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[log in to unmask]" type="cite">Dissertation Defense Announcement
To:  The George Mason University Community

Candidate: Todd W. Hawley
Program:    PhD Biosciences

Date:   Thursday November 29, 2012
Time:   11:00 a.m.
Place:  George Mason University
           Krasnow Institute Conference Room
           Fairfax Campus
 
Committee Chair: Dr.  Yuntao Wu
Committee members: Dr. Ancha Baranova, Dr. Geraldine Grant, Dr. Harold Morowitz

Title: "Discovery and Mechanism of Action of Cyclonucleoside Anti-HIV Activity"

The dissertation is on reserve in the Johnson Center Library, Fairfax campus.
The doctoral project will not be read at the meeting, but should be read in advance.

All members of the George Mason University community are invited to attend.


ABSTRACT:
Over 30 million people worldwide are currently infected with HIV, and even after nearly 30 years of research, an effective cure or vaccine has yet to be found. Given this fact, it is a high priority to discover and develop novel small molecule anti-retrovirals that preferably target cellular proteins or a new step in the HIV life cycle.  With this in mind, a novel anti-HIV drug screen utilizing live virus was developed and used to screen reagents.  A subsequent drug screen led to the discovery of the novel anti-HIV activity of cyclonucleoside compounds.  Further studies revealed that the mechanism of action of these compounds on HIV was likely due to the inhibition of deoxynucleotide metabolic pathways, causing deoxynucleotide pool imbalances leading to lethal mutagenesis in both HIV DNA and RNA synthesis.

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