Using plants as 'biofactories' to produce nanoparticles as a vehicle for drugs. This is what a team from the Plant Molecular and Cell Biology Research Institute (IBMCP), a joint centre of the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) and the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV), in collaboration with the Instituto de Biología Integrativa de Sistemas (I2SySBio), of the CSIC and

the Universitat de València, has achieved. Specifically, they have created nanoparticles with small single-chain monoclonal antibodies (nanobodies) that act against the protein that envelops the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. These nanoparticles could be used as a reagent in diagnostic tests and, after evaluation, as a drug to neutralise the virus infection. The results are published in the Plant Biotechnology Journal.

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