Michaela Gack, PhD, Scientific Director of Cleveland Clinic’s Florida Research and Innovation Center, has received a National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director’s Pioneer Award to support her research toward the development of broad-spectrum antiviral drugs.
The grant is part of NIH’s High-Risk, High-Reward Research Program, which funds innovative research with the potential for broad impact, and it will provide $5.6 million over 5 years. This year, 10 awardees were selected for the Pioneer Award from a national pool of applicants. Dr. Gack is the first recipient from Cleveland Clinic.
New Research Directions
The Pioneer Award, established in 2004, challenges investigators from across all disciplines to pursue new research directions and develop groundbreaking, high-impact approaches to a broad area of biomedical, behavioral, or social science.
“I am humbled to receive this award and to be part of such an esteemed group of recipients,” said Dr. Gack. “To be considered for the High-Risk, High-Reward Research Program, you need an innovative and promising idea. I am excited that NIH sees merit in our approach, particularly since our research has implications for developing broad-spectrum antivirals. This support will greatly accelerate discovery and help with this pandemic and future viral threats.”
Michaela Gack, PhD
Until now, Dr. Gack’s research has focused on how the relationship between viruses and the human immune system impacts viral infection and disease. Her work has also centered on how modifying enzymes involved in antiviral gene expression may affect the ability of human cells to detect viruses.
With this new award, Dr. Gack and her team will study multiple viruses, including SARS–CoV-2, dengue, Zika, West Nile, and influenza. They will investigate whether targeting specific human enzymes that are essential for virus replication might be an effective approach to combat viral infections.
According to Dr. Gack, this treatment approach may have several benefits over the traditional antiviral approach, which targets the virus directly. “We believe that multiple related viruses often utilize or interact with the same enzymes, so developing a single antiviral that targets those shared enzymes could be truly broad spectrum,” she said. “Additionally, every time a virus is directly targeted, it has the potential to mutate. Developing an antiviral drug that targets human enzymes may help prevent this.”
Dr. Gack will collaborate with researchers from across the Cleveland Clinic enterprise, including those at its main campus in Cleveland. She will work closely with other researchers from Cleveland Clinic’s Global Center for Pathogen Research & Human Health, part of the Cleveland Innovation District, which is focused on broadening understanding of viral pathogens and the immune response to prepare and protect against COVID-19 and future public health threats.
