Curriculum: Biomedical

Supervisor: Angela Corona

Co-Supervisor: Enzo Tramontano

Curriculum Vitae

Roberta graduated in Biology at the University of Cagliari on November 19th 2020, discussing a bachelor thesis with the title “Features and function of 2-O-Methyltransferase of SARS-CoV-1”, under the supervision of Prof. Enzo Tramontano.

She graduated with honours in Cellular and Molecular Biology at the University of Cagliari on February 20th 2023, discussing a master thesis with the title “Identification and characterization of new SARS-CoV-2 Nsp13 inhibitors active on viral replication”, under the supervision of Prof. Enzo Tramontano and the co-supervision of Prof. Angela Corona. During her internship in the laboratory of Molecular Virology, she worked on protein expression and purification, enzymatic and counter assays for the identification of small molecules as inhibitors of viral replication, focusing on viral helicases like SARS-CoV-2 Nsp13 as main target.

Thanks to the Erasmus+ Traineeship Programme, before the graduation she spent 3 months at the Fraunhofer ITMP in Hamburg, Germany, where she worked on assay adaptation of target based biochemical assays towards high density and high throughput formats, HTS including design and prosecution of primary, secondary and counter assays.

She is currently attending the XXXVIII cycle of PhD in Life, Environmental and Drugs Sciences (Biomedical Curriculum) under the supervision of Prof. Angela Corona with a project focused on the exploitation of viral targets to identify and characterize new inhibitors of viral replication. The research project is funded by the Extended Partnership PNRR INFACT: One Health Basic and Translational Actions Addressing Unmet Needs on Emerging Infectious Diseases.

Research Topic

Exploitation of viral targets to identify and characterize new inhibitors of viral replication

Abstract

Roberta Emmolo's research project focuses on exploiting viral targets to identify and characterize new inhibitors of viral replication. The approach involves implementing the screening platform working on the optimization of biochemical/enzymatic assays and cell-based phenotypic assays. The primary focus is on viral helicases, specifically the non-structural protein 13 (nsp13) of Coronaviridae (such as SARS-CoV-2 and MERS-CoV) and the non-structural protein 3 (NS3) of Flaviviridae (such as West Nile Virus, Zika Virus, and Dengue Virus).

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic highlighted the need for pan-coronavirus antivirals, and nsp13 is considered a promising and highly conserved target. For Flaviviruses, the lack of specific approved antiviral drugs underscores the importance of better understanding their replication, including the role of the conserved multi-functional protein NS3. The methodology includes optimizing functional assays for nsp13- and NS3-associated helicase and ATPase activities, in order to investigate the inhibitory activity and the mechanism of action of small molecules as potential inhibitors of viral replication. Promising compounds will then be tested in cell-based assays to assess their antiviral activity and cytotoxicity, determining EC50 and CC50 values. The aim is also to evaluate the broad-spectrum activity of identified inhibitors, given the conservation of helicases across viral families.

Publications

IRIS: https://iris.unica.it/cris/rp/rp84149

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-4546-6449