When a novel virus emerges, time becomes medicine's most unforgiving adversary — and the slowness of molecular synthesis has long been one of its quiet accomplices. Chemists at Simon Fraser University have now developed a light-driven method to build vast libraries of antiviral compounds in weeks rather than years, generating over 70 new nucleoside analogs at a scale 10 to 100 times greater than conventional approaches allow. Three of those compounds demonstrated HIV-fighting potency comparable to approved therapies, suggesting that speed and quality need not be in tension. In a world where ou
SFU researchers accelerate antiviral drug discovery with scalable synthesis method
We can produce libraries 10 to 100 times larger in weeks
Mark
Why does it matter that they can make 70 compounds instead of, say, 7?
Mimi
Because you're looking for a needle in a haystack. Most compounds won't work. But if you can screen 70 instead of 7, your chances of finding something active go up dramatically. In a pandemic, that difference could mean months saved.
Mark
But they only found three compounds that worked. Isn't that a low hit rate?
Mimi
Three out of 70 is actually quite good for early screening. And the point isn't that all 70 work—it's that you can now afford to make 70 to find those three. Before, the chemistry was so slow you might only make 7, and find nothing.
Mark
The method uses light. Why is that important?
Mimi
Light-driven reactions are often cleaner and faster than traditional chemistry. You shine light, the reaction happens, you get your product. It's more efficient and scalable than heating or using toxic reagents.
Mark
So this is ready to use in the next outbreak?
Mimi
The chemistry is proven. But there's still a gap between a promising compound in a lab and a drug in a clinic. What this does is compress the early discovery phase—the part that usually takes years. It doesn't eliminate the rest of drug development, but it removes a major bottleneck.
Mark
Why did they partner with Merck?
Mimi
Because Merck knows how to take lab discoveries and turn them into medicines. And because Merck has the resources and expertise to validate whether these compounds could actually become drugs. It's a bridge between academic discovery and pharmaceutical reality.
Mark
What happens now?
Mimi
Other labs will likely adopt this method. It becomes part of the toolkit for antiviral discovery. The next time a virus emerges, researchers will have a faster way to generate candidates. It won't solve pandemics, but it removes one reason why we're always playing catch-up.
O Pulso
- Every emerging outbreak exposes the same wound: the molecules needed to fight a new virus take months or years to synthesize, leaving medicine perpetually behind the clock.
- SFU's Robert Britton identified the core problem plainly — antiviral options are dangerously thin compared to antibiotics, which is precisely why Ebola, COVID-19, and hantavirus provoke such fear.
- Working with Merck, Britton's team built a single versatile molecular scaffold and used light-driven chemistry to rapidly attach different nucleobases, producing more than 70 novel nucleoside analogs in weeks.
- Testing in SFU's Pantophlet Laboratory confirmed the method's real-world value: three compounds matched the antiviral potency of drugs already approved for clinical HIV treatment.
- Published in Science, the research signals a potential turning point — the next pandemic response could begin with a dramatically larger, faster-assembled arsenal of drug candidates than any previous outbreak allowed.
When a novel virus emerges, time becomes medicine's most unforgiving adversary — and the slowness of molecular synthesis has long been one of its quiet accomplices. Chemists at Simon Fraser University have now developed a light-driven method to build vast libraries of antiviral compounds in weeks rather than years, generating over 70 new nucleoside analogs at a scale 10 to 100 times greater than conventional approaches allow. Three of those compounds demonstrated HIV-fighting potency comparable to approved therapies, suggesting that speed and quality need not be in tension. In a world where outbreaks do not wait for laboratories, this compression of the discovery timeline may quietly reshape how humanity meets its next viral crisis.
When a new virus spreads, hospitals fill and governments scramble — and somewhere in a lab, chemists face a brutal constraint: the molecules they need to test take months or years to produce. Simon Fraser University researchers have found a way to compress that timeline dramatically, generating libraries of antiviral compounds 10 to 100 times larger than conventional chemistry allows, in weeks rather than years.
The compounds at the center of this work are nucleoside analogs — molecules that mimic DNA and RNA building blocks and are already used to treat HIV, hepatitis, and cancer. The problem has always been scale. "We don't have a good panel of antivirals," explains chemistry professor Robert Britton, who led the study. "That's why viral outbreaks like COVID-19, or Ebola, or hantavirus scare people so much."
Britton's team, collaborating with scientists at Merck, bypassed the slow molecule-by-molecule approach by starting with a single versatile scaffold producible in large quantities, then using a light-driven reaction to rapidly attach different nucleobases to it. The result: more than 70 novel nucleoside analogs synthesized in a fraction of the traditional time.
To validate the method, the team tested their library against HIV in SFU's Pantophlet Laboratory. Three compounds showed antiviral activity comparable to already-approved therapies — proof that synthesis speed did not sacrifice potency. The ability to screen 10 to 100 times more candidates during an emerging outbreak meaningfully improves the odds of finding something that works. It doesn't guarantee a cure, but it tilts the odds toward medicine when time is the enemy.
When a new virus emerges and spreads, the clock starts ticking. Hospitals fill. Governments scramble. And somewhere in a lab, chemists face a brutal constraint: the molecules they need to test as potential treatments take months or years to synthesize, one painstaking batch at a time. Simon Fraser University researchers have found a way to compress that timeline dramatically. They've developed a method that lets them generate massive libraries of antiviral compounds in weeks instead of the traditional months or years—libraries that are 10 to 100 times larger than what conventional chemistry could produce.
The compounds in question are nucleoside analogs, molecules that mimic the building blocks of DNA and RNA. They're already proven tools in medicine: they're used to treat HIV, hepatitis, and various cancers. The problem has always been scale. To find an effective antiviral drug, researchers need to screen hundreds or thousands of candidate molecules. But making those molecules has been slow, expensive, and chemically complex. "We have lots of pain killers and a wide collection of antibiotics, but we don't have a good panel of antivirals," explains Robert Britton, the chemistry professor who led the study. "That's why viral outbreaks like COVID-19, or Ebola, or hantavirus scare people so much. Finding viable drug candidates is extremely challenging."
Britton's team, working in collaboration with scientists at Merck, took a different approach. Instead of synthesizing each molecule from scratch, they started with a single, versatile building block—a molecular scaffold that could be produced in large quantities. Then they used a light-driven chemical reaction to attach different nucleobases to this core structure, rapidly generating a library of more than 70 nucleoside analogs. Most of these compounds were entirely new. Some had been made before, but other research groups had taken far longer to synthesize them and hadn't been able to modify and improve them as readily.
To prove the method actually works, the researchers tested their library against HIV in the Pantophlet Laboratory at SFU, led by health sciences professor Ralph Pantophlet. Three of the compounds showed antiviral activity comparable to drugs already approved for clinical use. That's a significant result: it demonstrates that the speed of synthesis didn't come at the cost of quality. The compounds they made quickly were just as potent as those made slowly.
The implications ripple outward. During an emerging outbreak, the ability to screen 10 to 100 times more compounds in the same timeframe dramatically improves the odds of finding something that works. Companies like Merck and Gilead Sciences used library screening to develop early COVID-19 treatments, but they were working within the constraints of existing chemistry. This new method removes one of those constraints. It doesn't guarantee a cure, but it tilts the odds in medicine's favor when time is the enemy. The research, published in Science, suggests that the next time a novel virus appears, the response might be faster than we've ever managed before.
Citações Notáveis
In an emerging outbreak, the more compounds you can screen, the better your chances of finding something effective.— Robert Britton, chemistry professor and lead author
We don't have a good panel of antivirals, which is why viral outbreaks like COVID-19, Ebola, or hantavirus scare people so much.— Robert Britton
Quer a matéria completa?
Leia o original em Education News Canada ↗
Health & Medicine