A professor and researcher at the University of Alberta says being able to use the Canadian Light Source on the University of Saskatchewan campus has been integral in their work towards finding a drug that will combat COVID-19. Janet Lemieux says the research team for this project includes the Departments of Biochemistry, Chemistry, and Microbiology and Immunobiology on the U of A campus.

So far, the researchers have developed several different compounds that inhibit the enzyme found in the COVID-19 virus, which work to stop viral replication in cells. The next step is testing the antivirals to assess their safety before moving on to human clinical trials.

Lemieux adds that one of the arms of research is to ensure these antivirals also work in the Variants of Concern, including the Delta variant.
She notes that the enzyme can change with the different variants, so they want to make sure the antiviral drugs are also effective with the current and future variants.