Eileen T. So

1st Year Medical Student

Department: School of Medicine

Graduate Program: TBD

Advisor: Dr. Howard Crawford (rotating)

Abstract:

Title:  Investigating Guanidines as Potential Inhibitors of the HIV-1 Tat Protein

Advisor: Professor Ruben Savizky

Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, NY, NY

The Tat protein, an HIV transcriptional transactivator, is a regulatory protein that binds to TAR RNA which is a segment of HIV RNA. Because the Tat protein is unique to the virus alone and is necessary for HIV replication to occur, it is a targeting point for anti-HIV drugs. Specifically, guanidine-containing compounds have been found to bind to TAR RNA with a limited affinity. Synthesis of a library of guanidine containing compounds to mimic the Tat protein was attempted using solution-phase and solid phase synthesis techniques. Fluorescence spectrometry was also used to observe the binding characteristics of the Tat-TAR complex.