Department of Chemistry and a member of the Center for Gene Regulation in Health and Disease (GRHD)

Dr. Xue-Long Sun, a professor in the Department of Chemistry and a member of the Center for Gene Regulation in Health and Disease (GRHD), has been awarded a grant under the Academic Research Enhancement Award (AREA) program from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). His project, titled "Development of Locationspecific Sialidase Inhibitors" has been funded for $445,500 over three years. The proposed research aims to investigate the sialidase-catalyzed desialylation mechanism related to Toll-like receptors (TLRs) activation and develop novel sialidase inhibitors to manipulate dysregulated TLRs activation and thus to discover novel therapeutic approach for chronic and acute inflammatory disorders that often cause most dangerous disease like sepsis. The novel sialidase inhibitors can also be explored for inhibition of SARS-CoV-2 replication, as a novel therapeutic approach for COVID-19.