Scientists help build better anti-virals
Andrew Bennet, 778.782.8814, bennet@sfu.ca
Barry Shell, 778.782.3125, shell@sfu.ca
Carol Thorbes, PAMR, 778.782.3035, cthorbes@sfu.ca
In anticipation of another influenza pandemic like the one that killed 100 million people in 1918, Simon Fraser University scientists have developed a new technique that will accelerate the creation of stronger anti-viral drugs.
The journal Nature Chemical Biology has published online the findings of SFU chemist Andy Bennet and PhD student Jeff Chan.
Using a specially equipped nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer, Bennet and Chan are speeding up the scientific search for molecules that disrupt the chemical workings of an enzyme that helps flu viruses to spread.
Neuraminidase—the “N” in the H1N1 influenza virus—is an enzyme that sticks out like spikes on the surface of many flu viruses. By cutting through a sugary molecule called sialic acid that clumps viruses together after they emerge from infected cells, neuraminidase helps to spread infection.
Bennet and Chan use their powerful spectrometer to detect differences in molecular vibrations. This has enabled them to create a blueprint for drug molecules that block viral neuraminidase and slow the spread of the flu virus.
If the virus mutates, it takes only two weeks to analyze its drug resistance and then create more effective pharmaceuticals.
“If you give a person a cocktail of two or three anti-viral drugs, then the virus would have to mutate two or three times before it would be fully resistant,” explains Bennet.
Bennet and Chan received research grants from the Western Economic Diversification Fund, Canada Foundation for Innovation and the B.C. Knowledge Development Fund.
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Paul and Gwyn Kitos
There is no more logical approach to the design and testing of antiviral agents than that of Bennet and Chan. Their marriage of science and medicine brings real hope for solving the challenges of more viral diseases than just influenza. Bennet and Chan are to be applauded.