Scientists Create Designer Proteins to Fight Disease

A breakthrough in techniques to develop new drugs to fight diseases such as cancer and Alzheimer’s has been reported by the Jamieson Research Group in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Leicester. The research involves the chemical synthesis of unnatural amino acids that can be used to make unnatural mini-proteins with new 3D structures and importantly new functions.

Dr Andrew Jamieson, lead scientist, said:  “We are very proud of this research, it has taken several years of hard work to master the chemistry techniques to create these new building blocks but now that we have conquered it we have access to new building blocks that people have only ever dreamed of before!”

 “Unnatural amino acids, the building blocks, are described as chiral, meaning they have “handedness.” A robust synthesis to selectively produce molecules with a particular handedness has not previously been reported. Our new practical method allows us to selectively synthesise only the “right handed molecules,” he added.

 “We are actively using these building blocks to develop new treatments for cancer and Alzheimer's disease. We have also had a summer student use the building blocks to synthesise a toxin produced by a sea snail, and hope to develop this as a new pain killer.”. 

The research, funded by the UK’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) has been published in the Royal Society of Chemistry journal Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry.