FeS proteins play a central role in many cellular processes. They are emerging as targets for developing new therapeutics to treat human diseases with unmet needs like diabetes, cancer, and viral infection. MitoNEET is an example of FeS proteins that is a target of the thiazolidinedione diabetes drugs. Therefore, WG5 will offer tools and expertise in structural biology, medicinal chemistry, and computational chemistry to identify new drug targets and develop new therapeutic candidates. Examples of research topics that will be discussed include:

• design and development of new antiviral nucleotide analogues mimicking the analogues produced by the antiviral and FeS enzyme RSAD2, 

• targeting FeS enzymes like RSAD1 to treat cancer, and

• elucidating the mechanism of interaction of drugs with FeS proteins like MitoNEET