Dr Gokhan Cildir at Centre for Cancer Biology in Adelaide joins San Francisco AI firm in Covid-19 fight
The Centre for Cancer Biology in the University of South Australia building on North Terrace, Adelaide.
Image courtesy of Insight-Visuals/Chris Oaten.
One of South Australia’s top molecular biologists in 2020 worked with up with a world leader in artificial intelligence-based drug discovery to find a way to block coronavirus from infecting human cells.
Dr Gokhan Cildir joined with San Francisco company Atomwise on research to discover compounds that could successfully fight SARS-CoV-2. From millions of molecules screened virtually, Atomwise has identified likely contenders and has sent those compounds to Dr Cildir to test at the Centre for Cancer Biology on North Terrace, Adelaide.
The goal was to develop inhibitors for the “spike” protein used by SARS-CoV-2 to invade human cells. “Although coronavirus uses many different proteins to replicate and invade cells, the spike protein is the major cell surface protein that it uses to bind to a host receptor — another protein that acts like a doorway into a human cell,” Dr Cildir said.
Atomwise was leveraging its artificial intelligence-based drug discovery model for several other projects in the fight against COVID-19. “It is like looking for a needle in a haystack but if we are successful it will be a world first, so we are very excited about the possibilities,” Dr Cildir said.
Dr Cildir had collaborated with Atomwise before on other work, but this was his first virology project.
Funded by The Hospital Research Foundation, Dr Cildir was a postdoctoral researcher based in the Centre for Cancer Biology’s allergy and cancer immunology laboratory, led by Dr Damon Tumes.
The Centre for Cancer Biology, an alliance between SA Pathology and the University of South Australia (UniSA), had the largest concentration of cancer research in South Australia, hosting 22 full-time research group leaders and their teams. Dr Cildir joined UniSA in late 2016 after completing his PhD at the National University of Singapore in the school of medicine.
