James Bashkin, the research associate professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry works with at lab in Benton Hall.
The National Institute of Health recently awarded a $3 million grant to a University of Missouri-St. Louis professor to help in his work combating human papillomavirus, the world’s most pervasive sexually transmitted disease.
James Bashkin, a research associate professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at UM-St. Louis and his associate Chris Fisher of Michigan University founded the company NanoVir, LLC in 2003 for the express purpose of developing antiviral drugs that will prevent women infected with HPV from developing cervical cancer.
“There are a lot of activities that a university is supremely good at, and there are a lot of endeavors that a private company is better suited for,” Bashkin said. “Between the two types of institution, a synergy occurred in our collaboration that allowed us to move forward rapidly with both fundamental discoveries and applied development.”
Although there are over 200 strains of HPV just two of them, types 16 and 18, account for 75% of the cervical cancer in the United States. NanoVir’s initial strategy was to create molecules that attach onto the specific genome of the most dangerous strands of the HPV virus and eradicate it. But recently the scientists working at UM-St. Louis and in Kalamazoo, Michigan have discovered that their molecules are broad-spectrum in nature, meaning that their effectiveness is not limited to a single strain of HPV.
The recent $3 million grant from the NIH will allow Bashkin and his researchers to develop these broad-spectrum molecules further. This is the fifth grant the NIH has awarded to NanoVir, LLC. The NIH is a federal agency, part of the Department of Health and Human Services.
Although the main benefit of an antiviral HPV drug would be curbing the virus before it turns into cervical cancer, a broad-spectrum drug would also negate the less serious symptoms of HPV, such as genital warts or warts on the face.
The research team working with Bashkin includes UM- St. Louis professors Michael Nichols and Cynthia Dupureur, as well as masters degree students. Undergraduates have worked on the project in the past and positions will be open in the future. Dupureur encourages chemistry students to look into joining the project which will likely last another five to 10 years because “it provides real-life experience doing medically relevant research.”
In her own lab, Dupureur’s specifically studies how the molecules created in Bashkin’s lab interact with DNA structures. “The idea is that if we better understand these interactions, we can better tune the structures of these compounds to be better HPV drugs,” Dupureur said.
The fact that this project is truly unique and groundbreaking has meant a lot of positive press for UM-St. Louis. “The stories [about the HPV project] in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and St. Louis Business Journal, along with about 40 other business journals nationwide, will provide positive national publicity for the campus,” Bashkin said. “There are many exciting stories to write about UMSL and this is only one example.”
In order for the molecules he is creating to one day become FDA approved drugs, Bashkin says he will need a lot more federal support or a great deal of support from private donors.