On February 28, the list of Top Ten Scientific Achievements in China in 2021 was officially released by the High Technology Research and Development Center of the Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST). The research achievement “Elucidating the molecular mechanisms of SARS-CoV-2 RNA escaping from nucleoside antiviral drugs” has been selected. It was undertaken by a joint research team led by SIAIS Distinguished Adjunct Professor Rao Zihe, SIAIS Associate Research Professor Gao Yan, and Professor Lou Zhiyong from Tsinghua University.

The emergence of mutant Covid-19 virus strains poses a serious challenge to the protective effect of neutralizing antibodies and vaccines. It is urgent that we carry out in-depth research on the highly conserved transcription and replication process of various types of mutant strains, clarify the working mechanism of key drug targets, and find antiviral drugs that can effectively deal with various mutant strains.

Rao Zihe and his collaborators revealed the complete composition of the Covid-19 virus transcription and replication machinery, provided a new target for the development of new and safe broad-spectrum antiviral drugs and elucidated the molecular mechanism of the poor effect of drugs such as remdesivir that provides a key scientific basis for optimizing antiviral drugs targeting polymerases.

This is the third time that Rao Zihe’s research group has had achievements selected among Top Ten Scientific Achievements in China. The other two were related to the three-dimensional structure of flu virus, and the viral structure of African Swine Fever, which were selected in 2008 and 2019 respectively.

According to the introduction on the MoST website, the votes for the top ten achievements came from over 3,500 experts who considered 310 recommended scientific achievements.