Date of Defense

Spring 4-27-2000

Department

Biological Sciences

First Advisor

Tom Dueweke, Pharmacia

Second Advisor

Sandra Newport, Pharmacia

Third Advisor

David Slade, Pharmacia

Abstract

Approximately 2% of the world's adult population (170,000,000) is infected with the hepatitis C virus (HCV). Available treatments, α-interferon alone or the combination a α-interferon and ribavirin, help clear only 50% of HCV infections. The side effects of this therapy include fatigue, fever, weight, appetite loss, and some neurological effects leading to behavioral changes. More effective agents are currently unavailable. The purpose of this project was to engineer three truncation forms of a RdRp derived from HCV positive patient serum. This was achieved by deleting 21, 55, and 63 amino acids from the C terminus. These constructs were verified by DNA sequencing, and their ability to express soluble forms of the predicted polypeptides was confirmed. Follow-up characterization by Pharmacia Corporation has proved these deletion constructs to be useful for heterologous expression of NS5b truncation forms.

Access Setting

Honors Thesis-Campus Only

Download

Share

COinS