20th Annual Student Research Conference
Science
Fragment Based Drug Design to Target Loop IIIb IRES RNA Domain in Hepatitis C Virus
Melvin E. Omodon
Dr. Fareed Aboul-ela (Louisiana State University) and Dr. Michael Lockhart, Faculty Mentors
170 million people worldwide suffer from chronic Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. HCV internal ribosomal entry site (IRES) binds specifically to the small (40S) ribosomal subunit and eukaryotic initiation factor 3 (eIF3) of the host cell to initiate translation of viral mRNA to proteins. The IRES of HCV is a highly conserved RNA structure within the 5’ untranslated region of the viral genome. “Fragment based” technology can be applied to synthesize ligands that bind specifically to loop IIIb domain, or small ribosomal subunit binding domain of the IRES. NMR is used to confirm this binding. A study has yielded compounds which bind to the HCV IRES IIIb internal loop RNA (IIIb RNA). The overall goal of this project is to test specificity of binding. Loop IIIb RNA of the IRES was synthesized, and verified using NMR. The process of synthesizing modified compounds to bind selectively to the IRES is ongoing.
Keywords: Hepatitis C Virus, Fragment Based , Drug Design, Organic Synthesis, Biology, Chemistry, NMR, Translation
Topic(s):Biology
Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: 63-1
Location: VH 1416
Time: 2:45 pm