"For my capstone, I worked in a drug discovery lab seeking to synthesize novel drugs to effectively target and inhibit the HBV ribonuclease H. HBV is a disease that chronically affects over 250 million people worldwide. The current treatment options could be improved, so the lab is focused on creating derivatives of a known active molecule to find the best biologically stable and safe drug option. In the lab, I focused on synthetic organic chemistry to create several analogs of a key molecule that will be tested for effective activity against the HBV ribonuclease. The data recovered from these assays will provide valuable information for future researchers about which types of molecules are effective in the inhibition of ribonuclease H so they can further derivatize the key intermediate molecule, ultimately leading to a new drug option for the treatment of Hepatitis B."