Synthetic vectors for gene and drug delivery

Delivering therapeutic agents presents a major challenge. The main part of this project involves synthesis and evaluation of peptides which can be biologically active and transport other molecules.
A particular goal is to design peptides that have motifs for triggering endocytosis and yet are relatively short and non-toxic. One hypothesis we have is that keeping an a-helical structure even with a relatively short peptide is important for the triggering mechanism. The synthesized peptides will be analyzed and their structure established. Project involves both synthetic and analytical parts. Peptides with promising properties will be the used in animal experiments to test their activity.