Gene therapy is changing the way we treat diseases.  These new therapies target and correct the underlying issue in the patient’s DNA. This is done by delivering a therapeutic cargo (typically a DNA or RNA sequence) into the cell using viral capsids, protein shells derived from common viruses. These viral shells, especially those made from adeno-associated viruses (or AAVs), need to be carefully designed so they can carry genetic material safely and effectively to the right place in the body.

However, building and customizing these virus shells is no small task. Most of the tools available today are designed for use by highly trained scientists. They often require complex software, coding skills, and long hours of preparation just to test a small idea. For anyone without that technical background or clinicians short on time, it can be frustrating, expensive, and slow.

This is exactly the problem we set out to solve with CapBuild.

CapBuild is an easy-to-use web tool that lets anyone -- from a student to an advanced scientist -- design, modify, and visualize AAV capsids right in their web browser: You don’t need to install anything. You don’t need to learn any coding. All you need is an internet connection and an idea.

With CapBuild, users can upload a virus shell structure and the tool then takes care of the hard part: Filling in missing pieces, applying changes like mutations, and building the full virus shell, which is made up of 60 identical parts arranged in a perfect geometric pattern. This is done in seconds, and the result can be viewed in an interactive 3D window right in the browser.

It also caters for situations where you don’t have any structure but only have a simple sequence of letters representing a protein. CapBuild can connect to an online modelling service that transforms that sequence into a 3D structure automatically. Once the structure is complete, you can download it as a file to use in experiments, share with colleagues, or include in a publication.

We designed CapBuild to remove the roadblocks that often slow down or prevent capsid design. No more juggling five different tools. No more needing a computer science degree to visualize your idea. CapBuild brings together all the parts of the process into one seamless experience, fast, accurate, and easy to use.

Ultimately, our goal with CapBuild is to open up the world of viral vector engineering to more people. Whether you're trying to optimize a virus for better gene delivery, testing new designs for future vaccines, or just learning how virus structures work, CapBuild gives researchers the freedom to experiment and helps drive innovation and bring new treatments to the clinic.

We believe that the future of gene therapy should be more open, more creative, and more collaborative. CapBuild is a step toward making that future a reality.

You can try CapBuild right now by visiting our website or find out more by reading the Nucleic Acids Research paper.