Milene Dias Miranda

Area of research

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Research interest

Research topics from publications: Lipid droplets fuel SARS-CoV-2 replication and production of inflammatory mediators; Atazanavir, Alone or in Combination with Ritonavir, Inhibits SARS-CoV-2 Replication and Proinflammatory Cytokine Production; SARS-CoV-2 genomes recovered by long amplicon tiling multiplex approach using nanopore sequencing and applicable to other sequencing platforms; SARS-CoV-2: Ultrastructural Characterization of Morphogenesis in an In Vitro System; Flavonoids from Siparuna cristata as Potential Inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 Replication; Unlike Chloroquine, Mefloquine Inhibits SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Physiologically Relevant Cells; Diphenyl Diselenide and SARS-CoV-2: in silico Exploration of the Mechanisms of Inhibition of Main Protease (Mpro) and Papain-like Protease (PLpro); AI-Driven Discovery of SARS-CoV-2 Main Protease Fragment-like Inhibitors with Antiviral Activity In Vitro; Two-Step In Vitro Model to Evaluate the Cellular Immune Response to SARS-CoV-2; The Role of Pyrazolopyridine Derivatives on Different Steps of Herpes Simplex Virus Type-1 In Vitro Replicative Cycle. Representative work: Viruses are obligate intracellular parasites that make use of the host metabolic machineries to meet their biosynthetic needs. Thus, identifying the host pathways essential for the virus replication may lead to potential targets for therapeutic intervention. The mechanisms and pathways explored by SARS-CoV-2 to support its replication within host cells are not fully known. Lipid droplets (LD) are organelles with major functions in lipid metabolism, energy homeostasis and intracellular transport, and have multiple roles in infections and inflammation. Here we described that monocytes from COVID-19 patients have an increased LD accumulation compared to SARS-CoV-2 negative donors. In vitro, SAR Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is already responsible for far more deaths than previous pathogenic coronaviruses (CoVs) from 2002 and 2012. The identification of clinically approved drugs to be repurposed to combat 2019 CoV disease (COVID-19) would allow the rapid implementation of potentially life-saving procedures. The major protease (Mpro) of SARS-CoV-2 is considered a promising target, based on previous results from related CoVs with lopinavir (LPV), an HIV protease inhibitor. However, limited evidence exists for other clinically