The new crown virus has caused the infection of more than 200 million people worldwide, of which more than 4 million have died. The virus that appeared more than a year ago is still evolving and tormenting all over the world. Although vaccines can reduce the infection rate and the rate of severe illness, there are still no well-targeted therapeutic drugs, so the development of anti-coronavirus drugs is imperative. Papain-like protease (PLpro) is a key enzyme of the virus. It cuts the newly synthesized viral polypeptide chain into working viral proteins. At the same time, it can inhibit interferon-stimulating protein 15 (ISG15) so that the virus can escape human cells. Intrinsic antiviral response. Dr. Yaoqi Zhou's research group at Shenzhen Bay Laboratory, Dr. Jian Zhan from Griffith University, and Southern Medical University Wei Xu 's research group collaborated to establish two methods for screening PLpro inhibitors, and successfully found two from the clinically approved drug library. An inhibitor with a 50% inhibitory concentration (IC₅₀) less than 10μM. The study was published in International Journal of Biological Macromolecules (2021).For details, please click: News link