Recent Experiments

A systematic review of drug-like ligands bound to helicases in the PDB

Introduction A current focus in the field of antiviral drug discovery are helicases, which are motor enzymes responsible for ATP-dependent nucleic acid duplex unwinding. Helicases of all superfamilies (SF) have stretches of amino acids called motifs, that are conserved within an SF and similar across SFs. For this reason, established helicase inhibitors interacting with these Read More …

Release of The Kinase Chemogenomic Set 2.0 (KCGS2.0)

Introduction Situation Kinases are useful for drug discovery – many opportunities! Kinase by kinase probe development is important, but it will take too long to discover a probe for each kinase Disease relevant phenotypic assays need smart compounds sets Numerous high quality kinase inhibitors exist in the literature and in company collections Kinases are “connected” Read More …

Recombinant Expression and Purification of ABHD2 from E. coli

His6-FLAG-ABHD233-425 (PBC042 A11) Purification: Nickel & Size Exclusion Chromatography  This post is also available at: Recombinant Expression and Purification of ABHD2 from E. coli | Zenodo DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.7696914 For relevant background please see relevant page: A promising target for non-hormonal contraception – The a/b Hydrolase Domain 2 | Zenodo Expression of ABHD2 For each 1.8 Read More …

Exploring the Potential of Human Helicase Ligands as Inhibitors for SARS-CoV-2 NSP13

To develop novel inhibitors for viruses with pandemic potential, we have turned our attention towards targeting their helicases due to their high sequence conservation and essential role in viral replication (Newman et al., Nature communications, 2021). SARS-CoV-2 is especially interesting as its helicase, NSP13, was determined to have druggable binding pockets, some of which are Read More …

Multiple Sequence Alignment and Phylogenetic Tree of Human and Viral Helicases

This is a summary of a detailed analysis that is available here. Helicases are motor proteins that separate double helices through the hydrolysis of ATP analogues (Fairman-Williams et al., Current Opinion in Structural Biology, 2010). They constitute one of the largest enzyme groups, as multiple varieties of helicases are present in all forms of cellular Read More …

Identification of N-oxide containing helicase inhibitors by large-scale virtual screening

SARS-CoV-2 Helicase (NSP13) as a drug target: The pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 is not over yet but instead has transformed into a chronic illness. So far, the expedited effort on drug development produced Mpro targeting drugs (Paxlovid) and repurposed RdRp inhibitor Molnupiravir. For effective long-term treatment, we intend to discover complementary antivirals targeting replication machinery Read More …

Helicase inhibitors for SARS-CoV-2 NSP13

In searching for novel drugs that will treat future viral pandemics, the AViDD program has prioritized viral proteases, helicases, and RNA-dependant RNA polymerases (RdRps) as key targets in the fight to control viral replication. At the time of writing, several drugs are either in the clinic or on the market for SARS-CoV-2 proteases and RdRps, Read More …