Bioactive Peptides as Pharmacological Tools and Novel Drug Leads (2014-2018)
Abstract
Bioactive peptides are produced by all organisms and play numerous critical physiological roles, including in cellular communication, host defense and capture of prey. Peptides have huge potential as tools for studying roles of signaling pathways and as novel drugs due to their high affinity and selectivity for various therapeutically relevant targets. However their use has been limited by poor in vivo stability. This proposal is focused on studying structural features of a range of peptides and their contributions to both activity and to resistance against degradation, with the aim to develop stabilised bioactive peptide sequences for in vivo applications, allowing the full potential of peptides as drugs to be realised.
