Investigation of the therapeutic potential of oxysterols in SARS-CoV-2 infection

该项目于今年夏天（2020年）早些时候获得资助。迄今为止，我们已经： 1)与Avanti Lipids签订合同，合成对映体25-羟基胆固醇（25 HC），其将用作25 HC的对照，以帮助区分我们研究中该氧固醇的蛋白质靶向与非蛋白质靶向（膜）效应。 2)该研究所发布了招聘博士后研究员进行拟议研究的广告，迄今已收到几份申请。 3)完成了25 HC对MRC-5细胞感染HCoV-229 E（一种替代的地方性人类冠状病毒）的影响的研究。 4)与NIEHS病毒载体核心实验室合作，开始构建具有β-内酰胺酶有效载荷的SARS 2刺突蛋白假病毒，其可用于测定病毒-细胞融合。 5)开始努力分离高表达ACE 2的Calu-3细胞亚克隆用于未来的感染研究。

This project was funded earlier this summer (2020). To date, we have already: 1) contracted with Avanti Lipids to synthesize enantiomeric 25-hydroxycholesterol (25HC), which will be used as a control for 25HC to help distinguish protein-targeted vs. non-protein-targeted (membrane) effects of this oxysterol in our studies. 2) posted an advertisement to hire a postdoctoral fellow to conduct the proposed studies, and, to date, have received several applications. 3) completed studies of the effect of 25HC on infection of MRC-5 cells with HCoV-229E, an alternate endemic human coronavirus. 4) collaborated with the NIEHS Viral Vector Core Laboratory to begin construction of a SARS2 Spike protein pseudovirus with B-lactamase payload that can be used to assay virus-cell fusion. 5) commenced efforts to isolate a high-ACE2-expressing subclone of Calu-3 cells for future infection studies.