Bath spinout Revolver screens peptides inside E. coli to hit transcription factors
The platform links a transcription factor's activity to bacterial survival, so only peptides that block function, not merely bind, survive selection.
PR
By Priya Raman · Science Reporter
Sep 23 10:44 ETSource: Chemistry World
The wire
- 01University of Bath's Jody Mason and colleagues engineered E. coli with a genetic circuit coupling transcription factor activity to cell survival, enriching intracellular peptides that functionally inhibit the target; the work underpins spinout Revolver Therapeutics.
- 02Transcription factors, more than 1,600 in the human genome, are largely out of reach for small molecules and intracellular antibodies, and Mason argues peptides sit between the two modalities.
- 03Bis-alkylating reagents cyclise and constrain peptides in-cell to improve potency and stability, but optimising entry into mammalian cells remains an outstanding development problem; no clinical candidate has been named.
From the source
Read at chemistryworld.comScreening therapeutic peptides for ‘undruggable’ proteins
Jody Mason ’s favourite Beatles album is ‘Revolver’. Just as the band’s seventh album marked a radical musical shift, Mason and his colleagues have developed ‘a revolutionary new technique’ to screen and evolve therapeutic peptides to target ‘undruggable’ proteins. This technology is the basis of the University of Bath spin-out co-founded by Mason, Revolver Therapeutics .
