Converting peptides to drugs

ORGN 247

Gregory L. Verdine, gregory_verdine@harvard.edu, Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Molecular and Cellular Biology, Program in Cancer Chemical Biology, Harvard University, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, 12 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
The conversion of peptides to drugs remains a formidable challenge, the solution to which will likely require the development of new technologies for delivery, pharmacologic stabilization, and backbone replacement. Our efforts focus on the development of new platform technologies for pharmacologic stabilization of peptides through the introduction of elements that "staple" their secondary structures into defined folds, and through "morphing" of the peptide backbone from that of a peptide to that of a polyketide. Progress on these fronts will be reviewed.