Medicinal Chemistry & Chemical Biology, Short talk
MC-027

Immunological Epitope Mapping of the SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein

L. Farrera Soler1, S. Barluenga1, J. Daguer1, N. Winssinger1*
1Department of Organic Chemistry, National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) in Chemical Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Geneva

On December 2019 a novel infectious disease causing pneumonia was identified in the city of Wuhan (China). This new infectious disease (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has significantly impacted the economy, education and life of many countries in the world. The World Health Organization declared it a pandemic on the 11th March 2020. Mapping the epitope response of the immune system against the virus is of vital importance since it can lead to potential vaccines, more specific serological tests and to neutralizing antibodies which could be finally used as a treatment. In this work, using a peptide microarray, we have identified 3 immunodominant regions on the spike protein which are only present in COVID-19 convalescent patients’ sera which could lead to potential neutralizing antibodies.