Grant: Project Grant

The recent COVID-19 outbreak brought to the forefront the importance of studying the interplay between viruses and our immune system. In humans, innate immunity is the first barrier we possess to protect us from viral infections like SARS-Cov-2 which causes Covid-19. It is composed of specialized cells and proteins that help detect when an infection has occurred and initiates an immune response to help combat the infection. A group of proteins called IFITs are key players in this response where they interact with the genetic material of the virus and block it from making copies of itself, diminishing the infection. We aim to obtain a detailed picture of how IFITs accomplish this by determining the 3-dimensional structure of the interaction. This information helps us understand how IFITs work and provides insights into how we can make them work better. Viruses try to undermine the immune system by making proteins to stop the action of IFITs. For example, a viral protein called C9 sticks to FITs and causes the cell to destroy them, allowing the virus to continue making copies of itself unfettered. Therefore, we also want to study how C9 disables IFITs by determining their structure when they are bound together, providing us clues on how we can block this interaction. Understanding the molecular details of how proteins from the two sides interact is an important step towards the development of therapeutic drugs for viral infections as well as diseases like cancer and autoimmune disorders.