A Novel Platform for the Discovery of High Affinity Mirror Image Peptides. Virtually all biomolecules on our planet are homochiral, including human proteins that bear amino acids with the same ‘L-hand

Description

A Novel Platform for the Discovery of High Affinity Mirror Image Peptides. Virtually all biomolecules on our planet are homochiral, including human proteins that bear amino acids with the same ‘L-handedness.’ Peptides possess exquisite biological activity but their use in medicinal chemistry is limited by cleavage of these L-molecules into inactive fragments by protease enzymes. This project aims to use our innovative methods for the synthesis of ‘mirror image proteins’ made entirely of D-amino acids. These will be used in a novel peptide display platform for the discovery of structurally diverse D-peptides with high affinity for natural L-proteins and stability to proteases. This project has the potential to revolutionise future medicinal chemistry efforts by overcoming a key limitation of peptide therapeutics.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 3404 - Medicinal and Biomolecular Chemistry. Lead: Prof Richard Payne