Ploss, Alexander

Infections with viruses causing hepatitis are major contributors to human morbidity and mortality. Currently, there are no approved directly acting antivirals that cure two of these viruses - hepatitis B and E viruses that account for close to 300 million infections world-wide. It is our goal to develop novel small molecule therapeutics that can be readily deployed to combat efficiently these dreadful diseases. We have already identified a lead molecule that is effective against multiple HEV genotypes and we also identified several candidate molecules which can suppress HBV gene transcription. Recently, we have further uncovered a minimal set of host factors that are essential for HBV persistence. This enables us now to execute addition focused biochemical screens to directly target the ‘Achilles Heel” of this virus.