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Antiviral agents

Mount Sinai Awarded $11.8 Million to Develop Broad-Spectrum Antivirals

Strategic Insights

— 1 min read

Researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have been awarded up to $11.8 million from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) to develop a new approach to antiviral therapy. The project, called Closing the Doors to All Pathogens Through Integrated Digital Experiments (DOORs), aims to map the critical points inside human cells that viruses exploit to infect, replicate, and spread. By creating a comprehensive roadmap of pathogen-host interactions, the DOORs program hopes to provide the foundation for developing broad-spectrum antivirals that can be applied to all pathogens, potentially shortening the timeline for developing antiviral therapies.

Key Takeaways:

  • The DOORs project has been awarded up to $11.8 million from ARPA-H to develop a new approach to antiviral therapy.
  • The project aims to map the critical points inside human cells that viruses exploit to infect, replicate, and spread.
  • The DOORs program will use a systematic approach, combining multi-omics, functional genetics, evolutionary biology, and artificial intelligence to create a comprehensive roadmap of pathogen-host interactions.
  • The project will validate targets and host-directed drugs that block entire classes of viruses, potentially dramatically shortening the timeline for developing antiviral therapies.
  • The DOORs project will also test approved therapies and discover new ones through computer modeling.
  • The team will work with institutions such as the University of California, San Francisco, Calibr-Skaggs Institute for Innovative Medicines, Scripps Research, and Columbia University.

Statistics:

  • $11.8 million: the amount awarded to Mount Sinai from ARPA-H for the DOORs project.
  • 3 years: the time Dr. Gustavo Palacios has been a part of the Department of Microbiology at Mount Sinai.
  • 5 institutions: will be involved in this work, including the University of California, San Francisco, Calibr-Skaggs Institute for Innovative Medicines, Scripps Research, and Columbia University.

Sources:

  • New York, Oct. 21 -- Mount Sinai Health System Inc (Source: Mount Sinai Health System Inc)

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