Team Category: Project Team

Emerging infections are a global public health threat. The Morrison laboratory seeks to improve our knowledge of the molecular pathogenesis of emerging virus infections (i.e., what are the critical host-pathogen interactions that contribute to protection or pathology?) by addressing questions at the interface of immunology and virology. In addition, the Morrison laboratory uses cell culture-based and animal infection models to test novel vaccines, anti-virals and immunomodulatory therapeutics against acute and chronic virus infection. As part of the READDI-AC, we are engaged in target site discovery for antivirals against alphaviruses, testing new antivirals for efficacy against alphavirus infection and disease, and elucidating mechanisms of action for antiviral drugs.

Cheryl Arrowsmith is a Senior Scientist at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Professor in the Department of Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto, and the Chief Scientist of the Structural Genomics Consortium (SGC) at the University of Toronto. Her research focuses on the structural and chemical biology of chromatin and epigenetic regulatory factors especially as relates to cancer and drug discovery. In partnership with major pharmaceutical companies, she leads the SGC’s international open science program that is developing and distributing unencumbered Chemical Probes that support the discovery of new medicines. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Toronto and carried out postdoctoral research at Stanford University, and was co-founder of Affinium Pharmaceuticals, which developed a new medicine for multidrug resistant bacteria. She has published over 300 research articles, and was recognized by Clarivate Analytics as being among the worlds top 1% of highly cited scientists in 2018 and 2019. She was elected a AAAS Fellow (2015), and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (2020).

The Heaton Laboratory at Duke University is primarily interested in the study of respiratory RNA viruses.  They have published work on viruses of the families: orthomyxoviridae, paramyxoviridae, and coronaviridae.  Research in the lab leverages several complementary approaches such as high-throughput genomic screening and transgenic animal models in order to understand, and develop new ways to combat, respiratory viral disease.  In the context of the READDI-AC program, the Heaton Laboratory is focused on developing fluorescent assays that report on viral enzymatic activities to help prioritize antiviral compounds that inhibit broad families of viruses and work via novel mechanisms of action.

The Dulin lab at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam develops high-end force and fluorescence microscope to interrogate the assembly and the enzymatic activity of biomolecular complexes at the single molecule level and with high spatiotemporal resolution. We have a keen interest in the dynamics of polymerase assembly/elongation and of helicase double-stranded nucleic acid unwinding. Specifically, we aim at understanding how the composition of the replication-transcription complex from, e.g. SARS-CoV-2, regulates viral RNA synthesis. Within the READDI-AC consortium, we work closely with the interdisciplinary team in Core C to reveal the mechanism of action of antiviral drugs targeting the viral polymerase and helicase of several RNA viruses of concern using our state-of-the-art single-molecule approaches.

The Kirchdoerfer lab at the University of Wisconsin-Madison uses a combination of biochemistry and structural biology to study viral proteins with a special focus on coronaviruses. Our expertise ranges from protein expression and purification to high-resolution structure determination using single-particle cryo-electron microscopy. We are particularly interested in multi-subunit viral complexes and their interactions with substrates and small molecules as well as expanding structural biology knowledge beyond SARS-CoV-2. As part of the READDI-AC consortium, we are using our lab’s expertise in viral polymerases and working closely with the multidisciplinary team in Core C to establish primary and secondary assays for viral protein function as well as providing single-particle cryoEM structure information for discovered compounds bound to their viral targets.

Alison Axtman, Ph.D., is a principal investigator in medicinal chemistry at SGC-UNC and Research Associate Professor in the Division of Chemical Biology and Medicinal Chemistry Department in the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy. Her interests lie at the interface of chemistry and biology, with a focus on using small molecules to explore and impact disease-propagating biological pathways. One active project is aimed at finding pre-clinical small molecule candidates that address the need for new antiviral therapies. She is eager to enable the efforts of other investigators through sharing high-quality small molecule tools to speed the drug discovery process and more quickly help patients in need.

Stephen W. Fesik, Ph.D. is the Orrin H. Ingram, II Chair in Cancer Research and a Professor of Biochemistry, Pharmacology, and Chemistry at Vanderbilt University. He is a member of the Vanderbilt Ingram Cancer Center, the Vanderbilt Institute of Chemical Biology, and the Center for Structural Biology. The focus of his research is on cancer drug discovery using fragment-based approaches and structure-based design. Prior to joining Vanderbilt in May 2009, Dr. Fesik was the Vice President of Cancer Research at Abbott. While he was at Abbott, he developed new NMR methods, determined the three-dimensional structures of proteins, pioneered a fragment-based method for drug discovery called SAR by NMR, and applied this method to many protein drug targets. Dr. Fesik has published more than 295 papers, trained 68 postdoctoral fellows, has served as a member of the Editorial Boards of many scientific journals and scientific advisory boards, and won many awards, including the Chairman’s Award (1996), Outstanding Researcher of the Year Award (1997), and the Researcher of the Year Team Award (2008) from Abbott, the Servier Lecturer Award (1998) from the University of Montreal, the ASBMB-Fritz Lipmann Lectureship Award (1999), the Lifetime Achievement Award in Nuclear Magnetic Resonance from EAS (2003), the SBS Technology Innovation Award (2010), the NIH Director’s Pioneer Award (2010), the Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) (2010), the AACR Award for Outstanding Achievement in Chemistry in Cancer Research (2012), The Lustgarten Foundation Research Investigator Award (2015), and 2021 Chester Stock Award at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Dr. Fesik is co-investigator for Project 1 at the Rapidly Emerging Antiviral Drug Discovery AViDD Center (READDI-AC).

Olivia Goethals is Associate Scientific Director within the Global Public Health (GPH) R&D department of Janssen Pharmaceutica NV (Johnson & Johnson), located in Beerse. In her current role, Olivia is responsible for the discovery strategy to find solutions for flavivirus diseases. Olivia is also the biological/pre-clinical lead within the compound development team of a first-in-class antiviral small molecule for the prevention and/or treatment of dengue, tackling a major unmet medical need. Since September 2022, Olivia has been appointed Adjunct Assistant Professor at the University of Duke-NUS in Singapore, where she is the principal investigator at the center for Global Health Discovery focusing on flavivirus transformational research.

Olivia holds a M.Sc. degree in bioengineering. She joined Tibotec BVBA (currently Janssen Pharmaceutica NV) in 2004 in the HIV Entry team. In 2007, Olivia started her doctoral research project at Tibotec within the HIV integrase team in collaboration with the KU Leuven and she obtained her PhD entitled ‘Molecular mechanisms of viral resistance against HIV-1 inhibitors and integrase dimerization as a novel target for HIV-therapy’ in 2011. In the same year, Olivia was appointed biology lead of the HIV peptide fusion project. In 2012, Olivia joined the dengue team, and she became the biology project lead of the dengue project in 2016. At the beginning of 2018, Olivia initiated the pan-flavivirus project and she obtained increased responsibilities as disease area lead within GPH discovery for flavivirus diseases by the end of 2019. In 2019, Olivia also received the Philip B. Hofmann Research Scientist Award (J&J) for the discovery of a new molecular entity for the prevention and treatment of dengue.

Within the AViDD consortium, Olivia is the lead of Project 4 driving the development of broad-spectrum direct-acting antivirals against contemporary and emerging flaviviruses forward by providing expertise in high-throughput screening, cell biology, medicinal chemistry and late-stage lead optimization aiming at ultimately bringing these antivirals to the clinic.

Marnix Van Loock is Senior Scientific Director within the Global Public Health (GPH) R&D department of Janssen Pharmaceutica NV. In his current role as R&D Lead Emerging Pathogens, Marnix is responsible for the end-to-end strategy implementation of research and clinical development activities regarding coronaviruses, flaviviruses and emerging pathogens. Marnix is also a member of the Research and Development Committee, and the Drug Management Committee of GPH. As R&D Lead Emerging Pathogens, he oversees the clinical development of a first-in-class antiviral small molecule for the prevention and/or treatment of dengue, tackling a major unmet medical need. Since January 2020, Marnix also coordinates the antiviral discovery efforts in collaboration with Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), part of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) at the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. In addition, he is the project lead of the Innovative Medicines Initiative Coronavirus Accelerated R&D in Europe (IMI CARE) consortium.

Marnix holds a Ph.D. from the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium and M.Sc. degrees in Industrial Sciences (Biochemistry) and Applied Biological Sciences. He joined Tibotec BVBA (currently Janssen Pharmaceutica NV) in 2004 in the HIV entry discovery team. Subsequently, he joined the HIV integrase team, coordinating cell-based assay development. In 2009, he became the biology project lead for the cytomegalovirus latency project. In 2012, he became the biology project lead for the dengue project within Infectious Diseases & Vaccines, reflecting roles with increasing responsibility throughout his career.

Within the AViDD consortium, Marnix provides global leadership in pharmacologic research extensive industry expertise in high-throughput screening, medicinal chemistry and late-stage lead optimization to the aim of identifying novel broad-spectrum antivirals targeting contemporary and emerging flaviviruses and developing these towards the clinic.