Return to homepagePandemic Pact

A Platform Targeting Protein Structural Dynamics for High-Throughput Discovery of Small Molecule Antiviral Leads

Grant number: unknown

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Key facts

  • Disease

    COVID-19

  • Funder

    University of Minnesota

  • Principal Investigator

    Joseph Muretta

  • Research Location

    United States of America

  • Lead Research Institution

    College of Biological Sciences, University of Minnesota

  • Research Priority Alignment

    N/A

  • Research Category

    Therapeutics research, development and implementation

  • Research Subcategory

    Pre-clinical studies

  • Special Interest Tags

    N/A

  • Study Type

    Non-Clinical

  • Clinical Trial Details

    N/A

  • Broad Policy Alignment

    Pending

  • Age Group

    Not Applicable

  • Vulnerable Population

    Not applicable

  • Occupations of Interest

    Not applicable

Abstract

Led by Joseph Muretta, research assistant professor, College of Biological Sciences, researchers in this study hypothesize that changes in the structural dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 proteins, detected by high-throughput time resolved fluorescence measurements of engineered biosensors of these proteins, will enable discovery of small molecule antiviral leads with potent effects on the virus life cycle. These leads will fuel the development of antiviral drugs to treat COVID-19 and future SARS related pandemics. "We have established a workflow for the discovery of small molecules that alter the structural dynamics, and subsequently function, of interrogated protein," said Muretta. "This approach has been used successfully to target an array of proteins with disease relevance to heart failure, cancer, Alzheimer's, aging, and muscular dystrophy. We propose to use this workflow now in the discovery of small molecule antiviral leads to treat COVID-19."