Preparedness for unknown viruses or deadly known viruses, such as Nipah and Hendra, requires high biocontainment to handle samples and pathogens. This safety requirement constrains study of the pathology of these deadly henipaviruses by effectively limiting this ability to a few laboratories around the world. In the project “Development of high-throughput screening assays to identify antivirals targeting multiple stages of henipavirus life-cycle”, a safe and alternative surrogate platform will be established that can be used to study the henipavirus life cycle in lower biosafety containment. Subsequently, this platform will be used to screen for novel inhibitors affecting the viral life cycle. The four- year project is anchored at the Translational Health Science and Technology Institute in India and lead by the principal investigator Guruprasad Medigeshi.
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