New selective inhibitors of cap dependent proteins: synthesis, delivery and characterization

Budget: 6 500 000 PLN
UE contribution: 5 525 000 PLN

The main goal of the project is to develop human resources in the R&D sector in team projects carried out by outstanding scientists in scientific institutions, working in the most innovative areas, with the participation of a foreign scientific partner. The project enables people starting their scientific career to gain experience in conducting R&D during the implementation of scientific research that is groundbreaking on an international scale and of great importance for the economy and society.

Our research focuses on cap analogues chemically synthesized in the laboratory. They constitute valuable tools in the study of cellular processes related to RNA metabolism and may constitute the basis for the development of new anti-cancer and antiviral therapies or treatments for diseases related to muscle wasting. Before this is possible, however, several problems remain to be solved, such as: selectivity of cap analogs, their delivery to cells, and stability. The aim of the present project is to overcome these limitations.

The planned effects are the solution of research problems in three areas: the first area of ​​research work is the selectivity of cap analogues. Another problem to be solved is the effective delivery of cap analogs synthesized in the laboratory to the cell. Due to the presence of negatively charged phosphate residues, nucleotides (to which cap analogs belong) are not able to independently penetrate into cells. The last issue that will be tested is the stability of cap analogues.