The purpose of this project is to develop a novel cell-based assay that is designed to identify compounds for improving mitochondrial function and metabolic disease. The assay utilizes a dual luciferase reporter system to assess translation regulated by 5-UTR sequences. During the reporting period, the originally designed assay was implemented, validated, and optimized successfully. A small compound library (80 compounds) was tested to demonstrate the utility of the assay for phenotypic screening. Nonetheless, the system will likely not be amenable for high-throughput drug screening campaigns. An alternative approach using an inducible expression system is hypothesized to provide better signal-to noise and will be implemented and assessed during the next reporting period.
