-
Herald: So, willkommen zusammen. Heute
Abend gibt es den Talk von Andrea über den
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"Corona Virus Structural Task Force". Ich
bin melzai_a Herald für die Session. Wir
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haben einen Signal Angel, Dia, sie wird
die Fragen sammeln, die in den Chat
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gestellt werden und am Ende gehen wir im
Vortrag über diese Fragen. So viel zum
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Ablauf. Der Vortrag wird aufgezeichnet.
Und ist danach nachträglich verfügbar auf
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Media.ccc.de irgendwann in den nächsten
Tagen oder Wochen. Und damit würde ich mich
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freuen, Andrea, du als
Nachwuchsruppenleiterin an der Uni
-
Hamburg, du hast die letzten zwei Jahre
mit den Codona Virus beschäftigt, und
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daraus wunderbare Visualisierung gemacht.
Wie lief es denn ab und wie sieht Corona
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eigentlich aus?
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Andrea: Ja, vielen dank! Erstmal danke für
die Einladung. Und ja, genau darum geht es
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in dem Talk jetzt, was wir die "corona
virus structure task force" nennen. I'm
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going to give the presentation in English;
so that international listeners can also
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listen in. But you can ask your questions
in, well, any language anyone here speaks.
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I understand German, English and Japanese.
And I want to start with a quote by Marie
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Curie. I know the room Mary is not named
after Marie Curie, but she said something
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that is very true in this pandemic, which
is: "nothing in life, is to be feared,
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only to be understood. Now is the time to
understand more so that we may fear less."
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And indeed, this holds true for the corona
virus more than anything, because as you
-
all know, you cannot see the virus. You
can only see it indirectly visualized by
-
science or you can see the measures against
it or you can see ill people. But the
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virus itself is invisible. And I'm going
to start this talk with questions. There
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will be many questions. And the first one
is, what does the corona virus look like?
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Now you may think, you know, but the
reality of it is that even German news has
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no idea. And I know that ZDF is now using
a different picture, which looks more
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similar to what I'm going to show, but
it's very wrong as well. This picture? Is
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what most people think the virus looks
like. And I also brought you like two top
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model and models of the virus. One can
even make sounds. Any spiky ball of
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this days really passes as a corona virus
because no one seems to know what the
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thing really looks like. Only it's like
crowned. And it has spikes. That's the
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only thing that all the models have in
common. But some things look like you can
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just, you know, like they are little Shrek
ears type things or have tentacles. No
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one really knows. So how do we know as
scientists and can viruses, be seen? If we
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imagine so, this is an electron
microscopic picture of a human hair. It's
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0.1 millimeters. It's the length of this
line, so the hair is a little bit less.
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The little red dot, which you may or may
not be able to see inside that circle is
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the size of the corona virus. Now if we
zoom into the picture of the hair, you can
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see, I hope, a little red dot here. And
that's the corona virus to measure. So it
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is 150 nanometers, or 0.0001.5 mm large. That is tiny
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even by scientists sentence. However. Even
smaller than the virus with 150
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nanometers. It's a single atom,
which is represented here again by a
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dot, which is barely visible and is 0.1
nanometers in diameter or one. Angstrom.
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Atoms are tiny, even compared to the
virus. A virus is composed being matter of
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very, very many atoms. How can we
visualize something this small? Can we see
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it with a light microscope? And what color
would the virus be? This is to scale.
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Yellow light. It is 600 nanometer
wavelength meaning from this point to
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this, it is 600 nanometers. So the
wavelength of visible light, which ranges
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from 400 to 780 nano meters, is actually
longer than the virus is white. So there
-
is no chance whatsoever to ever observe a
single virus with light just physically
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not possible. We need something that has a
smaller wavelength, and there are two
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things we use X-rays, which have 0.1 nanometer wavelength. So they
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are very, very small. They're like light. They're also photons. We call it
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also X-ray light (Röntgenstralung,
Röntgenlicht). But they have so high energy
-
that their wavelengths are tiny. The other
thing are electrons, which have even
-
smaller wavelengths. If you choose to
regard them not as particles, but as
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waves. So we can use electrons and X-rays
to observe the virus, and we do. And for
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this, we have several possibilities. One
of them is large particle accelerators
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like the one I'm working on in Hamburg,
which produces very intense X-rays.
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Another one is an electron microscope. So
here is a model of an electron microscope.
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In order to use it, you need a scientist
and then you shoot an electron beam from
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an electron cannon. That's the official
scientific term. It's an electron cannon
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onto both an electron gun electron cannon
electron gun. You shoot your electrons
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through lenses, which are magnetic.
Electrons are negatively charged so the
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magnetic field can be used as a lens
system onto a sample. For example, the
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virus and then you have a detector. What
do we see on this detector? We should
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viruses with electrons and record how many
electrons pass through the sample? What we
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see looks like this. So of course, it's
black and white because electrons come.
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There's no colors involved. And what you
can see is a dark shadow. And then around
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it, a little bit of bright spots, almost
like a corona during a sun eclipse. So
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this is why the corona virus is called
corona virus, because it spikes under the
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electron microscope look like a corona.
And these pictures have no colors, but
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scientists like to colored them in
particular in order to tell people that
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this is a dangerous virus and that is the
background. So if we colored, it may look
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like this. And this is an official picture
released very early in the pandemic by the
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National Institutes as one of the first
pictures of the new corona virus. We can
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also do scanning electron microscopy,
which is a similar measure where you coat
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the entire surface and then you get a
pretty three dimensional picture. What you
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can see here are lung cells, the lung
carpet like the like hairy structure here.
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That's lung cells that are single type two
alveolar epithelial cells. So there are
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like a little like their job is to
get rid of stuff the lungs don't want
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there, like a carpet, they can move and
they get rid of stuff for you. However,
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these cells, you have a problem. They're
infected with corona virus. You can see
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some slime or mucus here, and you can see
the viruses here. Because of the coating,
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they look a little bit like cauliflower.
So that's nice. But it doesn't give us the
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full picture, but so much for people who
say we cannot isolate the virus. We can
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actually even like, make it visible. So we
can make this invisible enemy visible. It
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is just a question of having the right
equipment and a good sample of the virus
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and many hours of work. The virus
therefore exists and can be made visible
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using electron microscopes or, for
example, as a particle accelerator. But
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I'm not going to go into detail here. We
have not enough time tonight. I'm only
-
going to talk about electron microscopes
here. So what is the virus made of. Those
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This is the virus. We're going to talk about
this picture later in the talk when we
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talk about model a little bit more. But
here is one Spike, I think you've all
-
heard in news from spike proteins, which
cover the surface of the virus or the
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virion. If we draw this schematically, as
Thomas Splettstösser presented for us, he's an
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illustrator, burst in Berlin, it looks
like this. And then we take only the head
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of the spike, which is the region of the
spike we know most about, and then comes
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an animation that I did. So it's not quite
as pretty. If we zoom in, we see the
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surface and below that surface we see
things represented as a ribbon. However,
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we can show this differently. We can show
the individual atoms connected to each
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other. The problem with this display is
that it's really hard to find anything
-
here. It is super difficult to get an
overview with this picture, so we prefer
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to show these complicated and fake
molecules made up of atoms as surfaces and
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ribbons. And this ribbon diagram, by the
way, has also been found by a great female
-
scientist, Jane Richardson, several
decades ago, which was quite revolutionary
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for my field. So the virus is made up of
atoms and molecules, and they are
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structures can be found out by NMR, X-ray
crystallography and electron microscopy.
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For now, this is all I'm going to tell
you. We're now going to dive very deeply
-
into the biology of the virus and what the
structures tell us. And then in the end,
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I'm going to tell you a little bit more
exactly how we actually get from the
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measurement to the model, which holds some
pitfalls and problems for us. And it's an
-
area in which I do usually my research.
But first, I'm going to talk about the
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model, you all know this picture from the
CDC, right? And by the way, this thing for
-
a scientist, this thing is not a virus,
it's a variant. It's only the transport
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form of the virus, the virus. That's a few
more things that are not contained in this
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little show. That's just a transport form
for its RNA to get into a whole cell. We
-
call this a variant. But most people, even
scientists, can also refer to it as the
-
virus. So this is the CDC model, right?
That's the picture that went all through
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the press around the world. That's like
THE picture of this pandemic, and it was
-
made by the CDC very early on by two
scientific illustrators there. However,
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already then it had some problems. They
made it in quite a rash and it has some
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errors. So we decided to make a new
picture, which looks like this. And. If
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you compare it, two pictures, here are the
differences. The head of the spike in this
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illustration sits directly into the
surface, while in reality it is singing
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sitting on a long, very bendy like rope
like structure that tethers it. So the
-
virus, the head of the spike, which binds
to the host cell, is quite flexible. The
-
surface is not quite as coarse as shown
here. It's smaller. The virus actually
-
relatively large for a virus, and it's got
other proteins swimming in its surface. If
-
you look exactly, you'll see the virus is
also not exactly round. Now we thought
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this is not enough. It's nice to have a
picture, but wouldn't it be nice if we
-
could actually touch it? So we made a 3D
printable model for those interested. You
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can find also all that information on our
homepage. I'm going to show you the 3D
-
model. Let's see. So. This is the virus
model. As you can see, the virus is not
-
exactly round because it's outside, it's
very soft. It's like a soap bubble. It can
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change its shape quite drastically. It's
wobbly and the spikes are actually
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stochastic highly distributed. They're not
like regularly arranged and they are
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swimming in the skin. And there are other
proteins in the surface as well, which you
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can perhaps see whether they really formed
as little flower shapes, we don't know.
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And the virus is huge. So this on the same
scale, one to one million as a rhinovirus
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for the common cold. The corona virus is
huge. 20000 base pairs RNA makes it one of
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the largest virus genomes we know. And a
virus, therefore as soft on the outside,
-
while rhinovirus has a very hard and rigid
shell that is always composed the same.
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And we need this model in the hopes that,
like other scientists and perhaps schools
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would like to print it at home and
actually like, get something tangible and
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it turned out they did. So we got quite a
few requests from people, from child care
-
facilities and from schools and from other
scientists. And even my administration
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like to have them printed. One even
proposed we may have them as Christmas
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ornaments, but I found that a little bit
like tasteless. We didn't do it. And like,
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just before I left Hamburg, we got a new
model. This model is now already a year
-
old, and in 2021, signs made quite a lot
of progress. So we now know there are
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fewer spikes and a virus. All in all, it's
a little bit smaller, so it's not quite
-
like this, but perhaps less so. It's not
15 centimeters in diameter. The model is
-
12, and it is still like potato shaped.
It's not round because now what's
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important for me to show, and I would have
like to show you this model like in front
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of the camera tonight, but. It went into
the museum, it was the first one we had,
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and we brought it to the opening of this
exhibition in Hamburg "Pandemierück in ide
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Gegenwart" the gigawatt, so you can now
see it in the museum and we'll be back in
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my office when they have assembled theres.
And this also holds true. I'm going to
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talk about the task force in the second
half of this talk. But one thing that is
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really true and what's true for this
project as well is the task force is
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typically more interested in new
communication projects than in all the
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pile of stuff we need to finish. You may
notice from home. Right. So this is how
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our model. Now, let's dive deeper into the
thing, because so far we have only talked
-
about the virion and only about it's
outside. So the virion has to spike
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proteins on the outside. Two other
proteins M and E protein, it has a double
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membrane hull, which is very thin and
nucleocapsid, which is wrapping the RNA.
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The RNA of actually containing the genes
for everything that the virus needs in
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order to like, take possession of the host
cell. So the RNA is the important bit the
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virion is transporting and nucleocapsid
and everything else kind of packs it and
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makes sure it gets into the host cell. And
I'm going to show you quickly a video
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because I think this is so nice to
understand, and it's the answer to the
-
question why does soap help against corona
virus? Because very many, like other
-
viruses, are relatively hard to wash off,
but not corona virus, because it's so
-
large, it has only a double membrane
shell. And this is a very nice video from
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the protein data bank from our colleagues
there. So this is the virus double
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membrane. It has lipid molecules. You can
see there are hydrophobic on the inside
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and hydrophilic on the outside, so they
lock water on the outside, but not the
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inside. Green molecules are soap. Soap
also has a hydrophobic tail and a
-
hydrophilic head. So unlike the water
which stays outside the soap just gets
-
into the membrane and kind of like goes in
between the lipids. And then they make
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whole sort of water molecules can get
inside the virus. They can even assemble.
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In around bits of the membrane and get it
out of the virus hull or around a spike
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and remove to spike, which is hydrophobic
to stock out of the virus. This leads to a
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total decomposition of the membrane and
therefore it can be completely dissolved
-
by soap. As soon as the nucleocapsid and
an RNA are exposed, the virus is no longer
-
infectious. It needs a spike in order to
infect so, you don't need to disinfect
-
your hands. You can just wash them with
soap, which I find is so lucky in this
-
pandemic because, you know, it would be
really ugly if we would need to disinfect
-
everything all the time, but we can
actually just use soapy water. Although,
-
let's be honest, I like to use
disinfectant every here, and then it gives
-
me just a feeling of more safety. It's
kind of like a ritual to protect me. I
-
suspect several of you are the same. So,
so much for the virion, that's like the
-
outer shell, that's like the transport
form. But there is more much more. This is
-
the corona virus life cycle, or I should
be more correct. It should be called
-
infection cycle because technically
speaking, viruses are not life. They need
-
a host cell to reproduce. So we're going
to come back to this picture. We're going
-
to take this apart bit by bit. First of
all, there is entry entry into oh yeah.
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Let's quickly go back. The thing at the
bottom here, the big thing here. That's
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the host cell. And a little one is
the virus, right? We're clear on that
-
Holbrook's here, right? And is the
outside. So this is like your lung
-
outside. That's your lung cell inside or
hopefully not your lung cell, right?
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There's the virus. And this is the spike,
the spike as a vaccine target, as you
-
know, it's what's encoded in RNA vaccines
and it's also contained in all the like
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vector vaccines we see. And I brought you
another model for that, which saw the
-
picture here. So this is one to 10 million
scale model of the spike. And this is an
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antibody. Now if you are vaccinated either
by RNA or by a vector vaccine, your body
-
overproduce as far as injected with
spikes, which are usually on something to
-
carry it a host cell or a cell of your
body if it's an RNA vaccine or a vector.
-
Your body needs a few days to recognize
this thing, so once it has, it will build
-
antibodies that perfectly fit onto that
they can recognize the spike very, very
-
exactly. They have a specific binding
site, which is much more rigid than
-
anything else the antibody can bind to.
Then this gets decomposed because the
-
vaccine is not viable. What remains in
your body is information for these
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antibodies. So now if you get infected
with corona? The immune system antibody
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recognizes the spike it has previously
seen in the vaccine, and that is how the
-
vaccine actually works. So having this
protects you, one of the biggest problems
-
with COVID 19 infections is that the
immune system responds too late. And then
-
too much. So having these makes much more
certain that you will not get severe
-
COVID, which is, I think, very nice. And
what we also did, together with the
-
animation lab in Utah is not only make
those life life cycle or infection cycle,
-
we also made an animation the
scientifically most accurate animation
-
available on how the virus actually binds
onto the whole cell. There's a lot we
-
don't know, but everything we do know we
have shown here. So here is the virus. You
-
know the spike protein already. Yes,
nucleocapsid inside there is RNA, which
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encodes for the rest, we're going to go
into the rest after this. And then at the
-
bottom here is the host cell. So lung
cells actually have ACE2 receptors shown
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in purple, and a spike protein recognizes
those specifically meaning that items like
-
a puzzle piece fit exactly onto the purple
receptors on the lung cells. The spikes
-
bind there and then something else
happens. Another enzyme also being in the
-
membrane of the host cell cuts the spike,
so it's not like the name spike suggests
-
it would like shoot something into. But
that's not the case. It gets cut and then
-
comes to bed where we are a little bit
unclear how this happens. So what we know
-
is after it's cut, it somehow ends up
being tethered into the host cell and we
-
don't know the mechanism of this. So we
decided to illustrated here with like a
-
refolding process and then it's
energetically unstable. So in order to
-
become more stable, the whole thing clamps
and folds together, thereby dragging the
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virus and the host cell membrane together,
the two membranes to buy a lipid membranes
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Fuze. The virus material is inserted into
the cell. The RNA is now inside the host
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cell, and this is how infection happens.
So we felt it was particularly important
-
to show this to people. We have made this
animation Creative Commons, but
-
unfortunately only American television
caught up on it, so we're really hoping
-
that one of the German like documentaries
will show this, because we think it's
-
really nice to see this process like as
accurately as we can depicted. So here is
-
the spike. That's the role of the spike.
Now the nucleocapsid, an RNA a half
-
entered into the host cell. What happens
now is that the nucleocapsid dissolves.
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How that exactly happens, we don't know,
but it dissolves and RNA gets immediately
-
translated into protein. So the genome
gets RET inside the cell because the cell
-
believes it's own either comes from the
host cell and it starts building. The
-
proteins encoded in proteins are again
molecules. And actually, it makes one
-
very, very long protein chain really long,
which is called the poly protein, which
-
then gets cleaved. So D'Souza's in this
case, the thing that cleaves all the long
-
protein chain into individual molecules
that don't actually can work is called the
-
main protease because it's cutting protein
that's called the protease. And these are
-
the little triangle shaped things here.
Only when that happens to these bits
-
become functional. So if it doesn't
happen, if we can like hindered this like
-
cutting off the long polypeptide chain, we
have an efficient drug against corona,
-
which is why main protease is a major drug
target. And what you can see here in red
-
is the drug actually bound two main
protease. So that's what it looks like. We
-
are looking specifically for inhibitors,
which will stop this molecule from
-
function. So you can imagine this like a
screwdriver that we put out of right point
-
in a machine where it fits and it stops
the entire machinery. That's what we want.
-
And that's like called structure based
drug design. When you actually know the
-
structure of the molecule and then you
find a molecule, a small molecule, a drug
-
molecule that specifically stops whatever
that protein molecule is doing. It's also
-
how many antibiotics work or, for example,
if you've been up long yesterday aspirin.
-
Then. From here, where we have the poly
protein thing. Something happens inside
-
the cell, the cell is making some kind of
foam, which is connected to the
-
endoplasmic reticulum. That's just warm
and inside it. These like enzymes that
-
have now been cut in our functional start,
like a copy machine to make more and more
-
copies of the RNA genome of the virus. The
whole cell kind of like foams up and makes
-
more RNA. And it does so by a copy
machine, which is called RNA polymerase,
-
because RNA is a polymer and a polymerase
is an enzyme that's making polymers and an
-
RNA polymerase is an enzyme that makes
more RNA. So one way to block that process
-
of making more RNAs, which was similarly,
you know, stop the infection cycle because
-
if it can't produce more RNA, it's got
nothing to put into new viruses is to use
-
remdesivir or so we thought for a long
time. So does this remdesivir. Remdesivir
-
looks to the host cell and to RNA
polymerase in particular, like a
-
nucleotide, like a building block for RNA.
So basically, things are it's new paper it
-
can copy on when in reality it's kind of
explosive like blocks the entire
-
polymerase. So you can imagine this like a
Trojan horse, remdesivir is the Trojan
-
horse and RNA dependent RNA polymerase is
sure looks like RNA to me and just built
-
that into the strand. So we'll have a look
at this molecule. This is, by the way, I
-
should probably go back and explain this
for a moment. This is what we get out of
-
our measurements and electron microscopy.
So this is the so-called reconstruction
-
density, and that's what we built a
molecule in. So that's like what the
-
measurement gave us, everything else we
have to do by hand. So here is the
-
density, and this is what the researcher
built into it. The template strand, the
-
old one, which is to be copied, is green,
the new one is orange. Remdesivir is
-
purple and connected to the end, although
the program doesn't display it as such.
-
What you can also see is free magnesium
ions. That's their own thing and a de
-
phosphate. So what are more molecules that
researchers modeled in there? Where are
-
around it as the protein? So I've just
quickly depicted it without so you can see
-
what's happening because it's all very
crowded and difficult to see around it as
-
the protein and a jump of two proteins to
copy the RNA and to attach one after the
-
other, another building block to the
bottom of the orange chain. It's gotten a
-
remdesivir and it tried to put it there
and it successfully did. And this
-
structure was taken as to prove that
remdesivir will stop corona. But if you
-
look at the density, you can see that the
free magnesium ions and DIPHOSPHATE has no
-
density and are not covered by this great
cloud, right? So we think they were never
-
really there. And the remdesivir itself is
also not having so much density. So it
-
turns out that a structure is not quite
seeing what the researchers did because
-
the density doesn't match up with the
structure they built. And as we later
-
found out in clinical trials, is that
remdesivir, in fact, doesn't really do
-
what people hoped, which, among other
things, has to do with the fact that RNA
-
polymerase from corona virus is able to
proofread go like, Oh, there's a
-
remdesivir, then go back free nucleotides
take rip out the remdesivir, throw it away
-
and get the proper nucleotide to build in.
So. We're hoping that one over pea-rel will
-
be better, which, by the way, uses a
similar mechanism. It's called a
-
nucleotide. Yeah, it's similar to a
nucleotide. Here's another arrow we found
-
in the bottom of the structure, only going
to show you because I think the software
-
by Tristan Kroll is so cool, it does a
real time molecular dynamics simulation
-
while you're dragging around your
structure. We found that there is an error
-
in the way the whole molecule was
arranged. If there's any specialist, there
-
was a nine amino acid out of reach
associate. OK, I'm going to stop like
-
geeking out. There was just an error. Let
me show you how he correct that. So first
-
you marks up the wrong region and then he
releases it and quickly flying-away noise it goes where it's up to
-
go. I wish my life would always be like
this, you said were free days glasses in
-
front of your computer. You need hours to
do this by hand, but his software just
-
does it. Sorry. It's just if you've spent
months doing this, you're totally excited
-
by this wobbly molecule. I just wanted to
show you because I think it's so cool. All
-
right. Back to a more general content. We
have an hour RNA and a let's imagine we
-
didn't get any like good drugs so far, so
the infection cycle is still ongoing. The
-
RNA now is exported from the endoplasmic
reticulum. By the time we make this, we
-
didn't know how. But Hamburg researchers
and Dutch researchers have now found out
-
how this actually works as a pore here and
the pore gets the RNA out. The RNA then
-
gets packed into new nucleocapsid
were also coded by the genome
-
of the virus, then gets wrapped into a new
double membrane, which is host membrane.
-
Just it has no spikes, which also were
produced from the genome. And then, of
-
course, due the Golgi apparatus is somehow
involved, it gets exported. Of course, for
-
everyone that infected a cell, there will
be thousands that are produced and that's
-
the entirety of the SarsCoV 2 viral
life cycle. I know, this was a little bit
-
much, but I think this is cool and
exciting and just about what, you know. I
-
hope the public can understand about this.
It hopefully also tells you why molecular
-
structures are important, so they let us
understand how the virus works, how host
-
cells are infected. They can help us to
find drug targets and to do structure
-
based drug design, where we find drugs
that specifically block these big
-
molecular machines from doing their work.
They also help us to understand the
-
structures of vaccines and antibodies, and
they also let us understand changes due to
-
two mutations, I haven't got an example
because of the time. But when we get a
-
mutation with the structure, I can kind of
tell you, that it is going to change or
-
that it is going to change only by knowing
the new genome. I can already make a
-
prediction about what the mutation is
going to change in a functionality. That's
-
really important. So in my group, we have
some theories what a Micron actually does.
-
We haven't published and we haven't even
tweeted about them yet because we're still
-
waiting for research results. But it's
important to understand these molecular
-
structures, however, is not very easy to
get them. So what are the problems? When we
-
do our measurement, we get density in this
case, the density is blue. It's from the
-
spike head that I've shown in the
beginning, right? So the top that you may
-
recognize, this looks a little bit like
the blue density here. This is the result
-
from our research. And in this case, I
have built almost all of the molecule
-
already, so I'm going to show it. This is
like the software. We're actually using a
-
tenfold to speed I'm usually using, and I
would usually be sitting there with 3D
-
glasses. So here's the density. I said
that with my 3D glasses and this bit
-
hasn't been built, so you can now see me
like by hand. And one bit of molecule
-
after the other trying to get the murder
ought to be, and you can quite well see
-
that the computer is not able to do it all
automatically. So I have to help it a
-
little bit. And as I said, it's about 10
times the speed. It's even got like the
-
warning from the bin program not reacting
all of the software, it's also not
-
commercial. This has been developed by
other scientists, so the usability is like
-
so-so cool, just an amazing program. But
if you want some new functionality, you
-
better program it yourself, because perhaps
no one else is going to do it. And we have
-
actually contributed with a plug in or two
to cut. Yeah, you can see it's not always
-
easy, so I try and go, like, now it's
good. Settings should nicely in the
-
density and here it's fairly easy. My
students love doing this is like for them.
-
It's like computer gaming. They do it for
three months straight. If you don't like,
-
get them off the chair, go right up your
physics. They'll do it forever. And
-
secretly, I'm jealous. Because I also like
doing this. I don't know if you can
-
follow, but this is like playing a game.
Away, if you're interested in playing this
-
game, we are also having. Like practical
places and stuff. Right! So building,
-
building, building, going like, oh,
there's another alanine, I need a pralines
-
or mutated it. I go like, Yeah, OK, now
it's all nicely sitting. So that was easy.
-
But what do I do here? So I've built for
something here. But is it correct? The
-
density does not really tell me what's
going on here, and I'm going to show it
-
this to you in slower again. So you
understand the problem, right? In this
-
then part of the density, I can really not
tell only from the density what's going
-
on. I know approximately what a molecule
must look like due to the sequence. So
-
I've got some information. I know which
Atom is connected to which, but how it all
-
three dimensionally fits in here, even if
I know which lines have to go in, there is
-
super hard. So it would be very easy for
me to make an error here, because the
-
measurement data don't tell me enough
about what the model actually should look
-
like and several interpretation., everal
models would all be possible. So this is
-
kind of difficult. I'm just seeing a
questionnaire that I may want to answer
-
right away. Within could is it possible to
verify if you have chosen created the
-
right building blocks, you know, the
building blocks because of the genome? So
-
Gene tells you the order of amino acids
you want to put after each other. So if
-
you started at the right point, the rest
will also be like the correct atoms and
-
the correct connection. But how it like
three dimensionally faults, you don't
-
know. You have to make that on the
density. So it is possible to do it. You
-
have to write building blocks at hand.
Usually if there are if there is like, you
-
know, if a magnesium ion, for example, is
sitting there, the magnesium ion was not
-
in your genomic information. You just need
to know what you're doing to recognize
-
this is a magnesium ion ore does this a
diophosphate or something like this?
-
Right. Going to answer the rest of the
questions later. Molecular models need to
-
be built by hand. This can lead to errors.
There a few automatic algorithms do work
-
under favorable circumstances, but most of
the stuff still has to happen by hand. As
-
of today, and I got my postdoc from like
holidays for 15 minutes today, and he gave
-
new numbers. So we've got 1909
molecular structures
-
today. New structures come out every
Wednesday. There are 1334 from X-ray
-
crystallography. That's the thing. With
the particle accelerator in Hamburg, I
-
thought, they have been measured at
synchrotrons all over the world. Not only
-
Hamburg, where BioNTech structures have
been measured, but also had SARS. There
-
have been large screens a diamond in Japan
and China at Sesamia, at Solemy, in
-
America. Synchrotrons all over the world
contributed to this. 35 from nuclear
-
magnetic resonance, which is a little bit
of a niche method for this type of study.
-
And 566 from electron microscopy.
So 1909 molecular structures
-
of different states of 17
macromolecules, 17 proteins from a total
-
of 28. So corona virus in total has 28
different genes, 4 proteins. There are 28
-
proteins. And we only structurally know 17
of them. And then we have like different
-
versions of them, different ph, different
temperatures, spike, head bit of spike
-
head, spike head with antibody, things like
that. So a 1900 data sets that's in total.
-
Errors and structures, as we've
just seen, can happen because fit between
-
the data and model is bad, because complete
automation is not possible. Models are
-
built manually expertize in many different
areas needed. You need to be good
-
software. You need to have done all the
lab work. The measurement needs to be done
-
right. Processing needs to be made. You
need to know your statistical validation.
-
You need to know your chemistry. You need
to know your biology. So it's really not
-
easy and you need to know your 3D goggles
unless you get sick from them, in which
-
case you can't use them. One of the major
aspects of software, the methods you're
-
using and this is where we come in. Small
structural errors can lead to big
-
structural problems downstream. Imagine
the bid was to remdesivir, the diphosphate
-
there, the fact that there was something
bound into that structure that was not
-
really there. But the model had dose like
additional free magnesium ions down the
-
line, as I know from insiders, led to like
waste of hundreds thousands of dollars
-
and many hours of work time in drug
discovery because they kind of like fed
-
this model in order to find a drug that
ultimately never bound because of
-
magnesium ion wasn't actually there. So
if we make small structures, that builds
-
up hugely for the downstream applications
where they need these molecular
-
structures. Errors are common. And now we
add to this an ongoing pandemic. Right.
-
And her scientists are there to rescue
today. Lockdown happened, you're sitting
-
at home, there are no colleagues to help
you. Your child is home schooling. The dog
-
wants to be fed, your grandma calls,
because she's worried and you've got to
-
solve the spike structure on which lives
will depend as fast as possible. Normally,
-
we take a year to five to solve a
structure, and in the pandemic you only
-
got three months. Of course, errors are
going to happen. So that's well, just a
-
matter of fact. We've got to arrange
ourselves with it. It's not the fault of
-
individuals, it's how the whole thing
works. It's such a complex process. Errors
-
are going to happen! Now in normal life my
team and I methods developers and
-
structural biology. We are the people, who
give us the experimental techniques and
-
software to solve their structures as best
as we and they can. We're not usually in
-
the in the stage like we're usually, you
know. For every Nobel Prize, there have
-
been like dozens of Nobel Prizes in
structural biology has been methods
-
developed in the background to develop the
methods that made it possible to see, you
-
know, the structure of the DNA double
helix or structure of the ribosome, or the
-
structure of the influenza virus. It's
just that normally we're just enablers.
-
However, here was the pandemic and very
many structures that had errors. So we did
-
what we needed to do. We came together as
a relatively large team under my
-
leadership, we are today 23 people, we
peaked at 27 last year from nine countries
-
to check an improve the molecular
structures of SARS-CoV-1 and SARS-CoV-2.
-
So. We are methods developers, most of are
methods developers, we are specialists in
-
solving structures. We evaluate all the
published Structures and Protein Data
-
Databank or PDB from SARS and SARS-
CoV-2. We reprocess all of them and we
-
remodel them, although not all are looked
at manually, because that would be just
-
too much. We also do a scientific
dissemination, putting these structures
-
into context for people who want to start
doing molecular research on corona virus.
-
And we do public outreach. I'll give you a
quick insight into our pipeline because I
-
thought the software might be interesting
for you. So every Wednesday come new
-
entries of molecules in the protein
databank, which is, by the way, the World
-
Wide Protein Databank is an open, open
resource. Everyone in the world can
-
download the new structures, and all the
journals require people who make new
-
structures to put them there, which is
nice. I'm really privileged to be in a
-
field where the data are public. We
compared the new structures with the NCBI
-
proteomics, so the genes from corona virus
to find the structures that belong to
-
corona virus, put everything into an sql
metha database. Then we calculate how
-
different the structures are from the ones
we already know. We look whether all
-
measurement data available, so we have a
big problem of not all measurement data
-
being published. I hope we are going to be
like astronomy one day, where everything
-
gets published. I am sitting in the some
German cometies to that end STIKO AM which
-
is a very new hub. And then we run a
number of specialized programs which all
-
do validation and put the results on
GitHub immediately. On Thursday, at the
-
latest, researchers can find our elevation,
remodeling and the quality indication for
-
the structure everything, that can be done
automatically online. We then, for some
-
structures, manually rebuilt them, so we
actively look weathered our problems, that
-
was, for example, the case with the
remdesivir structure. We tried to do this
-
for those structures that we think drug
designers will use the most or that are
-
really important. And when we find errors,
we contact our original office first and
-
tell them we found an error here is the
corrected structure. Use our data, you
-
don't need to cite us, just correct your
structure in the database, please. This
-
means we won't get credit, but I meant
that at the beginning of the pandemic,
-
people were adjusting their structures
already when the preprint was out, so
-
there would not be problems downstream.
And I have often been asked I would like
-
to like this again. That was really like
why people accepted our corrections,
-
because they didn't need to give anyone
credit. They could just like change them.
-
And the database is also online, so
everyone from the Philippines to the U.S.
-
can just use them, whether it's like a
commercial person or a taxpayer, or a
-
private person research institution, a
foundation, everyone can use our data.
-
They're just online there for everyone,
and we only ask them to give us credit in
-
the form of a reference citation. We
disseminate the data via GitHub via
-
Twitter. 3D bio notes, which is a three
dimensional database linking directly into
-
our database, we contact the offers. We
also have entries in Proteopedia. Molprobity,
-
which is a virtual bioinformatics
institute, links directly into our
-
database. So they're always like up to
date showing what we are doing. We have a
-
homepage and we do reviews. There's a lot
of downstream users. The biggest ones are
-
the EU Jedi Grand Challenge folding at
home, which peaked out in July last year.
-
I think a 2.4 xTFLOPs computing power for
molecular simulations and used in the
-
majority our models to start from. And
also very big is IBM open pandemics. But
-
there are a number of others, plus many
individual apps. So we found a great new
-
many friends. Here is our homepage, that's
where you can find it. There's also an
-
English version, you can find blog posts
for the public and for scientists. And in
-
the end, I would like to talk for like
five minutes about daily life in ritual
-
mobility. So my team is over 20 people
from nine to ... we cover nine time zones,
-
right? Where nine hours time shift apart.
And we had several lockdowns. So.
-
Actually, the majority of people in the
task force, about half of them don't work
-
for me. They are volunteering their
researchers elsewhere that volunteer to be
-
a part of this effort. And there are many
people in the task force who have never
-
like personally met. So how do you make
group coherence if you are working for 20
-
months or 22 months by now in an
environment like this, right? We founded
-
ourselves in March 2020 as a chat group
called the Coronavirus Structural Task
-
Force, which was a job back then. It
didn't remain a joke. But that's how life
-
plays. We have everyday Zoom meetings at
10 o'clock, one time per week in the
-
afternoon. So do people from Oregon can
join us. We do a lot of like media
-
outreach in international and German
media. We've been like on nano and Terra X
-
and Planet E, we've been in breakfast
television. That was a particularly
-
interesting experience. My email got link
to Querdenker and I got a few very
-
interesting email exchanges. I also must
say I never got insulted or frightened by
-
anyone, so I just discussed with them and
it worked out. And I'm happy because like
-
I understood, like how, what the theories
are, and that was very interesting. Keep
-
the media also like to write about my
hair, my eyes, blah blah blah on these
-
things. I just want to note that Streeck
is about my age, and Drosten is only nine
-
years older than me. So really? OK,
whatever. Most importantly, they're
-
talking about our research. We also did a
lot of social media. I got a Twitter
-
account. Everyone else did as well. You
can watch us work on Twitch if you're
-
interested. We found that people find it
soothing to see us modeling these
-
structures. I was requested to make
stickers for the team as soon as we got a
-
grant and we got funded by the Federal
Ministry for Research and Education in
-
2020. We have a YouTube channel where you
can, for example, see the entry animation
-
and the students brought a cactus, which
is called Corina the Corona Cactus. I
-
know. It looked like we had fun, and we
did. I can tell you being caught, you
-
know, being at home, having to care for
your children. Having people dying. Having
-
an ongoing pandemic, knowing that I 'd be
more open pandemics is going to spend
-
another million based on your research.
And also that ZDF wants to talk to you and
-
the Berliner Abendblatt. This is so
stressful! Think about all the
-
responsibility we had, and it was really
terrible for us, so we needed to cheer up
-
every here and then, the whole group kind
of like grew together and we all became
-
friends. This was unheard. For us, it was
very uncommon as researchers. Typically,
-
our behavior with each other is much more
formal than their behavior and this group
-
was. But these were like exceptional
times, and we wanted to fight the pandemic
-
and inform the public. That's what we were
there for and was not so much about
-
personal gain. And that was nice. We have
a group chat. You know, I mean, I'm
-
talking to right audience, right? We have
a group chat. Do you know what that looks
-
like? Let me tell you. Typically,
professors don't communicate with this.
-
We have a virtual, Oh, we have a
virtual space. We hope to change to work
-
adventure soon. We all want to play games
in the evening occasionally with the
-
group, so we do some team building
efforts. When people can meet in person,
-
they usually do and sometimes they go and
travel and like, meet each other. But this
-
has been very limited. And we did grow
together as a network, that will be there
-
after the pandemic, so we are 25 people
all over the planet that did this
-
together. And even if we wouldn't have
made any difference against the virus, I
-
would still be happy to have done it for
the friendships I made. However, we did
-
make a dent. We don't quite know how big
it is because our science was open science
-
and the results could be gotten by
everyone without reference. But we know a
-
few things wouldn't have happened without
us. And I'm. Deeply grateful for having
-
had a purpose during this pandemic. In the
end, I have a little bit of a more serious
-
topic. My contract is going to run out in
May. I think it's going to be prolonged.
-
When it will, I'll be signing my 14 work
contract since 2008. 14, like I had 13
-
year contracts already out of all my task
force members, there is only one holding a
-
permanent position and two which are
retired. Everyone else, including six
-
people whose contract is going to run out
next year, are on temporary contracts and
-
not students. Students are extra. That the
students are on time limited contracts is
-
OK, but Germany's got a problem. 84
percent of academics in German
-
universities are on time limited
contracts. So are we. Only one task force
-
member has was a permanent position
signed, and that's not me. And this is not
-
so much on my behalf, because I'm going to
find my way through life. Look at all the
-
exposure I had, but there are people out
there who are single moms and dads, who
-
come from less privileged backgrounds or
had a harder life and who can just not
-
afford to be on one year contracts all the
time while holding a Ph.D.. We're losing
-
all these bright people and I'm seeing
them right. They leave my institute and
-
they go to industry. And then the
universities complain that they're not
-
competitive. We need to change the system.
We need to have more permanent positions
-
in science. I promise we won't perform
worse, if you give us permanent contracts.
-
We love what we are doing. So back to the
corona topic. In order to understand the
-
virus and its life cycle, we need to
understand its molecular biology. This
-
will help with the design of therapeutics.
We evaluated these molecular structures
-
with a bespoke pipeline, an expert
knowledge provided context and reached out
-
to the taxpayer and the general public to
inform them. We also wrote a paper
-
together with long off a list making the
invisible enemy visible, which is our
-
motto. And as we started this all with
questions, I'm going to end with
-
questions. Structural biology remains
difficult. What can we learn from our
-
findings? Should we, as a scientists
community, change our attitudes towards
-
errors? Should this serve as a model for
other projects, cannot serve as a model
-
for other projects? I hadn't thought about
this, but a nature editor asked me when I
-
was writing a comment whether we believe
that science should always be like this?
-
My God, that would be awesome. I would
totally be up for it if science would
-
always be like this! Come together with a
bunch of friends, but without funding!
-
Start doing something to, you know, fight
a global pandemic, then get some funding.
-
Still, having like no senior people on a
project. Can open science compete? I don't
-
know. We get pretty little credit. It
would, definitely. OK, science compete. I
-
don't know, it doesn't quite look like it
still getting measured only by the
-
citations my paper gets. And well, at
least a paper is not behind a paywall, but
-
if we would have published all our stuff
in like papers would possibly get more
-
credit. I really don't know, but we need
to work on this. If we want science, we
-
need to change how people are rewarded.
How senior they really need to be. I'm 39.
-
It seems I'm called a junior group leader.
All of us are young. The youngest is 24.
-
He's writing our first Alpha article about
a corona virus protein. I feel that the
-
German academic system and all over the
world, actually you need to be older and
-
older to become a professor and be
permanent and be like a grant holder. I
-
don't think it's necessary, I think that
professors could be 30 and the world
-
wouldn't, you know, like, go down. Well,
what will change in science after a
-
pandemic? We had like large exposure. It
certainly will also have to do with like
-
questions like did the virus now come from
an app or didn't it? That, you know, would
-
change how people view science, I'm sure.
How will scientists be viewed by the
-
public? Right. Right now, of course, you
know, mom and dad are very proud, but.
-
What's going to change? Are we going to
still be the bad guys because we often
-
are. But I'm like general, exclusively
taxpayer funded. I never took any money
-
from the pharmaceutical industry. I have
like, you know, no stakes in this game.
-
I'm just like earning tax money, so I
feel that, there is a whole complex of
-
difficult things there, how people regard
science, but definitely the pandemic is
-
going to change, how science is going to
be viewed. What's that going to be?
-
Exspiration In the end. I'd like to
thank all the task force members and all
-
our collaboration partners and our
scientific fairy godmother, Alvin Pearson,
-
who had little role in this research but
much role in our mentorship and bringing
-
us forward. My home, the University of
Hamburg, the Coronavirus Structural
-
Taskforce, our we are funded by the
Deutsches Officials Command Trust and the
-
Federal Ministry for Research and
Education. I would like to point out that
-
we are looking for student assistance, not
only for scientific work, but also for
-
social media video and programing work and
3D printing. So if you know anyone who's
-
interested, please point him in my
direction. My email is there. We are also
-
offering Bachelor, Master and Ph.D. thesis
in areas that cover both Lab work and
-
computer work, which is a rare thing these
days. You can find us on YouTube and the
-
internet and on Twitter and. I'm looking
forward to the discussion. And thanks for
-
listening.
melzai_a: You write it, so.laughing
-
Andrea: I just brought it up, must have
bmbF because I'm now sitting on the screen
-
on dislike committees more and more, I'm
reaching an age where I'm sitting on
-
committees and I told them legacy software
is a problem.
-
melzai_a: It's a real.big problem.
Andrea: You know, it's very troubling that
-
the software is written in Fortran. Not
every second Linus go to, so it's written
-
like assembler. No one knows what's in
there anymore. And if a person dies, we're
-
not going to be able to do anything about
the algorithms. They're just going to be
-
lost.
melzai_a: Exactly. And they are. So you
-
have to first influence to grant writing
institutes that there are grants out so
-
that this software can read is reversed.
And this software is not easy. So that's
-
not your typical web page, so you need to
work together in such groups. And so it's
-
a very interesting piece of the problem, I
have to say. So sadly, as a PhD student went,
-
we weren't we were looking into this for
the second. Ah.. This is too big of a cake
-
to eat. laughing It was very
interesting. So I can also this and you
-
let you do it. The nudel tool suite, and
that's also only maintained by, I think,
-
three people also. So even that one, it's
with many more. It's still not good. So
-
just my sense of that one.
Andrea: So I brought my Ph.D. thesis. I
-
worked on chalex?? and that faces similar
problems.
-
melzai_a: Yeah, it's it's just used in the
entire world to solve every small molecule
-
structure. There is more or less it was
like, Yeah, so questions were the
-
questions. Frankly, we ain't got a first
question, I think around 20 or 30 minutes
-
ago, if we yeah, that's that's why that
was so great as a signal angel, she's
-
picking up all of these points. And so the
first question was how do the virus
-
variants affect the shape or form of the
virus?
-
Andrea: I think they so no matter like,
OK, this is the old model as we know, then
-
there should be fewer spikes and should be
a bit smaller. But nothing would change on
-
this view, like the scale is way too
large. The mutations each change about 10
-
atoms, so every like amino acid at this
different, it's about 10 atoms. And those
-
changes would be so small you could not
see them on the virus model. You'd
-
actually need to look at the head of the
spike in order to see the mutation and
-
what it actually does. So the changes are
too small to show them in the model. That
-
doesn't mean they're not meaningful. So as
you've seen, like the head of the spike
-
binds to the host, to the host cell, to
ACE2 receptor, and that binding is highly
-
influenced by this by the mutations. Now
we found that we may end up lucky because
-
the same paths were to antibody as binding
is also the piece that binds to the host
-
cell. So everything that would mate
despite change in a way that the antibody
-
couldn't bind any more to it. For its head
would have also changed how it bound to
-
the host cell. However, it seems that
Omicron is still able to bind human cells
-
very efficiently, while antibodies cannot
recognize it so easily. That may have to
-
do with like this finger's actually like
packed and you could imagine like putting
-
cotton wool around it. That's called
glycosylation. It's got long sugar changes
-
that are rule, and they're there to
obscure the immune system, like the
-
antibody goes like orders, wool. I can't
really find where I'm on to bind. Is it
-
here? I don't know. And that's changed in
Omicron, but it's not fully understand
-
yet. I saw there was a new structure this
week, but I haven't looked at it yet.
-
However, the changes are too small to show
it in the virus model. They're like really
-
tiny changes. And another change that
happens in Omicron as well is the
-
proofreading mechanism. When the RNA is
copied is like damaged and we think it's
-
damaged. So their so-called eNd RNA, which
is a proofreading protein, its sharp is
-
like to go like a star and correct? Yes,
correct, correct. Correct. That seems to
-
be a little bit broken. So it could be
that Omicron is accumulating so many
-
mutations because it's RNA copy machine.
It's like not working as it should is
-
basically not proofreading. That would
mean that more viruses are produced that
-
are not viable and cannot survive. But it
would also mean that it mutates much
-
faster, and we think that may have an
influence. But that's just theory. So far
-
this hypothesis, we haven't proven it yet.
So this is why I haven't tweeted about it
-
yet, because it's just a theory, but it
would make sense, right?
-
melzai_a: Connected to that, I would have
a question the ice receptor of small children
-
is a little bit different than that one
of the adults to you do know about that
-
because all the concern to what's more,
the smaller children are the defense.
-
Andrea: I can't. I have read that, but I
haven't looked into it properly. So I'm
-
I'm afraid I'm not going to answer this
question because I feel I would rather not
-
say anything about it than say something
that's wrong especially.
-
melzai_a: Well. We're looking forward to
the secretary's right in the public PDB so
-
that everybody can look at them and.
Andrea: Know we live in an age of
-
preprint, and very often the PDB papers
are there when a preprint comes out, which
-
is how we called so many errors, right?
They published a preprint, they put out a
-
structure. We went like, there's errors in
the structures. And then when they
-
published actual paper, everything was
corrected.
-
melzai_a: And she's agreed that believe
the changes, I think are checked on the
-
PDB.
melzai_a: This is, in fact, because yes,
-
that's that's what IT people like
because then that, you know, there's a
-
history is very important. And there's a
second question and it goes towards the
-
tools that I use to simulate those
molecules.
-
Andrea: Wait, wait, wait, wait. I have a
follow up to this: thing that I would
-
really like to see, but it hasn't happened
yet. The PDB is a very static repository
-
where only original offers are allowed to
change their structures. Now, imagine if
-
the protein data bank would be like GitHub
with pull requests. We could go like, go
-
like, changed the molecule around. Go
like, no, it's a better fit to your data.
-
Please pull.
Herald: That would be a very subversive
-
proposition. I would say.
Andrea: Yeah, wouldn't that be nice? I'm
-
like, Why aren't we doing this? It's like
the system is already there. It happens
-
that we have like repositories for a while
in software development. We could do the
-
same thing with models fitted to our
experimental data. But I think I need to
-
go into more committees.
melzai_a: Yeah, it sounds like this. I
-
would agree for that proposal. There was a
person that was asking about the toolsset
-
that you would use to simulate those
molecules and structures and so on. And if
-
you then create these more usable pictures
for the public, how do you balance
-
artist's impression simplified models and while keeping the scientific truth as
-
much as well as possible.
Andrea: The question you don't need the
-
public even to have this problem. You have
it already when you make pictures
-
scientifically. Because sometimes you want
to show our certain aspects of a molecule
-
very clearly, which means you have to cut
away, for example, a part of the molecule.
-
So one answer to this is the program that
does. The modeling is not a program that
-
you use to make the pictures. That's the
first thing you do. So you make your model
-
with one program and then you take all the
coordinates of the atoms and you throw
-
them into a professional rendering program
that like, we'll do it all pretty. But you
-
still have to make an executive decision
on what to show in your graphics, in your
-
paper. And I think that in particular,
structural biologists, who deal with three
-
dimensional and two-dimensional pictures,
we would do very well to think a lot more
-
about scientific illustration. So all my
team likes thinking about these things,
-
which is, I think, how we got where we are
now, right? They actually like stuff like
-
this. They go like, Oh, we can print it 3D
and we can put a magnet on it and it's
-
going to stick. But it turns out that
scientists also need these tools to
-
understand what's going on. It's like
actually having a 3D model helps you so
-
much with thinking about things. Crick and
Watson. They build a model of their DNA in
-
metal for a reason. Because we're looking
at three dimensional things, making them
-
like understandable with our hands. So
yes, as a good researcher, you're not only
-
able to explain your research to the
cleaning woman, you should also be able to
-
visualize it properly. And it's part of
the art. If you are a structural biologist
-
and you're not able to make good pictures
of your molecules, you're not a good
-
structural biologist. End of story. You're
in the wrong discipline, you should have
-
possibly chosen something where you need
less graphics.
-
melzai_a: And I think one of your industry
does is actually a of biologist by
-
training. Right? I think you've got...
Andrea: Tomasello is a proper biologist.
-
Thomas Splettstössersplit shrews as a prop about like a
Ph.D. in bioinformatics and Janet Erosa,
-
and LiU are both scientists who are having
a group that only deals with illustration.
-
So it's actually in science. We have
several groups in the world and structural
-
biology who only do illustration as
science. So David Goodsell with his
-
watercolors, is very well known, but Janet
Erosa is another one. So actually making
-
these animations and pictures is so
complicated that television can't do it.
-
And the ZDF made a series of animations,
so they made very nice ones for Planet E
-
Rizzo and Nano with us. But then they
asked my expertize to make another
-
animation. And they only had like a call
with us, and they never came back and then
-
published a completely wrong animation of
the entire viral mechanism under my name.
-
And I'm still sad every time I see it
three times a day. Heute Journal shows a
-
wrong structure of the virus for which
they claim that I helped them make it, and
-
I wrote to them and told them, Your
depiction of the virus is wrong. I can
-
help you make a new one. But it seems that
it's 2. deutsche Fernsehen der heute Journal at least didn't
-
care on. I guess they think it's not
important enough, but I think with a
-
threat like this where we really cannot
see the virus, it is important to bring to
-
the public the best possible depiction we
can deliver. Sometimes, however, as I
-
said, you omit certain aspects, for
example, to show the effects of a mutation
-
yet only showed a side of the mutation.
You don't show all the atoms. But. That's
-
really an important part of what we are
doing. Like pointing out the important
-
bits of ...
melzai_a: Scientific information is so
-
important, I think we have one final
question, which I would say comes out
-
comes towards the direction of the immune
system. And the question would be can you
-
can you define vaccine on purpose so that
the immune system can forget how to
-
produce the antibodies after a defined
period of time? And I think the concern
-
here is about increasing your
financial gain in the crisis, for example.
-
So programed obsolescence, as both of
those mentioned. So you're a bit late. So
-
if you could keep it short, that would be
great. OK? Andrea: The quick answer is no,
-
that's not possible. You can make. You can
enhance how long vaccines and how much
-
immune response you get from a vaccine or
certain additives. But you can not, like
-
make them a definite time because
everybody is different. So even when you
-
get your booster shot, they say six
months, but you may need it after three
-
months or you may need it after 12
authorityto. It's very hard to tell. And
-
pharma industry does not have tools that
would allow them that, to my knowledge. So
-
I think that's not a risk.
melzai_a: I mean, it's it's a human
-
system, and so complex is the rocket to
the Moon. So.
-
Andrea: I think it's a it's a valid
concern. It's just technologically not
-
possible. Luckily, I guess.
melzai_a: The final and really last question, I think,
-
is where can somebody find the 3D models
out there?
-
Andrea: Oh, you can go to inside
Corona..de and find a blog post about a 3D
-
thing or you go to Thingy Reuss and you
look for inside corona. I can. Yeah. Yeah.
-
I just go to. I just put it in. Why not
that? That's our home page and then on
-
thingy worse. It's also called inside
corona. And you can also write me a
-
message on Twitter if you don't find it at
a turn up. And remember, we're going to
-
put out a new model soon in January, but
I'm still waiting for the final files and
-
holiday. So it will be a few more weeks.
melzai_a: So but that trend in January,
-
not in December 2008. Yeah, exactly. Or
printed?
-
Andrea: Yes. So thank you very much for
having me.
-
melzai_a: Yeah, it was good. Thank you.
And I think if they are no more questions.
-
Everybody. All right. Oh, you know how it
looks like? I think that's really
-
important. I think one and a half years
ago, I came across the first pictures was
-
like, This is how it looks like. Now I can
tell it to the people who who don't read
-
the scientific original papers because
they are so difficult to read. So. Yeah.
-
Good. You know. And thanks for being here
and looking forward to hearing and seeing
-
more and hopefully once this will be over.
I think
-
Andrea: I hope so too. Going back out of
the spotlight to being just a Methods
-
developer, that would be nice.
Herald: That would be nice, yes.
-
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