Advances in Peptide Synthesis: Exploiting Underutilised Functional Groups

This project aims to develop new tools for the preparation of peptides, a valuable class of molecules with enormous potential, including as novel therapies. Expected outcomes include the first approach to a class of peptide-based antibiotics for which clinical progression has been hampered by an inability to access sufficient quantities of material for further development and optimisation. This project will also seek to harness the reactivity of a widely-overlooked structural component of these unique peptides to develop new chemical and electrochemical tools for the rapid and sustainable manufacture of peptides more broadly. Such technologies have vast potential for translation into the growing Australian biotechnology and pharmaceutical sectors, and it is anticipated that this project will create valuable opportunities for commercialisation.