{"id":25891,"date":"2026-05-25T08:51:43","date_gmt":"2026-05-25T08:51:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/idibe.umh.es\/?p=25891"},"modified":"2026-05-25T08:51:43","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T08:51:43","slug":"idibe-contributes-to-the-development-of-a-novel-antiviral-strategy-against-sars-cov-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/idibe.umh.es\/en\/2026\/05\/25\/idibe-contributes-to-the-development-of-a-novel-antiviral-strategy-against-sars-cov-2\/","title":{"rendered":"IDiBE Contributes to the Development of a Novel Antiviral Strategy Against SARS-CoV-2"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Researchers Ana Mar\u00eda Fern\u00e1ndez Escamilla and Gregorio Fern\u00e1ndez Ballester from the Institute for Research in Biotechnology and Health (IDiBE-UMH)<\/strong> have participated in a study led by the <strong>University of M\u00e1laga (UMA)<\/strong> that proposes an innovative antiviral strategy against <strong>SARS-CoV-2<\/strong>, the virus responsible for COVID-19. The findings, published in the journal <em>Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy<\/em>, open new avenues for the development of more effective treatments against emerging coronaviruses and future resistant variants.<\/p>\n<p>The study presents a therapeutic approach based on the combination of two complementary mechanisms. On the one hand, structure-guided peptides were designed using computational modeling techniques to target viral proteins that are essential for both viral replication and immune evasion. On the other hand, a mutagenic nucleoside analog was used to increase the accumulation of errors in the viral genome during replication. The combined action of these two strategies produced a strong synergistic effect, dramatically reducing viral infectivity and promoting viral genetic collapse.<\/p>\n<p>Results obtained in cell culture models demonstrated that this combination not only reduced viral load but also profoundly altered the genetic diversity of the virus, limiting its ability to adapt and survive. Furthermore, because the targeted viral proteins are highly conserved among different coronaviruses, this strategy could provide the foundation for the development of broad-spectrum antiviral therapies.<\/p>\n<p>The study is the result of a multidisciplinary collaboration led by the <strong>University of M\u00e1laga<\/strong>, involving researchers from several Spanish institutions, including <strong>IDiBE at Miguel Hern\u00e1ndez University of Elche<\/strong>, <strong>IBIMA Plataforma BIONAND<\/strong>, <strong>Virgen de la Victoria University Hospital<\/strong>, the <strong>Severo Ochoa Molecular Biology Center (CSIC-UAM)<\/strong>, the <strong>Autonomous University of Madrid<\/strong>, and the <strong>Jim\u00e9nez D\u00edaz Foundation<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Ana Mar\u00eda Fern\u00e1ndez Escamilla\u2019s contribution highlights IDiBE\u2019s commitment to excellence in biomedical research and to the development of innovative therapeutic strategies against infectious diseases with major public health impact. This work represents a significant step toward more robust antiviral treatments that are less prone to the emergence of resistance.<\/p>\n<p>\ud83d\udd17 <strong>More information:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=72AD-3X-twE&amp;t=6s\">https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=72AD-3X-twE&amp;t=6s<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\ud83d\udcd6 <strong>Reference<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Ortega Del Campo S, Fern\u00e1ndez Ballester GJ, Blanes Mira C, Guirado Osorio V, D\u00edaz Mart\u00ednez L, de \u00c1vila AI, Soria ME, Mart\u00ednez-Gonz\u00e1lez B, Villena Gonz\u00e1lez FJ, G\u00f3mez-Maldonado J, Viciana Ramos MI, Clavijo Frutos E, Santos Gonz\u00e1lez JL, Bastolla U, Perales C, Domingo E, Viguera E, Fern\u00e1ndez Escamilla AM, Grande P\u00e9rez A. (2026). <em>Synergistic antiviral effects of structure-guided peptides and a mutagenic base analog on SARS-CoV-2 replication<\/em>. <strong>Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy<\/strong>, e01885-25. <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1128\/aac.01885-25\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1128\/aac.01885-25<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Researchers Ana Mar\u00eda Fern\u00e1ndez Escamilla and Gregorio Fern\u00e1ndez Ballester from the Institute for Research in Biotechnology and Health (IDiBE-UMH) have participated in a study led by the University of M\u00e1laga (UMA) that proposes an innovative antiviral strategy against SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19. The findings, published in the journal Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, open [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30369,"featured_media":25888,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/idibe.umh.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25891"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/idibe.umh.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/idibe.umh.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/idibe.umh.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30369"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/idibe.umh.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25891"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/idibe.umh.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25891\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/idibe.umh.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25888"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/idibe.umh.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/idibe.umh.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/idibe.umh.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}