JCN Newswire
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Fujitsu Japan Embarks on Joint Research for COVID-19 Therapies Using World’s Fastest Supercomputer with Researchers of RCAST, The University of Tokyo

ruth
6 minutes

TOKYO, Jun 22, 2021 - (JCN Newswire via SEAPRWire.com) - Fujitsu Japan Limited today announced that it will initiate a new research project with a research team led by Takefumi Yamashita, Project Associate Professor of Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology (RCAST) , the University of Tokyo utilizing the world's fastest supercomputer, Fugaku, which was jointly developed by RIKEN and Fujitsu. The research will leverage Fugaku to identify small molecule inhibitory compounds that can be used as potential drugs in treatments for COVID-19 as well as clarifying the molecular mechanism by which COVID-19 infections are inhibited, leading to the eventual development of small molecule therapeutic drugs. Full scale research begins on June 22nd, 2021 and will continue until March of 2022.Fig.1 Docking simulation of viral protein and inhibitory compoundFig. 2 Molecular Dynamics Simulations of Viral Proteins and Inhibitory CompoundsFig. 3 Property prediction of mutant strainsIn their joint research, Fujitsu and RCAST will leverage IT drug discovery technology with a focus on inhibitory compound creation technology and molecular simulation technology that precisely represents the sta...

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askST: How do CT values and serology tests tell if a person is still infectious?

aseanpr
4 minutes

SINGAPORE - Looking at serology tests and CT values are ways to determine if a person is still infectious or has recovered from a past infection. Clara Chong sheds light on what these mean. Q: What is a serology test? A: A serology test involves a blood sample, to detect the presence of antibodies. It can show if the person might have been previously infected. Patients have antibodies around two weeks after they recover from the infection and will not have them at the point of infection. Serology tests are done by the Health Ministry to understand if a patient has the virus antibodies, which could imply an earlier infection. Q: What is CT value and how does it relate to viral load? A: Otherwise known as cycle threshold, CT value is a number that comes up during a real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (real-time RT-PCR) test, used widely here and touted as the gold standard for Covid-19 testing. The test looks for genetic sequences specific to Sars-CoV-2, the virus causing Covid-19. During a PCR reaction, genetic material from the virus is amplified, and multiple copies are created. Amplification takes place through a series of cycles - a single copy becomes two,...