Investigation of the Chemistry and Biology of EM2487

The Streptomyces metabolite EM2487 suppresses Tat functions, stopping HIV replication in acute and chronic disease models. This is a novel discovery that could greatly improve Highly Active Anti-retroviral Therapy (HAART), thus creating a potential cure. The unique chemical and biological attributes of EM2487 led to a total synthesis and the unkown structural features were studied using NMR computations, synthetic chemistry, and degradation methods. Future studies will delve deeper into the structure-function relationship in order to further synthesize and discover analogues with pharmacokinetic benefits.

Faculty Mentor: Matthew Brichacek