Accelerating antimicrobial peptide-based drug development via cell-free systems

• Grant number: 23/12831-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate (Direct)
• Start date: March 15, 2024
• End date: December 01, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Microbiology - Applied Microbiology
• Principal Investigator: Ricardo Pinheiro de Souza Oliveira
• Grantee: Sebastián Armando Bermúdez Puga
• Supervisor: Simon Moore
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Farmacêuticas (FCF). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Queen Mary University of London, England
• Associated to the scholarship: 22/02936-2 - Probiotics and bacteriocins in Nile Tilapia feeding: effects on growth performance, immunology and experimental infection, BP.DD

Abstract

Antimicrobial resistance represents a serious threat to global health. In the last decade, antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) have been considered a promising alternative to tackle this global problem, which will affect human health and the economy. However, these molecules must undergo an optimization process to overcome limitations such as protease sensitivity, toxicity, among others. Peptide engineering is an approach that has emerged in recent years to optimise AMPs for therapeutic use. However, applying some peptide engineering strategies could be a costly and laborious task. In this work, we will develop a cell-free protein synthesis pipeline for the rapid and inexpensive high-throughput screening of AMP libraries to identify novel analog peptides with desired properties.