Virongy focuses on developing cutting-edge technologies in virology, viral vector-based gene therapy, virus-host cell biology, and viral immunology. Our goal is to develop new technologies that can be used for scientific discoveries, clinical diagnostics, and disease treatment. Virongy has developed the following key technologies and products:
VirRise Infectin
VirRise Infectin is designed to facilitate viral penetration of the cortical actin barrier, thereby greatly facilitating productive infection and the delivery of viral vectors into cells. Infectin can be used in the gene therapy field to facilitate the delivery of viral vectors. It can also facilitate the intracellular delivery of macromolecules such as therapeutic drugs, proteins, or nucleic acids. Virongy developed Infectin based on the scientific theory that the actin cytoskeleton is a natural barrier for viral entry and intracellular migration (Yoder et al., Cell, 2008, 134:782).
LIM Domain Kinase (LIMK) Inhibitor R10015
R10015 is the best biochemically and biologically characterized LIMK inhibitor currently available. R10015 has been profiled against a panel of 62 kinases. It inhibits the kinase activity of LIMK by binding to the ATP-binding pocket of LIMK. The in vitro IC50 for inhibiting recombinant LIMK1 protein was approximately 38 nM. R10015 inhibits T cell chemotaxis and chemokine-induced actin polymerization. R10015 has also been shown to possess broad-spectrum anti-viral activities.
HIV Rev-dependent Lentiviral Vector
Our HIV Rev-dependent lentiviral vector can selectively express therapeutic genes only in HIV-infected cells. This technology can be used to develop therapeutic vaccines or for therapeutic targeting of HIV reservoirs (Wang et al., 2010, Gene Ther. 17:1063).
HIV Rev-dependent Reporter Cells
These HIV Rev-dependent reporter cells are the best HIV-indicator cells on the market, with the highest specificity and accuracy in quantifying HIV infection. They can be used for anti-HIV drug screening, anti-HIV antibody screening, and the screening of anti-HIV compounds targeting host restriction or dependency factors (Wu et al., 2007, Curr HIV Res. 5:394).