@Swca.ch 7 October 2020 edited more from that month

Crunching folding@home project 14909: Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2)

Today my laptop was working on project 14909. This project relates to COVID-19 virus transfection. Every project with F@H has short description and a reference to the research institution and project leader: https://stats.foldingathome.org/project?p=14909 https://shuklagroup.org/ - project 14909 researcher webpage.

****What I learned today**** by contributing my laptop power to science is that Covid-19 virus infects cell via ACE2 receptor. ACE2 sits on the cell membrane. There are great illustrations on how transfection works in this article: https://theconversation.com/what-is-the-ace2-receptor-how-is-it-connected-to-coronavirus-and-why-might-it-be-key-to-treating-covid-19-the-experts-explain-136928 ****What is ACE2, where it can be found and why this is important?**** Renin-angiotensing system regulates blood pressure and Angiotensin is a hormone that increases blood pressure by causing vasoconstriction. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renin%E2%80%93angiotensin_system https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angiotensin ACE2 lowers blood pressure by reducing the amount of Angiotensin II. ACE2 exists in many tissues and organs incl. ❤️ heart, arterials, lungs, kidney. It sits on the cell membranes as mentioned above. I assume all the organs should regulate blood pressure and ACE2 enzyme and receptor is one of the protein involved in this process. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angiotensin-converting_enzyme_2 ****ACE2 is an important point of research**** because it is the main entry point of COVID-19 and some other viruses. ****How ACE2 research can help fight diseases**** and are there any new treatments being developed? Querying clinical trials database just by ACE2 returns 11 active clinical trials:

This is a link to ACE2 trials and everyone can search database to find other clinical trials. clintrials.gov database is open to the general public. https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/results?cond=Angiotensin-converting+enzyme+2&Search=Apply&recrs=b&recrs=a&recrs=f&recrs=d&age_v=&gndr=&type=&rslt= Clinical trials are very expensive, cost millions of dollars. This means we have a good chance that some studies will deliver successful treatments. And Covid-19 will be successfully treated or eliminated. Most exiting part of this story is that everyone can participate in fundamentals research by donating computer power to scientists. ****Entry points are here:**** https://foldingathome.org https://boinc.berkeley.edu/