Project 2 is led by Dr. Tim Sheahan at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Like Project 1, this team is focused on coronaviruses, including SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19), MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome), SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), and NL63 (common cold) to understand the broad-spectrum activity of antivirals.
Project 2 focuses on discovering and developing inhibitors of coronavirus replicase proteins, including the coronavirus nsp12 RNA-dependent-RNA-polymerase (RdRp) and nsp13 helicase. These two enzymes work together to first separate the double-stranded RNA genome (nsp13 helicase), allowing synthesis of new viral RNA strands by the nsp12 RNA-dependent RNA polymerase.
Team
