Development of Chemoenzymatic Methods for the Selective Elaboration of Polyfunctional Therapeutic Agents to Oligomers with Improved Efficacy

The aims of the project are to screen a novel collection of genetically engineered enzymes for their capacity to selectively manipulate proven therapeutic agents so that, ultimately, much more potent polymeric derivatives of the agent/drug can be obtained. The combined use of enzyme libraries and chemical manipulations to generate more powerful polymeric variants of already established drugs has never been undertaken previously in Australia. This approach has the capacity to generate hitherto inaccessible classes of therapeutic entities and to provide a new and unique technology platform for the country s biotechnology industry.