研究领域

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Our overall research focus lies in the understanding of how structural features of bioactive peptides guide their function and how we can manipulate these to alter selectivity for various targets or increase stability, with the ultimate aim being the development of novel peptide based therapeutics. Peptides being studied in our group originate from a wide range of sources, including bacteria, plants, animals and humans. They also have a broad range of biological activities, including antimicrobial, insecticidal and hormonal signalling. Main techniques used in our laboratory are peptide synthesis, chromatography, mass spectrometry and NMR spectroscopy, for production, purification and structural characterization of peptides. The main focus of the lab is the relaxin peptide hormones, of which there are seven with various critical biological functions, including in neurosignalling, cardio vascular regulation and reproduction, in human. These peptides activate a heterogenous family G-protein coupled receptors and much of our work are targeted towards manipulating their receptor selectivity to increase their suitability as novel drug leads. Bioactive peptides are potent and highly selective for the target receptors and thus ideal candidates as drug molecules. However their use in the clinic is hampered by their general poor stability. A particular focus is therefore to develop modification strategies to give them characteristics more suitable for drug molecules.