Development of New Reagents for Protein Chemistry

This multidisciplinary project will be at the interface of the chemical and biological sciences, and will combine state-of-the-art synthetic organic chemistry with biochemical, analytical and biophysical methods. The project will focus on the development of novel biocompatible reagents and methodologies for the controlled chemical modification of peptides and proteins, and employ these methodologies to study the properties and function of key protein post-translational modifications (PTMs) using biochemical/biophysical assays. We are particularly interested in a range of PTMs resulting from cellular oxidative stress, which are currently impossible to study using conventional techniques. On the longer term, the new reagents and methods will unlock exciting opportunities for studying the so far elusive function of these PTMs in human biology, with potential implications in drug discovery and the treatment of diseases resulting from unregulated cellular redox events.