Innovations in peptide-based drug design (2011-2014)
Abstract
The overall aim of this project is to develop innovative generic strategies to facilitate the development of peptides as new drugs. Peptides are naturally occurring sequences of amino acids, and are the most abundant organic molecules in cells, with fundamental roles in defining life, ageing, disease and death in all organisms. They therefore are regarded as important drug leads, but because synthetic peptides have limited stability and bioavailability this promise has so far not been realised. In this project we aim to overcome these major limitations, by developing strategies to stabilise peptides, and then applying the findings to selected targets to demonstrate how peptides can become the next generation of pharmaceuticals.
