Project description:Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are promising alternatives to conventional antibiotics for the treatment of multidrug-resistant (MDR) pathogens; however, their clinical translation is limited by proteolytic degradation.
Project description:Influenza A virus (IAV) is a pervasive pathogen of humans, poultry, and livestock, posing an ongoing threat to global health and economic stability. The effectiveness of available antiviral drugs is increasingly compromised by the rapid evolution of drug-resistant IAV strains, highlighting the urgent need for new therapeutic strategies. Here, we present an integrative host-directed drug discovery framework that combines functional genomics and pharmacotranscriptomics to systematically identify compounds with anti-IAV potential. We first aggregated published genome-wide screens to assign each host gene a quantitative functional score reflecting its role in promoting or restricting IAV replication. These scores were then paired with gene expression profiles to estimate the overall antiviral status of host cells. Using large-scale pharmacotranscriptomic data, we screened nearly 20,000 drug-induced transcriptional signatures to identify compounds that shift host gene expression toward an antiviral state. Of 27 top candidates selected for validation, two compounds, lithocholic acid and ALW-II-49-7, not only inhibited IAV replication in vitro but also protected mice from lethal infection in vivo. By shifting the focus from viral to host targets, our approach offers a systematic and scalable path to discover antivirals that are less vulnerable to resistance and may be generalizable to other rapidly mutating pathogens.
Project description:Fatal Tuberculosis in a Free-Ranging African Elephant and One Health Implications of Human Pathogens in Wildlife
| PRJEB30969 | ENA
Project description:Multidrug-resistant pathogens in the food chain
| PRJNA662907 | ENA
Project description:Pathogen surveillance conducted within a One Health framework unveiled the connections between intensive farming practices and the infection of enteric pathogens in wild birds
