The hope is to "identify 77 small-molecule drug compounds", which could help in fighting against the coronavirus.

Jeremy Smith, Director for the Center for Molecular Biophysics, worked with another researcher, Micholas D. Smith, from the University of Tennessee and used a supercomputer known as “Summit” to detect "small-molecule drug compounds" to combat the coronavirus.

The computer, which is used by the University in partnership with the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), can work as fast as 100,000 laptop computers working at the same time. It is considered the world's "most powerful" computer.

“It’s capable of doing calculations very, very, quickly. The response to the new coronavirus needs to be quick ... The work it can do in one day would take months on a normal computer,” Jeremy Smith told Knoxville-based WATE.

With the help of the computer’s quick calculations, thousands of simulations were performed and narrowed down to different components. All sorts of compounds were tested, including some that are already well-known drugs and other widely-used chemicals. The team was able to use Summit to identify 77 small-molecule drug compounds that may be effective in helping to treat the coronavirus and ranked the compounds of interest that may have value in further study.

These results were published on ChemRxiv.

Smith built a model of the coronavirus’ spike protein (below), which is based on early studies of its structure.

The compound (gray) had been calculated to "bind to the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, shown in cyan, to prevent it from docking to the Human Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme 2, or ACE2, receptor, shown in purple." | Courtesy of Micholas Smith/Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy

"We were able to design a thorough computational model based on information that has only recently been published in the literature on this virus," Smith said, in reference to a study published in Science China Life Sciences.

The researchers' digital findings will be tested in a lab in a controlled environment on a sample of the live coronavirus to see if there is a reaction. This testing will likely happen quickly to see if the compound from the digital formula is successful in treating the coronavirus. If it is not successful, the process will start again to whittle down thousands of compounds to find the right combination for a drug to treat the virus.

Normally, this research takes months to complete, and then it will need to be submitted for peer review before being published. In this case, however, if the team is successful, the research will be published without the peer review process in order to speed up the distribution of a cure, should one be found.

The supercomputer has been used by the team before to work on finding cures for diabetes and osteoporosis among other diseases, according to Smith.

Let us know what you think about this recent development in the comments.