THE CORONA NETWORK: GSI

From vaccine developers to pharma corporations: The most important German companies in the battle against the corona pandemic are to be found in Frankfurt RheinMain.

At the GSI Centre for Heavy Ion Research in Darmstadt researchers are killing the Sars-CoV-2 virus with heavy ions insteadof, as is customary, with gamma rays. Because the virus shells remain intact, such inactivated viruses are interesting for the development of vaccines. In order to treat the pneumonias triggered by Sars-CoV-2 more effectively, the GSI is testing treatments using low-dosage X-rays. Moreover, together with international partners, GSI is developing sensors to identify viruses in nanopores. One plan is to use nanopores in protective masks, which protect the wearer because the pores are far smaller than the coronavirus.