2022 Participants

Wiktor Stachera

  • Master of Pharmacy with Honours
  • New Drug Development for HIV

Only in 2021 HIV killed more than 510 000 people and more than one million has been newly infected. Medicine’s progress moved AIDS from lethal disease to chronic condition when diagnosed in time and treated properly. Retroviruses adapt to the environment very fast, so we must develop better ways to treat AIDS. Recently a new protein has been identified that is essential for viruses to replicate. By interrupting the interaction with other protein, the replication of the virus can be stopped. This possibly can be achieved by using small molecule which have been identified by virtual simulation of the protein. In this project we synthesised these compounds de novo and tested their potential to become part of antiretroviral therapy. 

Funding Source: Newcastle University

Project Supervisor: Mark Ashton