OCRID Pilot Project Leaders Obtain NIH R01

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Dr. Anthony Burgett and Dr. Earl Blewett have obtained an R01 entitled: Cellular Mechanism of Oxysterol-Binding Protein (OSBP) in Viral Proliferation: A Chemical Biology Approach. The NIH NIAID R01 funded project is to determine the role of oxysterol-binding protein (OSBP) in RNA viral proliferation, including through the use of OSBP-targeting compounds.

 

Drs. Burgett and Blewett’s published results show that targeting OSBP with their compounds inhibits the proliferation of many different types of RNA pathogenic viruses in cells. This grant will allow for them to understand why RNA viruses need the human OSBP protein to proliferate and how targeting OSBP with small molecule compounds limits the viral proliferation. This is a basic science project that will form the basis for developing new, broad-spectrum antiviral drugs through targeting OSBP.

 

This funded R01 project, which is a collaborative project between the Burgett research group (OUHSC) and the Blewett research group (OSU-CHS), was built upon the preliminary research supported by a 2019-2020 OCRID Pilot research grant. The total R01 award amount is over 2 million.