04/21/2025 | News release | Distributed by Public on 04/21/2025 08:23
The COVID-19 pandemic sparked a race to create therapies to prevent the viral infection and its severe symptoms. Less than a year after the virus emerged, scientists developed a safe and effective vaccine authorized for emergency use.
Lijun Rong, professor of microbiology and immunology at UIC, has dedicated his career to the kind of research that makes this rapid response possible. Through experiments on viruses such as SARS-CoV-2, influenza and Ebola, Rong's group determines how viruses enter cells and multiply, and then how to interrupt those critical processes with new antiviral drugs.
His research could help the world be ready for the next pandemic.
"Nature will teach us again and again, regardless of whether we listen or not," Rong said. "Those pandemic viruses hopefully will never happen again. But when it happens, usually, we are too late to deal with it. So what we are doing is trying to be proactive. It's very important."
To do so, Rong's group looks for targets that could interrupt the viral life cycle. A virus works by invading natural cells, hijacking the host's machinery to create copies of itself, then releasing those copies to infect others.
After closely studying these processes, Rong uses high throughput screening techniques to find small molecule inhibitors that can block the key steps. Because many different viruses share common mechanisms for entry and replication, these new antivirals could work as broad-spectrum drugs effective against multiple diseases - even viruses that have yet to emerge.
Creating a range of antivirals that target different steps of the viral life cycle could also help prevent drug resistance. Using a combination of drugs would make it harder for viruses to adapt and evolve, Rong said. Currently, his group is testing a promising therapy for influenza A that could be combined with already-approved drugs such as Tamiflu for added effectiveness.
Rong credits UIC and the College of Medicine with supporting him in rapidly scaling up research on SARS-CoV-2 during the pandemic, a boost that has led to a continued acceleration across all his research activity. He is very grateful for his UIC collaborators who have made important contributions to his antiviral development.
"I think from the department level, college level and university level, we have good infrastructure, and we have excellent faculty members," Rong said. "When we need expertise, we can always find people within UIC or if not, in Chicagoland. UIC really has given us a lot of freedom to explore these opportunities."