Anil Tharappel

As a lead scientist in industry and postdoctoral trainee in academic labs Anil Tharappel has gained experience in drug targets and preclinical studies. His research and leadership skills have helped in licensing out lead compounds and obtaining grants.

Selected Publications

Fungal disease

1. Tharappel AM*, Li Z, Li H (2025), Effect of insertion of intein to Cryptococcus amylolentus, a nonpathogenic fungus closely related to causative agents of cryptococcosis), Microbial Pathogenesis 199, 107267 PMID: 39736341 
2. Tharappel AM, Li Z, Zhu YC, Wu X, Chaturvedi S, Zhang QY, Li H. Calcimycin Inhibits Cryptococcus neoformansIn Vitro and In Vivo by Targeting the Prp8 Intein Splicing. ACS Infect Dis. 2022 Sep 9;8(9):1851-1868. PMCID: PMC9464717.
3. Tharappel AM, Li Z, Li H (2022) Inteins as Drug Targets and Therapeutic Tools. Front Mol Biosci. 2022 Feb 8;9: 821146. PMCID: PMC8861304.
4. Li Z, Tharappel AM, Xu J, Lang Y, Green CM, Zhang J, Lin Q, Chaturvedi S, Zhou J, Belfort M, Li H. (2021), Small-molecule inhibitors for the Prp8 intein as antifungal agents. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. Jan 12;118(2). PMCID: PMC7812778

Viral disease

1. Aromokeye R; Kuang L; Ackerman-Berrier M; Cardoza S; Holberg C; Carver M; Ma C; Tharappel AM; Li H; Wang L; Thatcher GRJ; Zhu H.2026 Targeting G3BP1-Mediated Stress Granules to Suppress SARS-CoV-2 Replication ACS Infect. Dis 12 (10): 3322–3334
2. AM Tharappel, Y Cheng, EH Holmes, GK Ostrander, H Tang. Castanospermine reduces Zika virus infection-associated seizure by inhibiting both the viral load and inflammation in mouse models (2020) Antiviral Research 183, 104935
3. AM Tharappel*, SK Samrat, Z Li, H Li* (2020). Targeting crucial host factors of SARS-CoV-2. ACS Infect Dis 6 (11), 2844-2865. PMCID: PMC7605336
4. Anil TM, Shankar KM, Mohan CV.  Monoclonal antibodies developed for sensitive detection and comparison of white spot syndrome virus isolates in India
5. Samrat SK, Bashir Q, Huang Y, Trieshmann CW, Tharappel AM, Zhang R, Chen K, Zheng YG, Li Z, Li H (2023) Broad-Spectrum Small-Molecule Inhibitors Targeting the SAM-Binding Site of Flavivirus NS5 Methyltransferase. ACS Infect. Dis 9(7) 1319-1333. PMCID: PMC10436986
6. Li Z, Xu J, Lang Y, Wu X, Hu S, Samrat SK, Tharappel AM, Kuo L, Butler D, Song Y, Zhang QY, Zhou J, Li H (2022). In vitro and in vivo characterization of erythrosin B and derivatives against Zika virus. Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica B. 12(4), 1662-1670. PMCID: PMC9279632
7. Li Z, Xu J, Lang Y, Fan X, Kuo L, D'Brant L, Hu S, Samrat SK, Trudeau N, Tharappel AM, Rugenstein N, Koetzner CA, Zhang J, Chen H, Kramer LD, Butler D, Zhang Q, Zhou J, Li H (2020), JMX0207, a niclosamide derivative with improved pharmacokinetics, suppresses Zika virus infection both in vitro and in vivo, ACS Infect Dis, 6, 2016-28. PMCID: PMC7559020 
8. Li Z, Lang Y, Sakamuru S, Samrat SK, Trudeau N, Kuo L, Rugenstein N, Tharappel AM, D'Brant L, Koetzner CA, Hu S, Zhang J, Huang R, Kramer LD, Butler D, Xia M, Li H (2020), Methylene blue is a potent and broad-spectrum inhibitor against Zika virus in vitro and in vivo. Emerging Microbes & Infections 9 (1), 2404-2416. PMCID: PMC7646565

Metabolic syndrome

1. Tharappel AM, Harish C, Lakshmi MN, Harsha K, Onkaramurthy M, Sathish Kumar V, Nitya Shree, Geetha V, Balamurali GV, Gopala AS, Madhusudhan Reddy B, Govind MK, Anup MO, Moolemath Y, Venkataranganna MV, Jagannath MR & Somesh BP (2014). CNX-012-570, a direct AMPK activator provides strong glycemic and lipid control along with significant reduction in body weight; studies from both diet-induced obese mice and db/db mice models. Cardiovascular Diabetology 13 (27). PMCID: PMC3906767
2. Tharappel AM, Anilkumar D, Harsha K, Jaideep Singh, Nitya Shree, Satish Kumar V, Lakshmi MN, Sunil V, Harish C, Balamurali GV, Naveen Kumar BS, Gopala AS, Pratibha S, ManojKumar S, Anup MO, Moolemath Y, Marikunte VV, Jagannath MR, Somesh BP (2014). A novel 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type1 inhibitor CNX-010-49 improves hyperglycemia, lipid profile and reduces body weight with a potential to give cardio protective benefits in diet induced obese C57B6/J mice. BMC Pharmacology and Toxicology 15:43. PMCID: PMC4127523