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-- ChemBridge Corporation and the University of Hong Kong (HKU) recently announced a potentially significant breakthrough in the early stages of research in the fight against Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), the coronavirus infection that affected over 8,000 people, killing over 800, mainly in Hong Kong and China, during the period April-June 2003.
Research Assistant Professor, Richard Kao, from the HKU Department of Microbiology and his team used chemical genetics methods to screen a ChemBridge library of over 50,000 compounds in an attempt to identify small molecules that stop the spread of the coronavirus. Dr. Kao's team found a number of compounds that effectively inhibited the spread of the disease. The group is now working on identifying the mechanisms by which these compounds work in an effort to bring a SARS cure to the marketplace.
The methods used by Dr. Kao and his team will have a strong impact on other infectious disease research, a timely boost in a region of the world which will benefit greatly from such groundbreaking research.
Reg Richardson, Ph.D., European Marketing Manager, commented, "This is a wonderful result for ChemBridge, and the University of Hong Kong, who have now gained world renown in the area of infectious disease control. Richard [Kao] and his team are to be congratulated on the way they have approached and tackled this problem, and I hope that the early stage success gained in the search for a potential treatment for SARS will be repeated on other targets in the future. It proves that the ChemBridge diverse libraries have a very positive role to play in the newly emerging Chemical Genetics research paradigms being adapted in many research centers attempting to identify small molecule protein regulators."
Richard Kao, Ph.D., Research Assistant Professor of Microbiology at HKU, replied “The pioneering works of Schreiber (Harvard University) and Stockwell (MIT) have laid down the foundation of Chemical Genetics. We just followed their foot steps and extended this new research paradigm to emerging infectious diseases – an increasingly alarming problem regionally and globally. The chemical library we obtained from ChemBridge was definitely one of the key components for our success in establishing a Chemical Genetics platform for SARS coronavirus. We anticipate that this novel approach will also be applicable in tackling other medically important infectious agents.”
This work has been published:
Richard Y. Kao, Wayne H.W. Tsui, Terri S.W. Lee, Julian A. Tanner, Rory M. Watt, Jian-Dong Huang, Lihong Hu, Guanhua Chen, Zhiwei Chen, Linqi Zhang, Tian He, Kwok-Hung Chan, Herman Tse, Amanda P.C. To, Louisa W.Y. Ng, Bonnie C.W. Wong, Hoi-Wah Tsoi, Dan Yang, David D. Ho, and Kwok-Yung Yuen: "Identification of Novel Small-Molecule Inhibitors of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-Associated Coronavirus by Chemical Genetics". Chemistry & Biology, Volume 11, Number 9, September 2004, pp. 1293–1299.
ChemBridge Corporation is an established provider of innovative chemistry tools and contract research services for small molecule drug discovery. Privately held, ChemBridge was founded in Chicago in 1993 and has grown, self-funded, to a global company with over 350 employees with an impeccable track record of quality and deliverability. ChemBridge has its corporate headquarters in San Diego, European offices in the UK, a marketing agency in Japan, and operates a large, state-of-the-art offshore discovery chemistry research site in Moscow, Russia. Over 400 pharmaceutical and biotech companies and universities worldwide have taken advantage of ChemBridge's portfolio of discovery chemistry products and services including its library of 500,000 diverse drug-like small molecule compounds. With a core expertise in several important drug target super-families and access to ChemBridge's entire enabling chemistry tools portfolio, the ChemBridge group can tackle the most challenging hit-to-lead, lead optimization, and other collaborative discovery chemistry projects.
Jennifer Le Page
Sr. Marketing & Sales Manager
Phone: +1 858 451 7400, ext. 210
Email: jennifer@chembridge.com
Reg Richardson, Ph.D.
European Marketing Manager
Phone: +44 1386 765519
Email: chembridge.europe@virgin.net
Richard Y.T. Kao, Ph.D.,
Research Assistant Professor,
Department of Microbiology,
The University of Hong Kong
University Pathology Building,
Queen Mary Hospital, Pokfulam Road,
Hong Kong SAR, CHINA
Phone: +852 28 19 97 07
Email: rytkao@hkucc.hku.hk
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