Contacts: Dr. Gonçalo Bernardes, Shuang Sun, Chemistry, Emma Barker, Cambridge Enterprise
Mentor: Dr. Simon Pulman-Jones

Dr. Gonçalo Bernardes and his team from the Department of Chemistry have developed a novel disulfide-stapling method using two different reagents for peptides & proteins. These methods have been shown to:

• Enhance binding affinity of peptides/proteins (& hence have excellent potential to improve efficacy/therapeutic potential)
• Enhance stability of peptides/proteins

Both of these outcomes from the technique increase the likelihood of a useable medicine being produced from the initial molecules. Increasing the binding affinity makes the medicine more effective, allowing it to be administered in lower doses and reducing the chances of side effects. Enhancing the stability gives a longer shelf-life and makes it more likely that an easy-to-administer formulation can be found – for example tablets are the simplest, but many new drugs can only be administered by injection.

The challenge for the i-Team is to speak to a range of large and small companies that might have need of such a technique, and to recommend that best approach for the researcher to take to have the new technique adopted widely.

NOTE THAT THIS TEAM WILL MEET DR BERNARDES AT 7PM ON WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 4TH AT THE IFM, AS WELL AS ATTENDING THE FIRST GROUP SESSION ON MONDAY OCTOBER 2ND