Rethinking peptides to create better drug candidates
What is needed is peptides that are both great at binding and can enter cells to reach their target proteins. To develop this, Associate Professor Joseph Matthew Rogers has received a Hallas-Møller Ascending Investigator grant of DKK 11.4 mill for the five-year project “Breaking the barrier: engaging intracellular biology with new macrocycle chemistry”.
Joseph Matthew Rogers describes his new project:
“To capitalize on findings from fundamental biology and develop new therapies, we need to be able to find molecules that can both bind and reach the important proteins inside cells.
However, for many proteins, the traditional chemical structures used as drugs struggle to bind. Peptides are growing in promise as a drug modality, particularly cyclic peptides, because they excel at binding, but they struggle to reach proteins inside cells.
To overcome this limitation, we propose to copy features from natural cyclic peptides that have great binding and cell entry properties.
We will develop experimental methods that can synthesize trillions of these molecules — a number exceeding the count of stars in our galaxy—and rapidly identify the most promising candidates. These molecules hold immense potential, as tools for advancing our understanding of basic biology, and as starting points for developing future therapeutics.”
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Contact
Joseph Matthew Rogers
Associate Professor
Emai: ljoseph.rogers@sund.ku.dk
Phone: +4523840087