D01

Polymer-based nanoparticles are a promising approach for drug formulation. The modification of their surface also allows tissue- and cell-type-specific accumulation and could help to avoid adverse effects. Coronaviruses, such as SARS-CoV2, have special surface structures (spike proteins) to dock to and infect their target cells in the human organism. Since effective drug therapies for coronaviruses are still rare, this project deals with the creation of a toolbox for the preparation of drug loaded virus-like nanoparticles with the potential of an easy adoption to different viruses. The aim is to deliver the anti-viral drugs specifically into potentially virus-infected cells and tissue to fight future pandemic incidences fast and efficiently. Spike proteins will be used as targeting moiety on the virus-like nanoparticles and their uptake mechanism will be compared to wild-type and non-infectious virus-like particles, both for human SARS-CoV-2 in cell systems and murine hepatitis coronavirus in organisms.