Development of recombinant ELISA for diagnosis of Lassa fever in Africa and structural and biochemical characterisation of the replication complex of Lassa virus

该项目将与拉沙热流行地区管理直接相关的应用研究与拉沙病毒复制复合体结构和功能的基础研究相结合。这两个领域的研究都基于尖端技术，将由非洲和德国科学家利用现有的长期合作关系共同开展。建立拉沙热IgM和IgG重组ELISA诊断方法.流行病学研究以及在尼日利亚流行的拉沙病毒株的分离和全长测序，并将数据用于全面的生物信息学分析。使用复制子系统表征拉沙病毒L蛋白.使用全长L蛋白以及单个结构域的异源表达系统鉴定和表征与L蛋白相关的酶功能.拉沙病毒L蛋白、Z蛋白和核蛋白（NP）的各个结构域的结构和生物化学表征.长期目标：以结构/功能为指导设计和合成化合物，以抑制L蛋白的酶功能或相互作用。

The project combines applied research that is directly relevant to the management of Lassa fever in the endemic area with basic research on structure and function of the Lassa virus replication complex. Research in both fields is based on cutting-edge technologies and will be jointly conducted by African and German scientists taking advantage of existing long-term collaborations.Scientific objectives are:1. Development of recombinant IgM and IgG ELISA for diagnosis of Lassa fever in the endemic area.2. Epidemiological studies as well as isolation and full-length sequencing of Lassa virus strains circulating in Nigeria and use of the data for comprehensive bioinformatic analysis.3. Characterisation of Lassa virus L protein using the replicon system.4. Identification and characterisation of enzymatic functions associated with the L protein using heterologous expression systems for full-length L protein as well as individual domains.5. Structural and biochemical characterisation of individual domains of Lassa virus L protein, Z protein, and nucleoprotein (NP).6. Long-term objective: Structure/function guided design and synthesis of compounds to inhibit enzymatic functions or interactions of L protein.