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K-State Today

April 8, 2021

Kyeong-OK 'KC' Chang to present Diagnostic Medicine/Pathobiology Seminar

Submitted by Brandy Nowakowski

Kyeong-Ok "KC" Chang, professor of diagnostic medicine and pathobiology at Kansas State University, will present "Therapeutic Options for COVID-19" at 3:30 p.m. Thursday, April 8, via Zoom.

Chang earned his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine and Master of Science from Seoul National University, and his doctorate from the Ohio State University. Chang has more than 25 years of research experience in the field of virology, specifically on viral pathogenesis and the development of preventative and/or therapeutic measures for important human and animal pathogens. Currently, Chang's research focuses on norovirus and coronavirus proteases as potential therapeutic targets with a multidisciplinary approach, including compound synthesis, functional, structural, and inhibitor studies of proteases with medicinal chemists, virologists and structural biologists. His group demonstrated that some inhibitors showed broad-spectrum antiviral activities against multiple viruses including picornaviruses, caliciviruses, or norovirus, and coronaviruses. Through their drug development endeavors, they have recently identified anti-norovirus and/or -coronavirus protease inhibitors effective in animal models. Chang's group has published numerous papers describing the design, synthesis and evaluation of various transition state inhibitors of viral proteases and continues to identify new antiviral compounds as well as advancing the current series beyond preclinical stages.