Techniques and Strategies for Potential Protein Target Discovery and Active Pharmaceutical Molecule Screening in a Pandemic

Viruses remain a major challenge in the fierce fight against diseases. There have been many pandemics caused by various viruses throughout the world over the years. Recently, the global outbreak of COVID-19 has had a catastrophic impact on human health and the world economy. Antiviral drug treatment has become another essential means to overcome pandemics in addition to vaccine development. How to quickly find effective drugs that can control the development of a pandemic is a hot issue that still needs to be resolved in medical research today. To accelerate the development of drugs, it is necessary to target the key target proteins in the development of the pandemic, screen active molecules, and develop reliable methods for the identification and characterization of target proteins based on the active ingredients of drugs. This article discusses key target proteins and their biological mechanisms in the progression of COVID-19 and other major epidemics. We propose a model based on these foundations, which includes identifying potential core targets, screening potential active molecules of core targets, and verifying active molecules. This article summarizes the related innovative technologies and methods. We hope to provide a reference for the screening of drugs related to pandemics and the development of new drugs.