Epitopes are those small parts of pathogens that antibodies use to bind to them and destroy them. The aim is to identify by computational methods the specific epitopes of the two coronaviruses NL63 and CoV-2 and homologous epitopes in common. Among the objectives are to synthesise the specific epitopes for testing in sera from patients with autoimmune, inflammatory and neurodegenerative diseases, but also to understand the reasons for the different susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 infection, including with respect to symptom severity and response to treatment.
