Since 1991, a small team of ISU researchers have been making breakthroughs in the hunt for a cure for AIDS.

George Kraus, chair and professor of the chemistry department, Susan Carpenter, a virologist and associate professor of microbiology, immunology and preventative medicine, and Jacob Petrich, associate professor in chemistry, comprise the research team.

In the work toward a cure for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, the researchers are working with the Equine Infectious Anemia Virus (EIAV), which according to Petrich, “is a virus similar genetically and in the way it functions to HIV.”

Hypericin, one of the main ingredients in the research, is a naturally occurring chemical found in plants. According to Petrich, who attempted to simplify the process for better understanding, hypericin takes on very different properties after it absorbs light.

“This is true for many different molecules,” Petrich explained. Once the hypericin absorbs the light, it can react and transfer the energy to oxygen molecules. When the oxygen picks up the energy, it becomes very reactive and can destroy molecules with which it comes into contact.

“[The oxygen] is indiscriminant. That is the beauty of this project,” Petrich added. One of Carpenter’s roles in the project, as a virologist, was to target specifically the reaction of hypericin to diseased areas.

According to Carpenter, Kraus pioneered the project with an interest in synthesizing a specific compound that showed antiviral activity.

Research showed that this compound needed to be activated by a light source to be antiviral.

“Our work moved to the flashlight fundamental, and the question of how it could be light activated,” Carpenter said.

The researchers are using the gene reaction that makes a firefly light up to provide the light source for activating antiviral activity. The use of a light source brought different focuses to the research.

Carpenter said, “We are studying not just the fundamental process of how it kills viruses, but implications on other antiviral drugs.”

Although the research will continue for years, Carpenter said, “It is a real good example of collaborative research between chemistry and biology.”

Petrich added, “It is an extremely collaborative job. We come from [very] different scientific backgrounds. We learn a lot from each other.”

The research is done by students in the lab, but the research team of Kraus, Carpenter and Petrich coordinate and supervise the lab work.

“We work a lot,” Carpenter said. “I don’t spend too much time in the lab. We use our ideas — figure out what to do and how to do it.”

Petrich said the work that is being done is very encouraging.

The researchers said they are making enormous progress considering their limited resources, but Kraus said there is still a lot of preliminary work that needs to be done.

The research is funded through ISU, a Carver Grant and other resources. Petrich has three graduate students, one post-doctorate student and two undergraduates working in his group. Petrich’s lab group works on a few other projects as well.