Vasu Nair, Ph.D., D.Sc. Professor and Department Head William Henry Terry Sr., Chair and Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar in Drug Discovery Director, UGA Center for Drug Discovery Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Sciences Office: Room 320A, R.C. Wilson Pharmacy Phone: (706) 542-6293 E-mail: vnair@rx.uga.edu

Biosketch

B.S. (with Honors)	University of Otago	Dunedin, New Zealand
Ph.D.	University of Adelaide	Adelaide, Australia
Postdoctoral Associate	University of Illinois	Urbana
Postdoctoral Research Fellow	Harvard University	Cambridge

Honors and Awards
Recipient of the Volwiler Research Achievement Award, AACP, 2007
Board of Directors, International Society for Antiviral Research, 2003-2007
William Henry Terry, Sr. Chair, 2002-present
Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar, 2002-present
Recipient of the Midwest Award of the American Chemical Society, 2001
Invited Co-Chair, HIV Therapeutics, in "Summit on Development of Infectious Disease Therapeutics,"
NIH Conference, Bethesda, MD, 2000
University of Iowa Award for Excellence in Teaching, 1999
Elected Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), 1998
Council Member, Gordon Research Conferences, 1998-1999
Editorial Board, Antiviral Chemistry and Chemotherapy, Medicinal Research Reviews, ARKIVOC and Nucleosides, Nucleosides and Nucleic Acids
Mentioned in Who's Who in America
Charter Member, AIDS and Related Research Study Section (NIAID), NIH, 1994-98
University of Iowa Foundation Distinguished Professor of Chemistry, 1993-2002
D.Sc. Degree, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia, 1991

Research Interests
Medicinal chemistry, chemical biology and drug discovery, conceptually new compounds with antiviral activities against DNA and RNA viruses including retroviruses (HIV), molecules with anticancer activity

Research efforts in my laboratory are concerned with the chemistry and biology of nucleosides, nucleotides and related compounds with particular emphasis on the discovery of novel molecules of antiviral therapeutic interest. Application of molecular recognition concepts to viral genes and enzymes form the basis for our drug design work. Chemoenzymatic methods are utilized for the synthesis of new inhibitors targeted at DNA and RNA viruses, including retroviruses such as HIV. Key enzymes of nucleoside and nucleotide metabolism of interest include deaminases, transferases, kinases, phosphodiesterases, and nucleic acid polymerases. Interdisciplinary antiviral studies are performed through national and international collaborative arrangements. One example of success in our quest for new antiviral molecules is the discovery of a compound called an isonucleoside that is potently active against retroviruses (lentiviruses). Its triphosphate is one of the most potent known inhibitors of the viral enzyme, HIV reverse transcriptase. A more recent example of success is the discovery of potent inhibitors of HIV integrase. This viral enzyme is involved in the integration of viral DNA into human DNA, the most devastating step in the attack of human cells by HIV. Blocking the biochemical mechanism of action of this enzyme is a logical approach to preventing this viral DNA invasion of the human system. We have discovered stable (i.e., nuclease-resistant), conceptually-novel dinucleotides (miniature surrogate DNA molecules) that are recognized by wild-type HIV integrase and that have strong inhibitory activity against the viral enzyme. In more recent work, we have designed and synthesized novel molecules constructed on nucleobase scaffolds that inhibit both steps of HIV integrase action. A few of these compounds have been found to exhibit highly potent anti-HIV activity. Other investigations in our laboratory have focused on drug discovery against infectious RNA viruses, with particular emphasis on the virus families, paramyxoviridae, flaviviridae and filoviridae. The enzyme, IMPDH, is used as a probe for RNA antiviral drug discovery.

Representative Publications
V. Nair, G. Chi, Q. Shu, J. Julander and D. F. Smee, A Heterocyclic Molecule with Significant Activity Against Dengue Virus, Bioorg. Med. Chem. Lett. 2009, 19, 1425-1427.

V. Nair and Q. Shu, Inosine Monophosphate Dehydrogenase (IMPDH) as a Target in Drug Discovery, Med. Res. Rev. 2008, 28, 219-232.

V. Nair and Q. Shu, Inosine Monophosphate Dehydrogenase (IMPDH) as a Probe in Antiviral Drug Discovery, Antiviral Chemistry and Chemotherapy, 2007, 18, 245-258.

V. Uchil, B. Seo and V. Nair, A Novel Strategy to Assemble the Beta-diketo Acid Pharmacophore of HIV Integrase Inhibitors on Purine Nucleobase Scaffolds, J. Org. Chem. 2007, 72, 8577-8579.

V. Nair and G. Chi, HIV Integrase Inhibitors as Therapeutic Agents in AIDS, Rev. Med. Virol. 2007, 17, 277-295.

G. Chi, V. Nair, Y. Pommier and E. Semenova, A Novel Diketo Phosphonic Acid that Exhibits Specific, Strand-transfer Inhibition of HIV Integrase and anti-HIV Activity, Bioorg. Med. Chem. Lett. 2007, 17, 1266-1269.

A. Cox and V. Nair, Novel HIV Integrase Inhibitors with anti-HIV Activity: Insights into Integrase Inhibition from Docking Studies. Antiviral Chem. and Chemother. 2006, 17, 343-353.

V. Nair, G. Chi, R. Ptak and N. Neamati, HIV Integrase Inhibitors with Nucleobase Scaffolds: Discovery of a Highly Potent anti-HIV Agent, J. Med. Chem. 2006, 49, 445-447.