Juan Perilla and Jodi Hadden-Perilla are racing against the clock to build a simulation of the novel coronavirus in an effort to learn more about its life cycle to help lead the way to effective vaccines and drugs. (Photo: Kathy F. Atkinson/University of Delaware)

UD professors Jodi Haddon-Perilla and Juan Perilla won a $200,000 Rapid Response Research grant from the National Science Foundation supporting their work using supercomputers to model the atomic structure of the COVID-19 virus. Haddon-Perilla says the goal is to build a complete model of the virus’s structure and behavior – which currently does not exist – to examine how it functions. This will offer researchers insight into ways to stop the virus from functioning.