The Value of Peptides as a Therapeutic Agent
Challenging therapeutic areas such as the disruption of protein:protein interactions require molecules whose
size occupies the space between the small molecule and large complex molecules. Peptide macrocycles potentially
allow us to attain the high affinity and specificity found in antibodies and harness these features with
the cellular permeability of small molecules. Gaining access to unique and high valued engineered peptide
modalities is a major trend in the pharmaceutical industry.
Our Mission
The Peptide Engineering Programme seeks to enable technologies to advance peptide therapeutics, and to nucleate
Singapore’s peptide-related research for innovative solutions. This is done through developing novel
synthetic chemical methods in unison with peptide display technologies, which harness the diversity inherent
in biological systems. This efficiently samples the macrocyclic chemical space in order to discover new
pharmacologically attractive compounds.
Services & Capabilities
Track 1 — Diversity Oriented Technologies (DOTs)
Impacting Target Diversity
Development of DOTs to increase unique chemical matter diver- sity through the use of biology as a key driver.
- DNA encoded libraries
- Phage display technology
- Yeast display technologies
Track 2 - Fast Synthesis Technologies (FST)
Impacting lead optimization and manufacturing
Exploration of new synthesis technologies to enable quick and efficient synthesis of peptides. Our capabilities
include micro- wave synthesis, and enzymatic synthesis of long peptides.
Associated services include:
- Incorporation of a-methylation and other unnatural amino acids
- Enzymatic synthesis processs
- Peptide design and evaluation (linear and macrocycles)
- Peptoids, isoacyl / stapled / stitched peptides
- Structure stabilisation (a-helix / b sheet)
- C-terminal substituted amides
- Analysis of fractions
- Computational design and in-progress informatics
Track 3 - Formulation and Delivery Technologies (FDT)
Impacting Manufacturing and Delivery
Exploration of fundamental biophysical and structure-property- activities of unique formulations for peptides.
Assessment of large variety of systems to enable delivery of novel peptide modalities into cells e.g.
receptor recognition motifs.
Additional Capabilities
Peptide Conjugation & Targeting
- Fluorescent labeling
- Biotinylation
- Cysteine cross-linkage
- New conjugation chemistries
Peptide hit engineering
- Mini-body development
- Affinity maturation
- Scaffold grafting approaches
Strategically focused research
- Novel peptidomimetics
- Stereoselectivity
- Stereoconvergency
- C-terminal modifications
Biological target interrogation / validation assays
Toxicity and specificity screening
Computational chemistry, rational design, and SAR analysis