Scientists deconstruct the protein-based machine responsible for SARS-CoV-2 replication In February 2020, a trio of bio-imaging experts were sitting amiably around a dinner table at a scientific conference in Washington, D.C., when the conversation shifted to what was then a worrying viral epidemic in China. Without foreseeing the global disaster to come, they wondered aloud how they might contribute. Nearly a year and a half later, those three scientists and their many collaborators across three national laboratories have published a comprehensive study in Biophysical Journal that - alongside other recent, complementary studies of coronavirus proteins and genetics - represents the first step toward developing treatments for that viral infection, now seared into the global consciousness as COVID-19.