ERC Starting Grant · 2024
To enter a host cell a virus needs to bind a receptor on the cell surface. Typically, viruses use specialised glycoproteins to bind to either glycans or proteins as receptors. The specificity and affinity of a virus glycoprotein for cellular receptors is a key determinant for which hosts a virus can infect. Certain enveloped viruses of high pandemic potential, such as influenza A and coronaviruses, have an ability to change their receptor specificity from a glycan to a protein receptor, and in some instances, even bind both with one glycoprotein. These receptor transitions might have contributed to emergence of pandemic viruses, such as SARS-CoV-2, and may underlie future pandemics.…
From the public funding record at EU CORDIS. Describes the funded project, not the reviews below.