Laboratory of Biochemical Pharmacology

Developing safe and effective antiviral agents by design

Dr. Raymond F. Schinazi is the Frances Winship Walters Professor of Pediatrics, director of the Division of Laboratory of Biochemical Pharmacology (LOBP), and Senior Advisor of the Center for ViroScience and Cure at Emory University. His research group consists of a dynamic team with expertise spanning medicinal chemistry, virology, molecular biology, toxicology, pharmacology, immunology, structural biology, and computational biology. The Schinazi lab focuses its research on three medically important areas.

The primary interest of the Schinazi lab is to design and develop novel antiviral agents to advance promising compounds to clinical trials. The group is developing novel modalities for the treatment and cure of human viral infections, including HIV, Norovirus, EBV, hepatitis B, and emerging human viruses such as Mpox, Dengue, West Nile, Yellow Fever, Corona, Chikungunya, Mayaro, Ebola, Norovirus, and Enteroviruses.

The second area of research is in the development of long-acting drugs for HIV and HBV infections. The third area of research is in the discovery of novel agents for the treatment of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), and other liver diseases.

Six novel antiviral and immunological agents developed in the Schinazi lab have been FDA-approved, leading to 28 NDA approvals. His group is known for discovering blockbuster antiviral drugs like Lamivudine (3TC), Emtricitabine (FTC), Telbivudine (LdT), and Sofosbuvir (Sovaldi). More than 94 percent of people with HIV take at least one of the drugs he discovered. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including France’s highest civilian honor, Chevalier de la Légion D’honneur, for saving millions of lives globally; the AASLD Distinguished Achievement Award, the William S. Middleton Award from the Department of Veterans Affairs, and is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). He is a recipient of five honorary degrees. Dr. Schinazi is internationally recognized as one of the most influential persons in the life science sector.

Baek Kim Laboratory

Baek Kim's laboratory has been working on the molecular and cellular biology of HIV-1 replication, mutagenesis, evolution and viral escape for more than two decades. They do so by employing both biochemical and virological approaches. Their recent research focuses on HIV-1 infection to nondividing myeloid cells that serve as long-living HIV-1 reservoirs, contributing to HIV-1 persistence. They have found that HIV-1 replication in nondividing target cells harbors various distinct features, compared with activated CD4+ T cells. Their research claims differences between replication in these cell types in terms of host restriction, viral replication kinetics and cell biology/signaling responses can contribute to viral evolution and pathogenesis.

Stefan Sarafianos Laboratory

The Sarafianos Laboratory works towards unraveling the molecular details of how biomedically-relevant enzymes function, how they are inhibited, how they develop drug resistance and towards developing drugs that will treat human disease by novel mechanisms of action. In pursuit of these goals they use a combination of conventional and cutting-edge research tools, including protein biochemistry, molecular biology, fluorescence imaging/microscopy, macromolecular engineering, X-ray crystallography, molecular modeling, enzymology, and high-throughput technologies. Target proteins include HIV reverse transcriptase, HIV capsid protein, Hepatitis B virus (HBV) reverse transcriptase, and HBV capsid protein. Ongoing efforts focus on various steps of HIV, HBV, and Hepatitis C virus (HCV) life cycles, including cell entry, uncoating, reverse transcription, nuclear entry, assembly, and host interactions towards developing novel therapeutics.

Michailidis Laboratory

Our research program focuses on understanding the interaction between viruses and the host using a set of biochemical, cell-based and in vivo methods. In particular, we are interested in hepatitis B virus (HBV) and the development of eradication strategies that involve state-of-the-art primary hepatocyte systems and humanized liver chimeric mice. These systems expand the scope of our research beyond viral hepatitis to other liver-related diseases and fields including fatty liver disease and liver immunometabolism. In addition, we have a strong interest in antiviral mechanisms carried out by interferon-stimulated genes and other host proteins but also small molecule inhibitors in regards to mechanisms of action and resistance. In this direction our main focus has been HIV, HBV, and SARS-CoV-2. To accomplish these goals we use medium and high-throughput genetic screens (gene overexpression and CRISPR knockout) across different cell systems and in some cases in humanized mice.