates experts on supramolecular chemistry, molecular nanoengineering, and virology.

The Virofight Consortium

The consortium brings together 6 partners from multiple fields (clinicians, fundamental scientists, scientific SMEs, exploitation and dissemination SME and  management SME), representing 4 different countries.

Viral infections

Health care researchers working in life science laboratory

Current anti-viral drugs

Heart Failure

The Virofight concept

CRUCIAL solution
Elizabeth Jones

„Our mission is to develop and test prototypes of nano-shells that have the principal capacity to neutralize any given virus by engulfing them. We think this may lead to neutralization of the pathogen by occlusion. Different kinds of viruses could be fought using the same platform.”

Prof. Hendrik Dietz, Coordinator
Technical University of Munich

Elizabeth Jones

“Our concept of using neutralizing nano-shells as antiviral drugs may also help to prevent negative effects that may be elicited by antibodies used for virus neutralization.”

Prof. Ulrike Protzer, Virofight partner
Technical University of Munich

Partners

European countries

Project duration (months)

VIROFIGHT Symposium on Antiviral Biologics

VIROFIGHT Symposium on Antiviral Biologics

On November 22, 2024, the VIROFIGHT Symposium brought together scientific experts in antiviral biologics to present the results and achievements of our VIROFIGHT project. Held in a hybrid format at the Science Congress Center in Garching, the event featured over 50...

Final General Assembly Meeting in Aarhus

Final General Assembly Meeting in Aarhus

Our VIROFIGHT General Assembly Meeting 2024 was held on June 11–12, at the Moesgaard Museum in Aarhus, Denmark. As the final General Assembly of the project, it provided a great platform to review the progress achieved and to discuss the final steps required to wrap...

VIROFIGHT Project granted 6-Month Extension

VIROFIGHT Project granted 6-Month Extension

We are pleased to announce that the VIROFIGHT project has been granted a 6-month extension, extending its timeline to maximize its impact in the fight against viral infections. This decision was made to address challenges encountered during the COVID-19 pandemic,...

Twitter feed is not available at the moment.

Share This