ANTIVIRALS

Prof. Frank van Kuppeveld

Scientific Coordinator of ANTIVIRALS, based at the Department of Infection and Immunity, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, the Netherlands

Research field

Antiviral Drug Development

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Who?

"I want to introduce PhD students into the fascinating world of viruses”, says Professor van Kuppeveld. “In particular, we study how viruses hijack the cellular metabolism and infrastructure to reproduce themselves. We are working on novel technologies to develop new inhibitors of virus infections."

Why?

Viruses are a major cause of disease, death and economic loss worldwide. Virus infections can be controlled with antiviral drugs. However, these drugs only exist for a limited number of viruses. We urgently need drugs to fight more viruses, but there is a shortage of scientists that are properly trained to do this job.

What?

ANTIVIRALS is a training project. Our aim is to prepare talented young researchers for a career in antiviral drug development. The ANTIVIRALS students will search for novel inhibitors of virus replication. These inhibitors will be characterised and developed into potent candidate drugs for antiviral therapy.

How?

ANTIVIRALS is a consortium of seven academic and five industrial partners. We will provide 15 researchers with state-of-the-art scientific knowledge and technological skills through multiple workshops and courses. In individual research projects, the students will use their knowledge to develop candidate antiviral drugs.

Training Europe's next leaders in antiviral drug discovery

Viral infections are a major cause of disease worldwide

Image: Scientist working with disease-causing viruses in a Biosafety Level 3 laboratory (Credit: Marc de Haan)

Only a few viral diseases can be prevented by vaccination

Image: CDC employee receives flu vaccine (Credit: James Gathany, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

Antiviral drugs are only available for HIV, influenza, hepatitis C and some DNA viruses (e.g., herpes)

Image: Scanning electron micrograph of HIV particles (yellow) infecting a human T cell (blue and green) (Credit: National Institutes of Health)

We urgently need antiviral drugs to treat infections with other viruses such as dengue, chikungunya, enteroviruses, coronaviruses and respiratory syncytial virus

Image: scientist inspecting a cell culture

Antiviral drug development requires a detailed understanding of the molecular mechanisms of virus replication

Image: scientist assessing cell viability through a microscope

Few, if any, European research institutes have the broad know-how required to deliver a comprehensive training in antiviral drug development

Image: ANTIVIRALS training session

As a result, there is a shortage of scientists with the right skills to advance this challenging field

Image: scientist working in a laboratory

ANTIVIRALS will train 15 talented researchers for a leading role in antiviral drug discovery

Image: ANTIVIRALS students and teachers

The ANTIVIRALS consortium consists of 7 academic partners (purple) and 5 industrial partners (green and grey)

ANTIVIRALS' goal is to identify and characterise novel virus inhibitors and to develop them into potent candidate drugs

Image: testing antiviral compounds on cell cultures

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ANTIVIRALS project website Meet the ANTIVIRALS students EUVIRNA (the previous training project upon which ANTIVIRALS builds) Video: Frank van Kuppeveld about antiviral drug development Vincent Racaniello's virology blog More European virology on www.HorizonHealth.eu VacTrain (a similar project)

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Background image: ANTIVIRALS

Portrait of the project coordinator: ANTIVIRALS

Timeline (in chronological order): 1599: Credit: Cynthia Goldsmith Content Providers(s): CDC/ Dr. Terrence Tumpey, 1822&1898: Wikipedia