Antiviral Therapeutics: Graphene Oxide Nanosheets Interact and Interfere with SARS-CoV-2 Surface Proteins and Cell Receptors to Inhibit Infectivity (Small 25/2021)

ABSTRACT

In article number 2101483, Kostas Kostarelos, Açelya Yilmazer, and co-workers report that thin, biological-grade graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets show molecular affinity toward the SARS-CoV-2 viral spike and the ACE2-bound spike complex. GO nanosheets were shown to inhibit the infection of wild-type SARS-CoV-2 experimentally in cell cultures. Through an interplay of molecular dynamics simulations and cell biology, this work demonstrates that graphene oxide sheets could offer a platform to effectively interact and potentially transport other molecules to inactivate SARS-CoV-2.