2022 Participants
Beker Khalid
This research strives to form a vital piece of the ongoing battle against the immunodeficiency disease, HIV. To allow a virus to survive and infect a host it must be able to replicate its RNA and in turn replicate itself, an enzyme called reverse transcriptase is used to turn a viral particles RNA into DNA in preparation for replication. During this process there is a key protein that has been identified through recent studies that binds to the reverse transcriptase enabling this process. This research is based upon a small molecule that can disrupt the interaction between the key protein and reverse transcriptase, which in turn could potentially disrupt the viral replication. The result of this research was the successful synthesis of several lead compounds and subsequent physiochemical analysis. The several novel drug compounds will be biologically tested in order to determine the best possible option for a potential drug.
Funding source: Newcastle University
Project supervisor: Dr Mark Ashton