Discovery and synthesis of novel anti-viral compounds

Our ultimate goal is to develop small molecule drugs and validate their roles in viral replication inhibition. Collectively, we have the expertise in molecular and cell biology, biochemical, structural biophysical, and drug-discovery platforms. We have all the required infrastructure and resources available to realize our goals. Development of small molecule drug as antivirals include many steps and requires expertise from organic chemists, analytical chemists and cell biologists. The process includes synthesis of novel compounds, testing their solubility, stability and toxicity and finally validating anti-viral activity. The interns from NAIT will have the opportunity to learn drug development and validation strategies from analytical chemists and cell biologists.

Interns from NAIT has the perfect training about the instruments and techniques that API need for the novel drug synthesis pipeline for anti-virals. NAIT students will be involved in the drug analytical assays as well as cell bilogy assays. Particularly, students will be involved in testing drug stability, solubility and toxicity as well as cell based assays. Students will gain some industry work experience as well as build a bridge between academia and industry. We will identify experimentally validated novel small molecule hits with possibly anti-viral activity and deliverables including HPLC method validation for determining the stability of the novel compounds, development of a standard protocol and SOP for cell toxicity and viability assays, development of a standard method for plaque assays, and identification of lead compounds that shows the anti-viral activity.

Faculty Supervisor:

Shannon Hebert

Student:

Partner:

Applied Pharmaceutical Innovation

Discipline:

Life Sciences

Sector:

Professional, scientific and technical services; Retail trade

University:

Northern Alberta Institute of Technology

Program: