Coating the Flu with Sticky Polymers to Look for New Drugs

In the search for effective drugs against influenza, screening against viral neuraminidases (NAs) is a common strategy. However, this ignores the actual physical environment where the drugs function, immersed in a thick mucus barrier at the surface of the host’s cells which the virus must penetrate to get to the cell. Godula and coworkers have taken on this challenge with a distinctly innovative approach: using synthetic glycopolymers to wrap up virus particles in a synthetic mucus barrier which may provide a new tool to identify drugs which may be able to prevent infection.