Single-molecule assays of the assembly/disassembly mechanisms of ssRNA viruses - Tools for screening novel anti-virals

疫苗接种是有史以来最成功的医疗干预措施之一。然而，由于各种技术原因，许多病毒无法通过这种途径进行控制。与可以用抗生素治疗的细菌感染不同，目前可以用作抗病毒药物的药物很少。我们最近发现了一条开发这种抗病毒药物的有希望的新路线，我们的建议是开发必要的工具，使这种治疗战略成为现实。任何药物开发计划的一个关键部分是确定药物效果的测试，在这种情况下，我们的测试病毒正确组装的能力。为此，标准的实验方法昂贵、耗时且不切实际。通过使用一种名为单分子荧光光谱的技术，这些问题可以避免，我们将能够使分析自动化，从而对候选药物进行高通量筛选。

Vaccination is one of the most successful medical interventions ever developed. However many viruses can not be controlled via this route for various technical reasons. Unlike bacterial infections that can be treated with antibiotics, there are currently very few drugs that can be used as anti-virals. We have recently discovered a promising novel route for the development of such anti-viral drugs and our proposal is to develop the tools needed for such a treatment strategy to become a reality. A critical part of any drug development porgramme is an assay to determine the effects of the drug, in this case the ability of our test virsues to assembly correctly. Standard experimental methods for this are expensive, time consuming and impractical. By using a technique called single-molecule fluoresence spectroscopy these problems can be avoided and we will be able to automate the assays allowing high-throughput screening for candidate drugs.