During this period, NCGC and the collaborative team worked to design and optimize a high-throughput amenable RABV assay using two recombinant rabies viruses (ERA) expressing luciferase and GFP reporters, enabling primary screening for Rabies inhibitors. Approximately 22,000 compounds were screened and several hundred hits were identified. Hit molecules were further triaged using a HepG2 toxicity assay and a GFP orthogonal assay. Small molecules with ideal profiles in this assay panel were advanced for further characterization in viral and mechanistic assays.
