Under the agreement, Trana will screen Southern Research’s extensive collection of nucleosides to identify anti-infectives.Trana’s screening assays identify compounds that interrupt the lifecycle of pathogens through a new mechanism of action – the inhibition of transfer RNA (tRNA).
Most pathogens responsible for causing infectious diseases require tRNA for replication. A specific assay will be used that identifies inhibitors of the tRNA recruited by HIV during its protein synthesis and assembly phase of replication. Trana’s technology will enable its partners to exploit this phase, which for HIV has been unexplored to date. By inhibiting the role of tRNA and crippling protein assembly, protein synthesis cannot proceed, thus stopping pathogen growth and the spread of infection.
“We have been looking to screen our proprietary repository against new targets to identify compounds that deserve further investigation,” said David Harris, director of Drug Discovery Business Development at Southern Research.
The companies said that should one or more of the nucleosides show positive results, future research on these compounds would be warranted. In the future, the companies plan to explore a variety of joint projects to discover new compounds for the treatment of other serious bacterial and viral infectious diseases.