Visualizing the SARS-CoV-2 Life Cycle

SARS-CoV-2 is defining disease of the current era. Many biological researchers have redirected their focus to understanding and defeating the virus, rapidly leading to new insights into how the virus gains access to and hijacks human cells. University of Utah Health investigator Janet Iwasa, PhD, and colleagues have used this information to create detailed molecular animations of different stages of the SARS-CoV-2 life cycle. The animations have been released to the research community and the public, embedded within a web-based user interface that allows users to interact with the animation in order to view annotations (such as protein names and citations), ask questions, and make comments. The annotation functionality, developed in collaboration with Miriah Meyer, PhD, now at Linköping University, is critical for describing the data used to create the visualization, and for discussing aspects of the life cycle that are not yet well understood.