Development of recombinant ELISA for diagnosis of Lassa fever in Africa and structural and biochemical characterisation of the replication complex of Lassa virus

The project combines applied research that is directly relevant to the management of Lassa fever in the endemic area with basic research on structure and function of the Lassa virus replication complex. Research in both fields is based on cutting-edge technologies and will be jointly conducted by African and German scientists taking advantage of existing long-term collaborations.Scientific objectives are:1. Development of recombinant IgM and IgG ELISA for diagnosis of Lassa fever in the endemic area.2. Epidemiological studies as well as isolation and full-length sequencing of Lassa virus strains circulating in Nigeria and use of the data for comprehensive bioinformatic analysis.3. Characterisation of Lassa virus L protein using the replicon system.4. Identification and characterisation of enzymatic functions associated with the L protein using heterologous expression systems for full-length L protein as well as individual domains.5. Structural and biochemical characterisation of individual domains of Lassa virus L protein, Z protein, and nucleoprotein (NP).6. Long-term objective: Structure/function guided design and synthesis of compounds to inhibit enzymatic functions or interactions of L protein.