Alexander Ploss awarded Accelerator Funding for Hep B research

Chronic hepatitis B virus affects more than 250 million people globally.

With the goal of developing a cure, molecular biologist Alexander Ploss and colleagues have identified vulnerabilities in the viral infection cycle that could be targeted by novel therapies. The team has developed a way to reconstitute an important viral life-cycle step in the laboratory, and then test small molecules for the potential to disrupt the life cycle.

With funding from the IP Accelerator Fund, molecules that show activity against HBV will be further tested in cell culture and animal models developed by the Ploss group. The goal is to identify inhibitors that work against all eight subtypes of the virus and that could become a cure for this chronic and deadly disease.