Research Area
Dr. Debnath’s research focus is to identify new antiviral drugs by state-of-the-art drug design methods. Ongoing projects include:
• Identification of small molecule entry inhibitors that specifically target HIV-1 envelope glycoprotein gp120 and disrupt its binding to the T-cell surface receptor CD4.
• Identification of the best combination of latency-reversing agents (LRAs) to facilitate the eradication of HIV-1 from virus reservoirs by drugs, antibody-drug conjugates (ADC), or the immune system. This is expected to help in achieving a functional cure for HIV-1.
• Development of small-molecule pancoronavirus inhibitors to fight against any future coronavirus-related pandemics.
• Development of small-molecule Zika virus entry and NS2B-NS3 protease inhibitor. This project is part of NIAID funded Midwest AViDD project.
Funding Support
• NIH R01AI104416 PI: Debnath 02/15/13– 01/31/23 “Design of inhibitors targeted to the CD4 binding site on HIV-1 gp120”
• NIH 1U19AI171954-01: Debnath (Core C)- 05/17/2022 -05/16/2025 (expected to be extended to 05/16/2028).
Education
Dr. Debnath received his PhD in Medicinal Chemistry in 1987 from the Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India, and came to Pomona College, Claremont, California, to pursue his postdoctoral career with Prof. Corwin Hansch at the Chemistry Department, who was known as the “Father of QSAR’. Dr. Debnath also spent two months at the Abbott Laboratories (Illinois, USA) to get exposed to research & development in the pharmaceutical company and learn three-dimension quantitative structure-activity relationship study (3D-QSAR) directly from two pioneering scientists, Dr. Yvonne C. Martin and Dr. Ki Kim.
Dr. Debnath joined the Lindsley F. Kimball Research Institute (LFKRI) at New York Blood Center in 1993 as a junior faculty. Currently, Dr. Debnath is a Member and Head of the Laboratory of Molecule Modeling & Drug Design at LFKRI.
Patents
US Patent No. 11,059,808. Debnath, A. K., Curreli, F., Kwong, P. D., and Kwon, Y. D. Substituted phenylpyrrolecarboxamides with therapeutic activity in H.I.V. Filed August 23, 2016. Issued July 13, 2021.
US Patent No. 10,869,856. Debnath, A. K., Curreli, F., Kwong, P. D., and Kwon, Y. D. Substituted phenylpyrrolecarboxamides with therapeutic activity in H.I.V. Filed January 30,2020. Issued December 22, 2020.
US Patent No. 10,576,059. Debnath, A. K., Curreli, F., Kwong, P. D., and Kwon, Y. D. Substituted phenylpyrrolecarboxamides with therapeutic activity in H.I.V. Filed July 24, 2019. Issued March 3, 2020.
US Patent No. 10,413,527. Debnath, A. K., Curreli, F., Kwong, P. D., and Kwon, Y. D. Substituted phenylpyrrolecarboxamides with therapeutic activity in H.I.V. Filed November 1, 2018. Issued September 17, 2019.
US Patent No. 10,137,107. Debnath, A. K., Curreli, F., Kwong, P. D., and Kwon, Y. D. Substituted phenylpyrrolecarboxamides with therapeutic activity in H.I.V. Filed September 18, 2015. Issued November 27, 2018.
U.S. Patent No. 9,309,237. Debnath, A. K., Curreli, F., Kwong, P. D., and Kwon, Y. D. H.I.V. inhibitors. Filed September 6, 2012. Issued April 12, 2016.
U.S. Patent No. 8,940,864. Debnath, A. K.., Zhang, H. and Zhao, Q. Stabilized therapeutic small helical antiviral peptides. Filed October 5, 2006. Issued January 27, 2015.
U.S. Patent No. 8,933,019. Debnath, A. K.., Zhang, H. and Curreli, F. Antiviral cell-penetrating peptides. Filed May 6, 2008. Issued January 13, 2015.
U.S. Patent No. 8,546,439. Debnath, A. K., Zhang, H. and Curreli, F. Small molecule inhibitors of retroviral assembly and maturation. Filing August 8, 2008. Issued October 1, 2013.
U.S. Patent No. 8,324,153. Debnath, A. K., Zhang, H. and Curreli, F. Antiviral cell-penetrating peptides. Filed May 6, 2008. Issued December 4, 2012.
U.S. Patent No. 8,299,093. Debnath, A. K., Zhang, H. and Curreli, F. Small molecule inhibitors of retroviral assembly and maturation. Filed August 8, 2008, issued October 30, 2012.
U.S. Patent No. 7,241,803. Jiang, S. and Debnath, A. K. Compounds for inhibition of H.I.V. infection by blocking H.I.V. entry. Filed November 12, 2003. Issued July 10, 2007.
U.S. Patent No. 6,727,240. Neurath, A.R., Jiang, S. and Debnath, A. K., Methods for preventing HIV-1 or HIV-2 infection. Filed October 21, 1994. Issued April 27, 2004.
U.S. Patent No. 6,596,497. Jiang, S. and Debnath, A. K., Screening of antiviral compounds targeted to the HIV-1 gp41 core structure. Filed March 14, 2000. Issued July 22, 2003.
U.S. Patent No. 6,165,493. Neurath, A.R., Jiang, S., Debnath, A. K., Strick, N., and Dow, G.J. Methods and composition for decreasing the frequency of H.I.V., herpesvirus and sexually transmitted bacterial infections. Filed October 20, 1998. Issued December 26, 2000.
US patent 5,985,313¬. Neurath, A.R., Debnath, A. K., Jiang, S., Strick, A., and Dow, G.J. Methods for decreasing the frequency of transmission of viral infection using cellulose acetate phthalate or hydroxypropyl methylcellulose phthalate excipients. Filed July 8, 1998. Issued November 16, 1999.
US Patent 5,985,275. Neurath, A.R., Debnath, A. K., and Jiang, S. Beta-Lactoglobulin modified with aromatic anhydride compound for preventing H.I.V. infection. Filed August 28, 1996, Issued November 16, 1999.
US Patent 5,952,009. Neurath, A.R., Debnath, A. K., and Jiang, S. Methods for preventing the transmission of or treating patients infected with herpesvirus. Filed August 28, 1996; Issued September 14, 1999.
US Patent No. 5,798,206. Neurath, A.R., Debnath, A. K., Jiang, S., Yun-Yao Li and Strick, N. Methods for screening of test compounds for inhibiting binding of a CD4-HIV 1 complex to a chemokine receptor. Filed January 10, 1997. Issued August 25, 1998.
U.S. Patent No. 6,727,240. Neurath, A.R., Jiang, S. andDebnath, A. K., Methods for preventing HIV-1 or HIV-2 infection. Filed October 21, 1994.
