Isolation of Antiviral Agents found in Garlic with the Hope of Finding a cure for HSV-1 Keratitis

Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV-1) Keratitis is one of the major causes of blindness in the United States, and although medicine and technology have advanced throughout the decades there is still no known cure for the virus. Our main focus is to isolate and characterize antiviral agents that are found in Garlic which could have the potential to obstruct the spread of the herpes virus. We used many methods to isolate the active alkaloids in garlic including, Column Chromatography, Thin Layer Chromatography and Spectrophotometry, in order to effectively test them on the virus. We found up to four possible alkaloids in garlic that may prove to be effective against the HSV-1 virus. In a future study, we will focus on identifying the potential composition of the alkaloids and characterizing them.