A study by Ralf Barten­schlager has been published in the journal Nature Communications

The main aim of the project was to identify the morpho­log­i­cal changes within a cell that are triggered by SARS-CoV‑2. The team was able to create 3D recon­struc­tions of whole cells and their subcel­lu­lar compart­ments. "We are provid­ing criti­cal insights into virus-induced struc­tural changes in the studied human cells," says Ralf Barten­schlager, who worked on the project with other researchers EMBL Heidelberg.

The insights gained repre­sent a valuable surplus for the entire research world. "This way we can support the global effort to study how SARS-CoV‑2 inter­acts with its host," says Yannick Schwab, who also contributed to the project. The team hopes that their collected infor­ma­tion will help in the devel­op­ment of antivi­ral drugs.