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 General Assembly Meeting 2022

VIROFIGHT General Assembly Meeting 2022

Back in June 2020, the Virofight project was kicked-off within the high-time of the Covid-19 pandemic. No need to mention, that the Kick-Off meeting was organized fully remote, however the spirit and motivation was high and everyone was ready to start. Though by that...

Prof Protzer receives the Bavarian Order of Merit

Prof Protzer receives the Bavarian Order of Merit

picture: Bayerische Staatskanzlei  Last week, Prof. Ulrike Protzer (TUM) received the Bavarian Order of Merit for her outstanding and honorable services, especially in the last two years during the COVID-19 pandemic. She and her team have made significant...

TUM features VIROFIGHT project

TUM features VIROFIGHT project

In the last issue of "Fazination Forschung", the science magazine of the Technical University of Munich (TUM), Hendrik Dietz and the VIROFIGHT project was featured on how DNA capsules can capture viruses. The article gives insights from the first ideas to the...

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