Enhanced productivity and functionality of Modified Ribosomally Produced Peptides (M-RIPPs)

Ribosomally Produced Peptides (RIPPs) are widely recognised as one of the most promising classes of compounds with the potential to treat many diseases including infection, cancer & inflammation. They are of great interest to the pharma industry, but are extremely costly to produce/modify - even in milligram amounts. Through the utilisation of cutting-edge techniques in combinatorial synthetic biology, this project sets out to achieve a world first; namely, to produce bespoke libraries of Modified RIPPs (M-RIPPs) in sufficient quantities to permit drug discovery screening. The project combines the fundamental knowledge of the natural processes involved in RIPP biosynthesis of the two premier UK academic groups active in the field with the applied expertise in industrial biosynthesis of a leading UK IB company. It will deliver a versatile yet robust technology platform for the production of M-RIPPs that will be commercialised via a new UK spinout company.