Development of an efficient chemoenzymatic route for site selective antibody-peptide conjugation
About the Project
We are pleased to offer an exciting opportunity to join a fully funded, four-year IBioIC Industrial PhD Programme. This studentship provides a financial package to support your research, including home tuition fees, a tax-free student stipend, and an allocated consumables budget. The studentship also provides a key industrial placement at Ingenza Ltd in Edinburgh, ideally undertaken during your final year.
This project aims to develop a novel chemoenzymatic platform for the site-selective conjugation of antibodies with cyclic peptides via recruiting enzymes that can selectively install reactive chemical handles in peptides and antibodies under mild aqueous conditions, followed by chemoselective coupling to generate well-defined conjugates.
Cyclic peptides hold high therapeutic potential as they can modulate challenging disease-relevant protein-protein interactions. Their conjugation with antibodies will significantly improve specificity and reduce toxicity.
By combining peptide synthesis, enzyme engineering and bioconjugation chemistry, the project will address key limitations of existing antibody conjugation methods, particularly poor control over modification site and product heterogeneity.
The project offers a unique training opportunity for prospective students to gain interdisciplinary, hands-on experience in peptide synthesis, enzymology, recombinant protein expression and purification, bioconjugation chemistry and analytical characterization. The project plan involves an industrial placement for eight months at Ingenza Ltd, providing students with experience of an industrial biotechnology environment.
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